RSMUS.comAccounting and finance teams have been more enthusiastic about AI than any previous technology.
To put that into perspective, in 2020, only around 2% of large accounting firms had implemented machine learning or AI. Now, it’s 58%. And by the end of the decade, one can easily imagine AI being an everyday tool for every financial professional.
It’s undeniable that AI is transforming accounting and finance as we speak. For financial professionals eager to evolve with the times and address longstanding problems, it will be essential to understand how the core capabilities of AI are applied in financial applications. What, specifically, can AI do to help professionals be more efficient, productive, and informed?
That’s what we will cover in this blog. Below are three ways that AI proves to be both a natural fit and an unprecedented asset for accounting and finance teams.
Robotic Process Automation – Upgrade Financial Operations
AI can put repetitive processes on autopilot thanks to robotic process automation. With the ability to intelligently follow assigned rules and prescribed processes, robotic process automation allows AI to independently handle many responsibilities that people used to do manually, especially around finding, integrating, organizing, and analyzing data. Not only can AI replicate this work, but it can perform it much faster than humans, and with significantly fewer errors.
The applications are immense in a field like accounting, where many processes follow a series of repetitive steps. Everything from transaction processing to report generation and compliance checks, which are all time-consuming and sensitive, can be assigned to robotic process automation instead.
Sage Intacct Copilot, the powerful AI tool built into all versions of the software, utilizes a GL outlier detection AI tool to help accountants identify anomalies. Robotic process automation searches continually for unusual activity or inconsistent data, then alerts someone when red flags appear, allowing accountants to focus on this issue only when something requires their attention. Copilot takes a similar advantage of robotic process automation to make other workflows feel effortless, including accounts payable and the month-end close. It can do the work most accountants would rather avoid, freeing up time, energy, and ideas to focus elsewhere.
Natural Language Processing – Eliminate IT Obstacles
One of the singular features of AI is the ability to interact with the technology using simple requests and human speech patterns rather than a programming language or rigid interface. That’s thanks to natural language processing, which turns normal language into a format machines can understand, and vice versa.
Accountants have grown used to complex solutions with long learning curves and frequent reliance on IT. Natural language processing, by contrast, makes it easy and intuitive to interact with AI on a high level almost immediately. It redefines the relationship between accountants and technology.
That difference is on full display in Copilot. There’s no need to navigate a maze of menus or work through a DIY report builder when people can use queries like “What’s our P&L compared to budget this month?” or “Show me unposted AP entries.” Everything from searching for information to running a global company gets easier when accountants speak the same language as their key tools. Since Copilot comes with Sage Intacct out of the box, and using it feels so simple, people start benefiting from the AI on day one.
Data Analysis and Predictive Analytics – Find Signals Faster
The massive amounts of processing power behind AI, combined with the huge sets of historical data at its disposal, takes data analysis and predictive analysis to new heights. Analysts can look further into the future, see in greater detail, and increase their success rates—all while putting less time and energy into forecasting.
Accountants are taking advantage of AI-driven data analysis and predictive analytics to forecast market movements amid dynamic economic conditions, assess risks with high levels of granularity and accuracy, and identify investment opportunities that could have been overlooked.
Sage Intacct uses Copilot to extend the breadth and depth of data analysis and predictive analytics, giving all financial professionals a shortcut to find in-depth insights. It currently helps with conducting real-time budget variances and completing predictive cash flow analysis, but the financial applications are expanding rapidly as AI becomes instrumental to accounting.
Introduce AI to Accounting With Sage Intacct and RSM
Copilot demonstrates the amazing potential of AI in accounting, and it’s a standard feature in all versions of Sage Intacct.
If you’re ready to see it in action, contact RSM about a demo of Sage Intacct and Copilot.
