Accounting used to be a profession. It was long hours, but the promise of a six-figure salary, healthy benefits, and ownership in the company. It was boring, but historically, it was a reliable stepping stone to the middle class for those who sought its refuge.
The Ghost of Accounting Past still haunts this reputation, but arguably, unfairly.
For years, the accounting profession has seen a decline in interest among young people due to academic requirements and exams, as well as long work weeks.
The promise of a six-figure salary was not attractive enough to justify these claims, especially amid concerns about the future of the information profession.
But the Ghost of Accounting Future would like a name.
In the next 15 years, 75% of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are expected to retire. And at this rate, no one is coming to replace them. Instead, the industry is lending its firms a bet that AI is the only way forward.
Whether they are right or wrong, it may be a race to the bottom.
Most of the workers working in white colonies faced a decline after the epidemic, due in large part to the employment of workers during the epidemic of the renewal policy and the zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP). At the same time, so-called “knowledge workers” leaders pressure employees to focus on “efficiency.”
The Big Four are no different. Despite workers already committing legal, unpaid overtime, many firms are downsizing and hoping to fill the gaps with artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
In this way, accounting firms are beginning to resemble technology firms; they used to be considered respectable employers, but the lack of stability and dwindling benefits made that questionable.
The number of junior positions has been drying up as firms push into AI, a trend seen across all white-collar fields. In accounting in particular, hiring of new graduates has fallen by 29 percent in recent years.
Gone are the days when a company will hire you if you have the required education, then train you. Hiring is very difficult, and expectations are there from day one.
This week, KPMG announced that it will lay off 10% of its US audit partners after failing to provide adequate voluntary pensions. It introduced new AI testing tools, revealing redundancy for managers. Last month, the company cut jobs in the UK after a “general downturn”.
It is not the only one. Last year, all of the Big Four firms cut jobs. In the case of EY, the company has outsourced many support roles for “cost management.” This is at odds with the “recession proof” reputation that many accounting firms have earned in the past.
As if layoffs weren’t demoralizing enough, other firms are cutting benefits, too. This week, Deloitte announced that it will cut benefits for various employees:
-
Paid Time Off (PTO) it is terminated for most employees between 5 and 10 days.
-
The company freezes Pension plan and plans no new accruals after 2026.
-
Paid Family Leave it was cut in half so that 8 weeks.
-
The company stopped offering a $50,000 Family Planning benefit to pay for IVF, adoption, or adoption costs.
Obviously, there is no change that suggests that the company appreciates the employees. They are also not doing a good job of making the industry an attractive place for new talent.
Tech firms are very profitable and have billions to spend on computers. Accounting firms are no different. This is one of the reasons why labor-intensive businesses are delaying investment in talent and focusing more on artificial intelligence (AI).
Some of these early investments were promising, especially in auditing. Over the past few years, the Big Four firms have spent just under $9 billion on internal AI development and collaboration.
-
Deloitte launched an internal “AI academy” and started playing with agents for specific tasks.
-
KPMG is working with Microsoft to integrate Azure, OpenAI, and Copilot across the company.
-
PwC partnered with OpenAI and became one of their largest enterprise customers in a short period of time.
-
EY plays with an AI test system.
Of course, AI integration is highly talent dependent. You have to have talent to build tools and use them. Many new AI-powered tools are new to business, too, helping to streamline internal tax, audit, or advisory processes.
However, it is important to have people on hand, as major mistakes are often not a luxury offered in these types of businesses. Finally, you need skilled people who can diagnose problems with technology, especially if it needs to be seen.
There is another element of integration, however: business scale. Clearly, this is a slippery slope.
Invest everything they want, it may not be the same as a fast, lean organization, especially if cost becomes a factor. It doesn’t mean where firms are going anytime soon; they still represent the gold standard of financial reporting among publicly traded companies.
However, there is a world where that is changing, especially considering how hard-working and fair the Big Four are. Ironically, they are playing a major role in accelerating the decline of the entire accounting profession, financially speaking.
Earlier this year, KPMG threatened to fire its auditor if it failed to maintain its use of AI tools. It successfully bullied Grant Thornton into giving it a 14% discount on those services.
If KPMG thought they were the only company doing such a thing, they are sorely mistaken. If their auditor is not exceptional, then it is clear that neither are they. That’s a slippery slope for firms. It’s also completely automated, because everyone knows the Big Four use AI.
Firms now know how to ask for a discount due to the use of tools, which means firms will be in a critical position to try to diversify existing revenue with new, purpose-built tools.
And if they’re wrong, they’ll still be labor-intensive, low-income organizations, even if their big investments in technology pay off.
Instead of enriching or complimenting existing work, these moves may turn the field into a race to the bottom.
Perhaps the problem is less severe in corporate accounting, where salaries and work-life balance are increasingly attractive to job seekers. A great deal of talent is moving forward in these very attractive jobs.
That’s a public accounting problem, though. It is a problem that affects all of us. There are a limited number of professional accountants out there, and computers can’t do everything by themselves.
It may be tempting to dream of a world where accounting is largely computerized, but oversight will still be necessary. Obviously, technology can enhance the capabilities of existing talent, but the tools are only as good as the one using them.
The Big Four firms publish annual reports to assess the magnitude of the mistakes they missed. During the pandemic, firms had record errors. These have declined in recent years, but still account for around a fifth of audits.
Technology can help with some of this, but it will never fix these problems. Why? However, because apparently, many errors could not be solved by the AI agent alone. The main misses were revenue recognition (about a third of errors), internal controls (more than half of the errors), and other factors.
This problem, no doubt, has been exacerbated by a global shortage of accounting skills from top to bottom. It is a problem that is getting worse, with no signs of improvement.
In fact, you’re less likely to get much higher wages if you don’t have better benefits. Or, more controversially, the relaxation of the educational requirements for accounting jobs – which is sure to be a slap in the face to many career accountants who work hard for their credit hours and those three letters after their name.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on April 24, 2026, where it appeared first in the Markets category. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.
