Achieving only a 47.4% in its accounting exams, it seems ChatGPT won’t be popping the prosecco after an offer from the Big 4 any time soon.
That doesn’t mean AI is a write-off for the accounting profession. So, how could it be useful to an accountant today?
There are plenty of tasks that go into running an efficient practice where AI could help.
In this article, you’ll explore three ways AI can help carry the heavy load of running an accountancy practice and free up time, which can be spent on supporting clients.
Included are some practical prompts and ideas for you to get the ball rolling..
Here’s what we cover:
But first… what is AI?
1. Create social media content
2. Spark inspiration
3. Speed up existing marketing and communication tasks
Before you go, a word of warning
Final thoughts on using AI at your practice
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But first… what is AI?
At its core, AI seeks to replicate human cognitive functions in machines, enabling them to process large volumes of data, recognise patterns, make predictions, and adapt to changing circumstances.
AI systems can operate autonomously, learning from experience and continuously improving their performance without explicit programming.
AI is built on various subfields, including:
Machine learning (ML): ML algorithms help computers analyse data and improve task performance over time. This is used for tasks such as image recognition and recommendation systems.
Deep learning: A subset of ML, deep learning focuses on neural networks with multiple layers, which has been useful in image and speech recognition.
Natural language processing (NLP): NLP allows machines to understand, interpret, and generate human language, essential for chatbots and text analysis.
Computer vision: This enables machines to interpret visual information, crucial for facial recognition and object detection.
Reinforcement learning: This helps agents learn sequences of decisions to maximise rewards, applied in robotics and game playing.
The most zeitgeisty AI at the moment is ChatGPT.
It’s primarily an application of NLP and uses deep learning techniques to understand and generate human-like text responses.
It’s designed for tasks related to text-based conversation, which makes it a handy tool for you to use in your marketing function as an accountant.
Now we’ve covered what AI is, let’s dive in and show you how you can use it at your practice.
1. Create social media content
It’s always best to start with the most obvious first.
Yes. You can use generative AI to create content for you.
Posting on LinkedIn and other social media can spook the best of us. Who hasn’t cringed their way through writing a humblebrag post? This is where AI can step in for you and get the ball rolling with your practice’s social media presence.
Will this content be the best? Maybe, maybe not… But let’s give it a whirl.
Here we fed ChatGPT the following prompt:
I am writing a post on LinkedIn to promote my accounting firm’s forecasting services. Write a post to market these services on LinkedIn, emphasising the benefits of forecasts for small businesses.
Here’s what ChatGPT came up with for us:
Title: “Unlock financial success with our forecasting services for small businesses
