The Intelligence Curve: How AI Will Reshape the Accounting Profession

Most firm leaders know AI is getting better. Far fewer have seen how fast, or what it can already do with real accounting work. On benchmark-based measures, the analytic capability of frontier AI models has risen from below the human average to the top fraction of a percent in under two years. In a recent controlled study, frontier models working month-end close tasks on their own were faster, cheaper and more accurate than every licensed CPA they were tested against, a group averaging more than five years of experience. This session examines what is actually changing, why accounting is more exposed than most professions, and what the evidence suggests for the next 18 to 24 months. You'll see where AI already performs at a professional level, where it doesn't yet, and why a human in the loop isn't an automatic safeguard. You'll leave knowing what the data says, what it doesn't, and which questions to put to your partners about pricing, staffing and capacity.