Artificial Intelligence in Accounting, Auditing and Finance

Artificial intelligence brings the Fourth Industrial Revolution to the world of finance.

The evolution of technology in the financial services industry has unfolded in distinct phases. Manual bookkeeping dominated until the mid-20th century, when innovators introduced computerized systems to streamline recordkeeping. This shift laid the groundwork for the next major development in the 1990s, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which integrated financial functions across departments. In the 2000s, cloud-based financial platforms emerged, allowing for scalable storage, improved collaboration, and more agile services.

Today, the industry is undergoing a significant transformation due to the rise of artificial intelligence, a herald of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Unlike past technologies that mainly automated routine tasks, AI brings cognitive capabilities such as evaluating complicated patterns, learning from data, and enabling decisions previously reserved for human judgment.

The AI revolution is evident in how financial services providers handle data, make decisions, and engage customers. Firms can now process massive amounts ...