AI, applied: What to expect from AI 2.0

January 15, 2021 5:58 PM

Artificial intelligence is in its glory days now, with its promised applications being realized in a range of service areas for accountants. But AI is for more than just automating processes and creating efficiencies — now is the time for firms to be creative, thinking about new industry-specific applications and firm-specific pain points where AI can play a role.

Springboarded by the establishment of its AI lab in 2019, Top 100 Firm Armanino has been seriously investing in artificial intelligence with an eye on remaining ahead of the curve on efficiencies and client service.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption and development of many different technology areas. AI was one of them. Tom Mescall, partner-in-charge of consulting at Armanino, shares his thoughts on what artificial intelligence will bring to the accounting profession in the near future.

Industry-specific applications

“As we continue to invest in artificial intelligence, it’s going to be by industry,” Mescall said. “As we’ve gotten deeper into industries like SaaS, digital media advertising, nonprofits, performing arts, social services, real estate, hospitality, real estate, construction, it’s clear that the use of robotic process automation, AI and data analytics becomes pretty industry-specific.”

Many accountants choose to serve very specific verticals, getting to know them well

The cannabis opportunity

Being industry-specific is one thing, but when it comes to this specific industry — cannabis — the opportunity is booming. Five new states voted to legalize cannabis in 2020. Now the plant is legal for all adult use in 11 states, and for medical use in 34. Federal legality is expected in the near future. With that, the need to manage the accounting for this new business exploding, and AI can play a major role in creating efficiencies there as well.

“We’ve been willing to invest in cannabis where maybe other firms haven’t,” Mescall said. “We’ve built out integration, data analytics, benchmarking, seed-to-sale capabilities.”

And when it comes to benchmarking, “That’s what matters to clients,” Mescall said. “What is everybody else doing in the industry, and how do I stack up?”

The importance of bots

A bot is essentially an AI program written to perform certain tasks, which can be very tasks, and they can be applied/deployed in any area that can be automated.

“Bots have been the area where CFOs have specifically looked to find efficiencies out of things like the month-end close, approvals and expense reports,” Mescall said. “Anything that needs to be approved is great for a bot. You can get program rules, validations and checks just like a human would do.”

Bots have been around for years — but now their technology is more sophisticated and usable than ever.They provide an opportunity for firms to solve targeted problems and gain efficiencies without a necessarily high investment.

“In the past 10 months, the deployment of bots has really accelerated,” Mescall added. “In the past, we were demystifying AI — it was on people’s tongues, but they didn’t know how to use it

Now companies are saying. ‘I have to use it because I need to be efficient.’”

Read more of Mescall’s thoughts here.