I also terminated the contract with my holding company’s accounting firm after Claude handled the figures so efficiently. However, I wouldn’t draw conclusions for the whole industry based on this just yet. Accounting for a single person with few transactions could have been done manually before as well, if one had just bothered to spend some time on it.
In slightly larger companies with several employees and numerous clients, things immediately become significantly more complex. Ultimately, the entrepreneur is responsible for the accuracy of the accounting, and most don’t have the time, desire, or expertise to verify the results churned out by AI. For example, if the AI were to pay salaries incorrectly due to misinterpreting collective bargaining agreement (TES) clauses, an entrepreneur wouldn’t want to be the one sorting that out themselves. So, I believe that accountants will still be needed in the future and that people will be willing to pay for outsourced accounting.
But AI will certainly change the industry, and an individual accountant will be able to manage significantly more clients. Accounting firms will then have to balance between potential price pressure and continuous efficiency improvements. In connection with the financial statements, I already lowered my long-term growth forecasts for Aallon significantly, partly to account for these factors. But there is definitely uncertainty over the industry’s long-term development, and that is also reflected in Aallon’s low valuation.