The use of AI has already had a tremendous impact in many industries, and the tax and accounting sector is no exception.
In the Thomson Reuters 2025 Future of Professionals Report, respondents estimated that AI would save them an average of five hours per week in the coming year. As automation and AI technologies continue to streamline tax preparation and compliance-related tasks, accountants have a golden opportunity to shift their focus toward more profitable advisory services.
But how do CPAs take advantage of emerging trends like agentic AI and end-to-end automation? Let’s look at the impact of AI on accounting and see how automated preparation, research, and advisement, autonomous systems can support a more profitable tax practice.
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What is the impact of AI on accounting preparation?
How can AI support the shift to advisory services?
What is the impact of AI on accounting roles in the workplace?
What will be the impact of AI on accounting accuracy?
AI-powered solutions from Thomson Reuters
What is the impact of AI on accounting preparation?
Tax preparation has long been a cornerstone for most practices. However, many forward-looking firms are increasingly focused on growth through not only traditional compliance but also through an advisory service model that incorporates value-based pricing, strategic client expansion, and technology integration.
As more and more accounting firms make this shift, AI-powered software plays a pivotal role in reducing time spent on routine preparation tasks. By streamlining data entry, document indexing, and compliance research, accounting firms have more bandwidth to home in on specialty services that make use of their expertise.
How can AI support the shift to advisory services?
As AI increasingly handles many of the routine tasks traditionally performed by accountants, professionals can refocus their time and skills on offering personalized advice and strategic insights to clients.
Here are some examples of the AI’s impact on accounting advisory services:
- Automating compliance tasks: AI reduces the burden of manual work related to tax preparation, transaction classification, and reconciliations. This frees up teams to focus on helping clients with business growth, financial planning, and risk management.
- Offering data analysis and insights: AI tools can sift through large data sets and find insights that you might have missed. Accountants can use that analysis to generate detailed reports and provide forward-looking, data-driven advice that supports better business decision-making.
- Enabling real-time financial monitoring: AI systems can continuously monitor client data and alert accountants to anomalies or potential opportunities in real time. Tax pros have the power to proactively engage with clients and offer timely advice, moving beyond reactive, after-the-fact consultations.
- Transforming tax research: By synthesizing expertly written guidance and analysis, an AI-powered tax research solution draws on thousands of primary sources and expert editorial commentary to quickly surface relevant summaries in everyday language, complete with citations.
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With AI-powered solutions now capable of shouldering traditional compliance work, accountants have the opportunity to establish more meaningful, enduring connections with clients, and to create a more profitable and sustainable business model.
Predictive forecasting
To support this advisory-driven vision, AI-powered insights into customer behavior and preferences can create strategies tailored to each client’s tax plan and analyze market forecasts with predictive analytics. With access to advanced data insights, professionals are better able to predict emerging trends and curate create effective strategies to align with them.
Error detection
Even the best tax professionals are prone to errors during a long, tiresome workday. Automated data entry and document drafting can help reduce errors and increase accuracy when preparing financial statements. AI tools can also help quickly detect anomalies during audit or investigation processes – allowing firms to respond swiftly should any discrepancies arise.
What will be the impact of AI on accounting accuracy?
Data privacy and accuracy are two of the most commonly cited reasons for AI skepticism among accountants. But rather than using those hesitations as a reason to procrastinate, more and more proactive firms are choosing fiduciary-grade technology vendors backed expert content and years of industry authority.
While consumer-grade solutions scrape information from random internet sources and hallucinate answers, industry-specific AI-powered tax research tools enable are trained on domain specific data, with citations backing every answer.
It is also wise for CPAs to look for relationship-focused technology partners who specialize in implementing new technologies into existing systems. With careful planning backed by an attentive support team, the success rates of AI technology adoption tend to skyrocket.
AI-powered solutions from Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters combines cutting edge AI development with decades of industry expertise to deliver some of the most game-changing, trusted solutions on the market. Here’s a look at the impact of AI on accounting firms that work with Thomson Reuters.
1040 returns that are ready to review
Ready to Review leverages agentic AI to automate an unprecedented share of the 1040 tax process. With fully autonomous, fiduciary-grade intelligence throughout gathering and preparation, your firm can turn preparers into reviewers and reviewers into advisory-focused strategists.
Here’s how Ready to Review users experience 1040 tax prep:
- Automated document extraction and verification: Extracts relevant data from prior-year returns and categorizes the information with agentic AI
- Missing document alerts: Automatically flags missing forms during intake
- Smart data mapping: Routes extracted data to the correct tax return fields using prior-year comparisons
- Cloud-based scalability: With no hardware commitments, firms can scale Ready to Review seamlessly to meet their seasonal needs
- Easy e-filing: Track filing status in a centralized e-file dashboard
- Single-platform efficiency: Juggling between several unintegrated systems isn’t a concern. The entire 1040 prep process is managed in one workspace
Rethinking research with CoCounsel Tax
CoCounsel Tax is the trusted agentic AI assistant for tax professionals, designed to simplify tax research and automate complex workflows. It combines cutting-edge agentic AI technology and deep industry expertise to:
- Deliver Checkpoint-backed answers to complex tax questions
- Analyze tax scenarios and develop comprehensive strategies for each client
- Review complex tax forms such as 1040, 1120-S, and 1065
“With [CoCounsel], AI, and our ability to automate what we do, we’re able to accomplish the same tasks and compete against much larger firms.”
Owner & CIO, BLISS 1041
AI-informed advisory strategy
Read to Advise can unlock your firm’s advisory potential with AI-powered insights, automated workflows, and expert implementation guidance. Here’s how it turns client data into business opportunities:
- Ranks advisory strategies by relevance and potential impact
- Guides users through client conversations
- Auto-generates client-ready reports that justify advisory fees
“The AI-guided tools in Ready to Advise will really help us delegate some of the execution of strategies from that manager-led advisor role into potentially more junior roles, giving them a clearer picture to implement the strategies.”
CPA, Founder & Managing Partner, Lanphier LLP
AI-powered audit expertise
CoCounsel Audit combines all the audit knowledge, automation, and analysis your firm needs into one platform. Here’s how your team can conduct audits faster and smarter:
- Citation-backed answers from FASB, GASB, AICPA, and IFRS in minutes
- Auto-generated audit workpapers with proper citations and consistent formatting
- Guided agentic AI templates that complete multi-step audit tasks independently
“We use CoCounsel day to day and this saves a ton of time. What would take an hour to do, CoCounsel can do in the matter of five minutes.”
Partner, Harris, Hardy & Johnstone, P.C.
For more information on advisory services and the impact of AI on the accounting industry, download our exclusive white paper to see agentic AI is, how it works, and why your firm should implement it:
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