Nearly half of accountancy and finance professionals have reservations about the deployment of AI in hiring, according to an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) survey.
The ACCA’s annual Global Talent Trends Survey gathered responses from more than 11,000 professionals across 160 countries on workplace and career conditions.
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The survey identified the growing reliance on AI in talent acquisition as a central issue.
Around 48% of respondents voiced unease regarding algorithm-driven recruitment.
Concern is particularly elevated at the executive level, with 54% of board directors questioning the increasing role of automated tools in candidate selection.
In contrast, professionals based in accountancy practices and individuals belonging to Generation Z demonstrated greater openness towards the adoption of AI in the hiring process.
ACCA Skills, Sectors and Technology global head Jamie Lyon said: “This year’s survey findings raise an important question in an increasingly AI-driven environment, which is: ‘Is anyone truly winning in the AI-led finance job-hunting race right now?
“Organisations are increasingly using AI in their hiring activities, while some candidates themselves are using AI chatbots to support with their job applications.
“This is leading to a surge in the volume of applications, and growing complexity in recruitment systems at a time when young people in particular are facing a tough job market.”
A supplementary poll by the ACCA detailed several specific areas of concern including bias, data privacy, a lack of operational transparency and the absence of human interaction.
Although participants acknowledged that automated systems could reduce human prejudice during assessment, distrust remains regarding the datasets used to train these models.
The poll also highlighted worries over data security and the omission of tailored, personal feedback for job applicants.
The ACCA noted that automated hiring tools are set to remain an enduring feature of the recruitment landscape but stressed that implementing appropriate protections and risk mitigations will be critical as the technology continues to advance.
Lyon added: “AI is here to stay and offers many benefits, but it is important that hiring processes are fair, equitable, transparent and supported by appropriate human oversight.”
