Chartered Accountants Ireland has released a position paper on the future of AI and accountancy.
The institute, which has 40,000 members, called on the government for investment in “AI-ready” infrastructure, targeted assistance to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt AI and the integration of AI skills in education.
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The paper emphasises that in an AI-led economy, accountants will remain central as trusted business advisers, providing governance, ethical oversight and assurance to underpin accountable decision-making.
It rejects claims that AI will displace accountants, instead depicting the profession as adapting to work alongside new tools.
It underlines that accountants should lead AI deployment in finance, ensuring responsible use, firm controls and dependable outputs.
Chartered Accountants Ireland CEO Rosemary Keogh said: “There is a common belief that AI will replace accountants, but the evidence simply doesn’t support that. It reflects a misunderstanding of what modern accountants actually do.
“AI is automating routine, rules-based work and most accountants welcome that. It frees them up to focus on higher-value roles like strategy, risk and decision making.
“The AI economy will run on trust. While AI can process extraordinary volumes of data, automate complex tasks and generate insights at unprecedented speed, trust in those outputs depends on human oversight, ethical judgement and professional accountability.”
The paper notes that AI is already in use across audit, reporting and advisory work.
Research by Chartered Accountants Worldwide found that 85% of respondents were willing to use AI tools. The figure increased to 91% among younger professionals.
The institute’s key recommendations to government include support for SMEs on their AI journey, investment in digital infrastructure, leadership on simplifying EU-level AI regulation and embedding AI literacy throughout the education system.
