By Sarah Yost, Senior Accountant, QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor
Terminator, WALL-E, Short Circuit and your accounting firm – what do these things have in common? Artificial intelligence (AI).
What is AI? “AI is a machine or computer software that acts with general human intelligence” (Watson). What it means for us in the accounting world is that it can take tons of data and filter through it looking for specific anomalies or similarities. AI is certainly not a new concept, but we will be seeing its benefits more and more when it comes to gaining efficiencies in the work we perform for our clients.
We’ve come a long way with technology as a society and Hall, Kistler has been keeping up with it on the accounting side. You may not know it, but Hall, Kistler, has been using AI software for years. Whether it’s IDEA Data Analysis Software with our audits and business valuations, Gruntworx with assisting in tax preparation or even bank feeds in QuickBooks matching up transactions, these tools have been helping us help you on a daily basis.
As a firm, we take technology (and the security that goes along with it) very seriously. We make sure to move towards hardware and software that will benefit our clients directly or indirectly. Some might wonder if the technology may someday put accountants out of business? On the contrary, now that we have the tools that improve our data mining and data entry, we can focus more time and effort on your big picture.
So while the term “big screen” in the title may have been a bit of a stretch, if you’ve seen some of the monitors we use in the office, it is actually somewhat accurate. We are constantly adapting and focused on the future for our clients and we are excited to watch as AI continues to take over “our world” to enhance yours.
Resource: Watson, Ryan, CPA (2017. May 16). Why Artificial Intelligence is Only the Beginning for Accountants.
