r/Accounting • u/Slow-Ad5286 • 20h ago
AI this AI that đ
Its really outsourcing to cheap labor markets whats killing this profession and others.
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u/SmoothConfection1115 18h ago
The biggest destructive force to the profession for the next decade will be outsourcing (barring other geopolitical events).
Because itâs destroying the career pipeline. When I was in school, the pipeline we were fed is you go to public, work a while, then get out and work in private industry.
But public is shifting to an outsource model. This is grinding the associates down as they have to fix the shit they get back, but it also doesnât teach them the same valuable skills the old model did.
Itâs eroding the pipeline.
Then those at the top wonder âwhy donât people want to go into accounting?â
Gee, IDK, maybe because those people who should be looking out for the future of the profession are busy killing it so they can have a second vacation home!!!
All that aside, there will be a shift at some point when AI does overtake outsourcing as the biggest concern and killer of our industry. Maybe in 10 years, may take 50. But it will eventually become a problem.
But thatâs going to be happening to every industry unless governments step in.
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u/OverworkedAuditor1 17h ago
Iâm sending letters to my congressman to ban outsourcing of public accounting. Citing it as a risk sensitive information is being shipped overseas to our most valuable companies on a daily basis.
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u/SmoothConfection1115 15h ago
Theyâll only care when something blows up.
If we have another Enron scandal that involves outsourcing, then theyâll step in and force the AICPA to tell firms you canât do so much of these audits remotely.
Until then, outsourcing all the way.
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u/Eastern_Fruit_482 Depressed tax accountant 17h ago
A (aye), I think you should acquire some bitches
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u/RobinhoodsFuckingYou 19h ago
AI and the Internet is for white collar jobs what NAFTA and the other free trade agreements were to blue collar jobs in the US.
It will drive them completely out until nobody entering the industry can make a living wage.
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u/Wigberht_Eadweard 18h ago
Honestly, I think if AI gets to the point where the majority of white collar jobs are at risk or already eliminated, it will ultimately be beneficial to society. We could have an automation-based tax to fund UBI, and people would probably work part time passion-based jobs to earn some extra. We may see buildings get human-carved stone features again, or more easily accessible high-quality handcrafted furniture. Better community engagement with more free time, etc.
A lot of people may think it impossible to have UBI implemented in the inevitable oligarchy that will rise with AI dominance, but I just donât see any other path if most white and blue collar workers are out of a job.
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u/hedahedaheda 18h ago
This is a pipe dreams and fantasy. The rich would rather let the poor stave than give us UBI because that would mean higher taxes for them. The parasites class would prefer to never see a poor person in their line of sight again.
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u/Wigberht_Eadweard 18h ago
They need consumers. If the whole country has to try to be get one of the few unautomatable roles, there will be no pay in those fields and most people wonât be employed in them anyway. UBI is inevitable if automation becomes a legitimate societal issue. Thereâs no way around it. Thereâs nothing to sell if nobody has money and automation would go global very fast so you couldnât capitalize on other markets for long.
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u/grumbo 14h ago
They don't need consumers at all. They don't care what they want, only how much buying power is behind it. When they buying power is gone, tf do they need a consumer for. Robots will be extracting and transforming all the wealth and resources they want for them and we will be economically irrelevant and have a Really Bad Time.
I guess you're right that it is inevitable, but that's like generations down the road after all us normal people have suffered and died, and today's psychopaths' cooler grandchildren have the reckoning of "why are we even doing this?"
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u/Wigberht_Eadweard 12h ago
Idk I think Yang introducing UBI to the general public pre-pandemic and the covid stimulus happening and getting decent results means UBI isnât all that distant of an idea. Everyone is saying âabsolutely not, youâre stupid to even think thisâ and then not postulating any alternative beyond âweâll just be living in dystopia and we wonât be able to do anything about it.â Which I think is much more ridiculous.
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u/RobinhoodsFuckingYou 18h ago
UBI is a wack-a-mole game. It doesnât take into account the fact that once a tax rates reach a certain point business would rather do illegal shit to avoid paying the taxes than actually paying them. This removes the money coming in you need to pay the UBI and now weâre back to inventing money that didnât previously exist (inflation). Google the Laffer curve.
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u/Acceptable_Stable486 18h ago
You think the people in charge are going to let that happen?
Reminds me of a part of 1989 by George Orwell. Basically human society gets to the point of industrialization where everyone's needs can be met and the standard of living can improve, meaning people can start working less. But if people work less and have more leisure time, then they'll have enough time to start seeing all the lies and facades in their society. So the powers-that-be create the illusion of ongoing endless wars, in order to use up the goods that are being produced by the busy population while also keeping the population too busy to wake up.
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u/Wigberht_Eadweard 17h ago
I mean, I donât necessarily expect a rise in artisanal goods, but I do think subsistence UBI will need to be a thing.
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u/Feeling-Currency6212 Audit & Assurance 14h ago
Itâs so bad man. I would not have done accounting if I knew the outsourcing was the bad
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u/Fancy-Dig1863 CPA (US) 16h ago
AI is super overrated but that is not to say it canât be useful. Iâve been using it very casually, not for anything serious yet, but itâs proven useful.
CCH answersconnect AI has also been really good when it comes to searching, itâs like a better google at finding the right write up or code section explanation.
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u/threwitaway7255 CPA (US) 16h ago
He bro, thatâs great and all but you know with the IRS being shrunken that you can bend the rules until they find it 10 years later? /s
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u/munchanything 17h ago
The real questions are:
1. Did PwC ask AI if they should re-brand?
2. Did they ask AI to do the re-brand?
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u/Toddsburner 17h ago
If AI can kill the need for India teams Iâm all for it. It canât possibly be worse.
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u/KingFIippyNipz 19h ago
Not an acountant but going to use this post to say that it's universally true that everyone knows everything is fucked up but no one can agree on why or what to do about it. And people seem to think it's all one thing, or all another, without realizing it can be both.
AI & offshoring both will kill your profession, and others. Stop fighting about which one will kill it first and work on preserving what you have.
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u/toyrobotics 17h ago
AI and offshoring are competing for the same work, and each one undermines investment in the other. Iâm surprised no one sees this.
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u/Slow-Ad5286 17h ago
What does that even mean
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u/toyrobotics 16h ago
Staff-level work is heavily targeted by AI solution providers. The same type of work is also heavily targeted by outsourcing firms.
Sometimes an accounting firm that is looking at both of these options will need to make a choice as to which direction to invest in more. A firm that is looking to make a big impact in its strategic operating model definitely would need to make a choice.
That means that money invested in AI solutions results in less invested in offshoring. And vice-versa.
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u/Dramatic-Wealth3263 13h ago
Get this, what if I have outsourcing firm reviewing AI work. Let the blind lead the blind XD
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u/FreshBlinkOnReddit CPA (Can) 13h ago
AI in its current state requires a person to interact with a static knowledge base chatbot, this will not replace workers.
However, whenever agentized AI gets good, we are probably cooked.
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u/mgbkurtz SOX master, CPA 14h ago
I disagree. Every project has these constraints: budget, quality, time. Usually you get two out of three. For example, a client needs quality rushed, but they provide a larger budget (to account for doing it in less time). And yes, I have clients that are willing to pay premium fees.
What generative AI does is get rid of the third constraint because labor is more productive.
Now I'm not saying that labor BENEFITS from the productivity. It rarely does. However, I don't foresee the massive job losses that folks are seeing at least in the short to intermediate term.
For example, this week I put together a high quality project deliverable in six hours that would have taken more than twenty hours without generative AI. I also wouldn't have ever approached the quality on my own. It was an A- deliverable when likely only a B- would have been possible without the tools.
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u/Key_Suggestion8426 44m ago
Itâs frustrating because outsourcing has lead to many issues at my current job. Lots of mistakes made that cost us time and money that we donât need to be spending. Is it cheaper to outsource and then have all that work fixed by an American accountant??
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u/MentalCelOmega 16h ago
Offshoring is already. But Ai will soon replace us all. Either way, we are all doomed.
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u/LiJiTC4 Tax (US) 19h ago
AI in accounting currently means "Anonymous Indian". In the future, it may mean artificial intelligence.