Agent AI has a big promise to accounting professionals. The AI agent states, “software that at least some degree of autonomy can make decisions to achieve any goal, such as booking flights, sending invoices, buying gifts, and more, as well as tools outside of its own. It is defined as software that can interact with: certain human guidance (by Chris Gaetano here) is poised to revolutionize the business model of accounting firms.
Generic AI is already leading this change, and AI agents take it to another level and essentially restructure how companies win. Below are three ways that AI agents can force business models to calculate in accounting:
1. Death accelerates at billable times
Billable times have been monitored for years, but Agent AI accelerates its final mise at an unprecedented rate. why? AI agents can scale 100 times faster than humans at some of their labor costs, allowing them to work in parallel for more speed and efficiency. In this world of agent AI, traditional time and material billing models become increasingly meaningless.
Imagine an army of AI agents.
Generate many tax returns with reasonable “judgment” for initial reviews in the background, reducing the need for manual first pass preparation. Immediately adjust financial statements to identify abnormalities and inconsistencies more accurate than those who do this work; report overnight, without the need for draft audit overtime or additional staffing; speed and consistency; Improve the
I can’t stress this enough. Companies that successfully move towards value-based pricing will become winners of this new Agent AI economy. I’ve heard of companies that set pricing for technology or pass specific software costs in response to the time saved to achieve results. If we want our profession to flourish, this is not enough.
A true transformation requires a change in the definition of value, price, and how value is delivered. It’s time to strip the band-aids and make an effort.
2. Current outsourcing models are outdated
Outsourcing is a great capacity expansion and cost optimization solution for businesses looking to grow their clients and provide services well. Often outsourced roles focus on less complicated and more decisive tasks, such as settlements and tax preparation, and are managed by more senior accountants at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
These are exactly the types of tasks that an AI agent takes over. As agent AI technology improves, businesses can ensure that AI agents do not get sick, work 24/7 without burnout, and quickly “onboard” their data company-wide training repositories I increasingly appreciate that I can and not leave it to something else. A expensive job. It is inevitable that agent AI will ultimately replace the human-based outsourcing model, as we know it.
Outsourcing companies won’t disappear overnight and there are still some great ROIs to get from today’s further investments. However, over time, the nature of outsourcing evolves dramatically. Many of my talented friends in the accounting outsourcing business are already aware of this change and are actively working to redefine the value that future outsourcing brings to the company.
3. Transforming cost structure and labor metrics
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said something smart at the CES show in January: “Every company’s IT department will become the HR department of AI agents in the future.” He points to the inevitable changes in companies that will soon “hire” AI agents along with human employees.
Today we determine the effectiveness of engagement based on KPIs, such as realization, utilization, and billing. But in a world where AI agents run by increasing parts of their work with humans, how profitability, cost structure, and engagement performance is changing.
Key shifts include:
The impact on human staff is quantified in different ways and explicitly includes the ability to manage AI agents for compensation considerations. Performance metrics evolve – how AI agents and human staff measure the performance, productivity and direct contributions to success will increase budgets. Companies are investing in AI agents to increase their “working ability.”
This transformation requires new benchmarks, financial models, and allocation of internal engagement costs between IT and HR.
How to prepare for the world of agent AI
Companies that win this era of Agent AI are companies that actively approach the evolution of business models and rethink their approach to value creation, talent management and financial modeling.
1. Moving to value-based pricing
Companies that are too long to make this transition will struggle to justify fees in an environment where AI agents dramatically reduce the time and costs required to deliver services. The important steps to obtain are:
Identify high value services that may be separated from time and material billing. The client becomes the client about why he pays for the outcome, not the effort. Rather than recording for hours, it’s about client results.
2. Evolving your workforce strategy
The future workforce is hybrid. Humans and AI agents work side by side. Companies that cannot adapt to this reality are overpaid for AI or for human labor that falls behind competitors who optimize AI-human collaboration. The important steps to obtain are:
Along with the development of Agent AI, we work with outsourcing partners who are actively evolving their business models and technology capabilities.
3. Adjust cost structure and performance metrics
Companies that don’t rethink profitability, cost allocation, and engagement performance tracking are flying blindly in the world of agent AI. The important steps to obtain are:
Redefine the impact on staff performance – how well do human staff work together with technology and AI, and collaborate on performance and reward models? It handles AI investments not only as technology costs, but also as a labor expansion strategy.
AI agents are no longer a distant concept. They are not ready for primetime for mainstream CPA audiences, but they are here and slowly but surely changing the accounting profession. Companies that accept these changes with strategic intentions will thrive in an agent AI economy.
