AI impact · verified capabilities
How AI is changing the work of Accountants and Auditors
For accountants and auditors, verified AI tools work on invoices, transaction matching, tax returns and audit evidence. They prepare and flag; sign-off and professional judgement stay human.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-27 · O*NET 13-2011.00 · Mapping confidence: high
Where it touches the work
- Invoices and bookkeeping: fields are extracted and transactions matched or categorized for review.
- Tax returns: AI assists review of client returns and forms inside professional tax software.
- Audit: tools support extracting and testing audit evidence; depth of use varies by firm.
Verified capabilities (up to 5)
- NowEvidence: Limited
AI-assisted invoice field extraction
What AI can assist with: AI extracts invoice headers, totals, dates, vendor details, and line items into structured records for accounts-payable review.
Practical meaning: a defined part of this workflow can be automated; judgement and exceptions remain human work.
Human responsibility: you set the rules, handle exceptions and approve results.
Source: Microsoft - NowEvidence: Moderate
AI-assisted transaction matching and categorization
What AI can assist with: AI proposes matches between bank-feed transactions and existing records or suggests accounting categories for human review.
Practical meaning: this can speed up part of the task, but still needs human direction and review.
Human responsibility: you review every output and keep the final decision.
Source: Intuit - EmergingEvidence: Strong
Tax-return preparation review
What AI can assist with: Assists review of client tax returns and forms inside professional tax software.
Practical meaning: this can speed up part of the task, but still needs human direction and review.
Human responsibility: you review every output and keep the final decision.
Source: Thomson Reuters - EmergingEvidence: Moderate
Audit evidence review
What AI can assist with: Supports extraction and testing of audit evidence; depth of use varies by firm.
Practical meaning: this can speed up part of the task, but still needs human direction and review.
Human responsibility: you review every output and keep the final decision.
Source: Thomson Reuters - NowEvidence: Limited
Agentic multi-step business-process execution with tools and approvals
What AI can assist with: Thomson Reuters describes agentic AI for tax, audit, and accounting that plans and executes multi-step professional workflows while keeping human expertise in the loop.
Practical meaning: a defined part of this workflow can be automated; judgement and exceptions remain human work.
Human responsibility: you set the rules, handle exceptions and approve results.
Source: Thomson Reuters
More source-verified AI capabilities
Additional reviewed research for this occupation. These do not replace the core capability list or prove real-world adoption.
Multimodal extraction and reasoning across documents, tables, images, and forms
Thomson Reuters says CoCounsel Document Analysis can review client documents and extract critical data for audit testing and cited workpapers.
Evidence: Limited
Practical meaning: this can speed up part of the task, but still needs human direction and review.
Verified source
What remains human responsibility
Materiality decisions, professional scepticism, signing opinions and client advice remain the accountant's responsibility.
Evidence limits
Each capability is verified from the cited source only. A source shows that a capability exists; it does not establish adoption, deployment depth or outcomes in any particular workplace.
Three practical ways to adapt
- Test invoice extraction on a small batch of sample invoices and compare every field.
- Track which AI-suggested transaction categories you override, and why.
- Define what evidence an AI-assisted audit step must leave for the file.
Short answers
- Does AI sign off on anything?
- No. The verified tools prepare, match and flag. Review and sign-off stay with qualified people.
- Is it used in tax work?
- The registry documents AI-assisted review of client tax returns inside professional tax software.
Sources
- Microsoft — Document Intelligence invoice model
- Intuit — How AI suggestions help match and categorize bank transactions
- Intuit — QuickBooks Accounting Agent
- Thomson Reuters — AI for tax preparation workflow automation — Ready to Review
- Thomson Reuters — CoCounsel Audit & Accounting
- Thomson Reuters — Agentic multi-step business-process execution with tools and approvals
- Thomson Reuters — Multimodal extraction and reasoning across documents, tables, images, and forms
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