AI isn’t hype. It’s already rewriting the rules in accounting.
The last time the industry felt a shift this big was the move to cloud software. That change took a decade. AI is moving much faster.
Michael Wood, co-founder of Translucent and Receipt Bank (now Dext), has written a piece in the September issue of XU Magazine that lays out ten things you need to know about AI and accounting. In this post we’re highlighting just one of them: the impact AI is going to have on accounting itself.
Accounting is shifting from service to product
Bookkeeping and accounting have always been service businesses. Clients hand over records, accountants process them, and reports are produced. Cloud software blurred this line by introducing the shared ledger, APIs, and bank feeds. Suddenly the client and accountant were looking at the same data in real time.
AI pushes this shift further. Tasks that once needed manual handling are being automated, packaged, and delivered as products. Agents and assistants will take on work that previously lived with people. Bank feeds and expense feeds showed how powerful this model can be. The next generation will go much further — reconciliation, credit control, payment runs, consolidations. Step by step, more of what accountants do becomes productised.
The effect is simple: the industry will look less like a service, more like a product ecosystem. That means big gains in productivity, but also big changes in how firms deliver value.
New competitors are aiming for your clients
The other side of the coin is competition. The first signs of AI in the profession will not only be the tools accountants use, but the tools marketed directly to their clients.
Venture capital is already moving into startups that promise to replace accountants outright. The logic is blunt: if you can build an AI accountant, why sell it to firms when you can sell it to businesses themselves? These players will compete on price, consistency, and convenience. Private equity is also backing acquisitions with plans to inject AI into established firms.
For practices, that means the pressure is coming fast. Some firms will lean into AI to broaden their roles and deepen productivity. Others will watch as clients are tempted by cheaper, more automated alternatives.
Michael’s full article in XU Magazine sets out the bigger picture: how AI is reshaping work, software, and the profession.
