At a glance
- Choose role-specific AI tools based on your primary responsibilities and data needs.
- Prioritise data security and quality when selecting AI solutions.
- Start with tools that enhance communication and analysis capabilities.
The finance technology marketplace is becoming increasingly crowded with AI software growing at an exponential rate. With hundreds of vendors offering AI-powered solutions, from basic automations to sophisticated predictive tools, finding genuinely useful applications tailored to your needs requires cutting through considerable marketing noise.
A recent report showed nearly a quarter of finance teams in the UK have fully embedded AI within their operations – the most of any sector – though Jeevan Tokhi, Head of Product at BGL, notes widespread adoption is still developing.
“AI is not mainstream for finance professionals such as accountants, CFOs and bookkeepers, but its use is slowly growing,’ he says.
Perhaps it’s because integrating AI can feel daunting. Lance Rubin, founder of financial modelling advisory group Model Citizn, cautions against technology distraction.
“Don’t get hung up on the AI tool or the concept of artificial intelligence,” he says. “The most important thing is whether you’re using quality data as best you can. AI is simply an advanced form of decision-making built on top of a data foundation.”
Without clean, consistently structured financial data flowing efficiently between your systems, even the most advanced AI tools are likely to produce unreliable results, potentially causing errors, compliance issues and wasted investment. Getting your data foundations right ensures AI solutions deliver real value.
Once you’ve got your foundations in place, how do you know which AI tool is best for your role? Here are four effective solutions for accountants in practice, BAS agents, CFOs and in-house finance teams.
For accountants in practice: Claude and ChatGPT
Tokhi says large language models (LLMs) offer significant value for public accountants working with SMEs.
“Many start by using Chat GPT and Grammarly to draft client correspondence, summarise email conversations, or create website blogs and marketing content,” he says.
Rubin agrees, noting most AI offerings fall short for serious financial modelling work.
“The immediate value for finance professionals isn’t in replacing complex modelling with AI, it’s in enhancing communication, research and synthesising complex information,” he says. “That’s where tools like Claude and ChatGPT deliver genuine value today.”
“LLMs are powerful for communicating complex tax law changes. These tools can synthesise convoluted legislation into clear, actionable guidance for clients – something that previously took hours of expert interpretation.”
For BAS Agents: fireflies.ai
For BAS agents managing compliance deadlines and technical reporting requirements, AI meeting tools that automatically transcribe client consultations and extract action items can deliver significant productivity gains.
“AI meeting notetakers, such as Fireflies, Gemini or Otter…combine AI with OCR to extract and analyse data from PDFs,” Tokhi says.
“More advanced AI users will create custom bots or LLMs to read and interpret financial statements and generate detailed analytical reports and written commentary.”
Rubin advises LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT are also helpful for these professionals.
“BAS agents could leverage AI to research new legislation quickly and explain technical GST coding issues in bite-sized concepts,” he says. “The speed of communication is where they’ll see immediate value.”
For CFOs: Etani.ai
Rubin says CFOs, who need to understand both commercial and strategic aspects of business, modern AI excels at creativity, communicating persuasively and even preparing compelling pitch decks.
A local Australian AI tool, Etani, helps finance leaders in business access strategic insights quickly while managing limited analytics resources. By combining financial data from systems like Xero with operational metrics, Etani helps identify relationships between performance numbers that typically remain hidden in siloed systems.
The natural language interface eliminates technical barriers meaning users can query complex data directly during strategic planning or investor preparations and get a holistic view of the business’ health without having to wade through PowerBI reports.
For in-house accountants: Planful
Automation tools such as Planful are popular with private accountants for streamlining budgeting and forecasting, enhancing reporting consistency and maintaining comprehensive audit trails.
Don’t get hung up on the AI tool or the concept of artificial intelligence. The most important thing is whether you’re using quality data as best you can.”
Lance Rubin, Founder, Model Citizn
The platform now integrates AI capabilities through Planful AI to streamline workflows, detect anomalies and plan with precision, representing a broader trend of established finance and accounting platforms embracing AI. Common tools like Sage, Oracle and Xero now also promise AI features that save time and money.
Starting safely in the AI ‘Wild West’
Rubin cautions to be “extremely careful with data security when adopting a new AI tool, especially if you handle sensitive client data.” “It’s worth aligning yourself with technology from established companies with clear security protocols,” he says.
When implementing any AI tool, Tokhi recommends creating an organisational AI policy and completing short courses on prompt engineering to get the most from these systems.
Rubin advises to start small. “Embrace the benefits but get comfortable with tools progressively,” he says. “The bottom line is you don’t need to worry about the future of AI itself; you need to worry about humans using AI who will outpace you if you don’t adapt.”
The IPA’s AI for Accountants digital short course covers the basic concepts of artificial intelligence to apply in your practice or your clients through real-world examples and interactive discussions. More information here.
