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30 CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT

“The most limiting factor for AI will be Donald believes that this is an area “Managing this period of transition is
consumer acceptance, and it will only where the profession should be going to be a real challenge, a balancing
be adopted once it can be shown to taking the initiative in the immediate act,” Donald says. “And in the longer
be superior in function to the human future, rather than allowing others term, there will be even more issues
equivalent, as well as reliable and safe,” to establish themselves as experts to address. Some employees may
Donald says. “The transition, when it on the advisory element in AI. The have to work for rather than with an AI
starts, will be fast. There is a real risk key area of opportunity lies in the system, and that is a big psychological
that it may happen too quickly for the potential to provide guidance about shift. Managers will have to work much
ethical issues to be fully considered, the most suitable AI system and its harder to attract and retain staff in this
understood and mitigated.” implementation, as well as any bias and situation.”
ethical issues. This will not necessarily
“The capacity of AI systems to require high-level technical knowledge, He foresees a new period of re-learning
process huge amounts of data but will be more about business and for managers and leaders, so they
means that they can provide strategic advice. have a conceptual knowledge of the
analysis, reports and new insights technology and what it may deliver. The
in faster timeframes.” Dr Mathew spread of 5G communication will assist
Donald FCPA A I development. Faster
For the accounting profession, AI communication speeds
raises a host of challenges. Technology will underpin AI-
has already had a crucial impact on integrated driverless
the traditional functions of recording urban vehicles,
and reconciliation, and AI is going to drones, and even
drive that even further. While many power generation.
finance professionals now focus on
data analysis and trend insight, these Nebot agrees about
areas would appear to also be open the importance of
to AI disruption. This is the case for 5G. “The game
accountants in both corporate roles changer will be
and public practice. if 5G can provide
the bandwidth
“The capacity of AI systems to process and latencies
huge amounts of data means that they required to move the
can provide analysis, reports and new computational power
insights in faster timeframes,” Donald outside vehicles,” he
notes. “The potential for AI to integrate says, “but there are a lot of
systems between organisations in new challenges to address before we
ways has already been demonstrated get to that.”
overseas. In Australia, B2B and B2C
systems have been around for a while, Donald believes that many businesses
especially in the space of warehousing, are likely to soon be interested in AI-
deliveries and orders. Data connectivity based automatic phone systems for
is increasing globally, as seen in the As AI moves squarely into workplaces, customers or will consider drones,
social media and marketing fields.” driverless cars or robots to do routine
managers will likely be presented with tasks. The challenge for the accountant
CHANGING ROLE the task of explaining to staff that their is to provide the tools to determine if
roles have changed or diminished, or
FOR FINANCE even been eliminated. Staff, especially the proposals are worthwhile, and to
understand the issues arising from the
PROFESSIONALS those with lower levels of skill, will likely technology.
become worried about their future,
and managers will have to stretch “Advisers need to be on top of the
While there are significant problems, themselves to provide workplaces that technical areas of AI while providing
there are also many new opportunities people want to work in. On the other broader advice on issues like
for finance professionals. The removal side of the coin, highly skilled people redundancy, upgrades and system
of routine tasks will allow financial will become more valuable. integration,” he says. “There are
specialists to get closer to business many potential new areas for finance
decision-making, providing more These people may prefer to work from specialists who are willing to get
of their expert opinions and advice. home, or under new arrangements and involved, but they need to start now.
To take full advantage of this, they for higher pay – and they will be making
may have to overhaul their business such demands at the same time that Source: CPA Australia. Copyright@2020
structures, procedures and skills base, the less skilled are being replaced by CPA Australia Ltd. Used by permission.
so they can offer up-to-date advice in AI.
almost real time.

www.cma-srilanka.org | Volume 06 - No. 2 - September 2021