There are many perspectives. Looking at the share prices of Talenom and Administer, one could say that Aallon’s share price hasn’t collapsed yet. Granted, other companies have their own specific issues, while Aallon currently seems to be progressing without major problems. However, the future is fraught with uncertainty.
Easor, a developer of accounting software, mentioned in their intro video that, in their view, the accounting process can be fully automated. Currently, it’s at around 80%, but 100% is possible with AI assistance in the near future. Perhaps in just a few years. A large portion of advisory services in the future might also consist of AI combing through a client’s 100-page dataset in a matter of minutes, with a chatbot answering the client’s questions. A significant share of human experts might end up being laid off. Going forward, a computer will be faster, more knowledgeable, and provide more comprehensive answers than a human.
How will this be reflected in accounting firms’ pricing going forward? Probably no one can say for sure. Will 80% of accountants be laid off, making accounting firms hyper-profitable? Or will the price level of accounting services collapse—e.g., a client’s €1,000 bill becomes €200 in the future, causing accounting firms’ revenue levels to plummet? Inefficient accounting firms will die out, and those leveraging AI will survive. Perhaps some combination of these will happen; the ultimate outcome remains very uncertain.
Accounting firm clients still won’t want to handle bookkeeping, financial statements, and tax returns themselves in the future—that’s pretty certain. Extremely few people want to read through thousands of pages of legislation and tax guidelines; an entrepreneur simply doesn’t have the time. So, accounting firms will still be needed. Big changes could happen in the accounting landscape over the next 5 years, or maybe not. Large and small clients also have different needs, etc.