How to use artificial intelligence today | Editor's Pick - Accountancy Age

Nash Riggins, Author at Accountancy Age writes, Artificial intelligence is no longer a piece of science fiction. 

Photo: Accountancy Age

Enterprising fintechs are rolling out an increasingly wide range of AI solutions poised to redefine the way accountants work. Nash Riggins explores what’s currently on the market, how it’s shaping the industry and the roadblocks AI has yet to overcome.

Automation has been at the forefront of global accountancy for decades, and professionals are constantly hungry for new tech innovations that will enable them to improve effectiveness and efficiency levels for clients. Yet while demand has continued to grow for the availability of smarter and more dynamic accounting systems, adoption has been pretty slow – particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). It looks like that’s finally starting to change.
Computer scientists have been tinkering with AI for more than half a century, and the concept itself is quite simple. By utilising a series of defined algorithms, AI-powered applications are able to draw from big data sources and use deep, machine learning functionality to process data, perform high-volume tasks, recognise patterns and even make decisions – and while that may sound like space-age science fiction to some practitioners, AI-powered apps and modules have already started to make a serious impact across the global accounting sector...

Apps powered by machine learning can automatically extract data from receipts, accounts and spreadsheets and then classify that data based on pre-defined categories in order to populate dynamic custom reports on-demand. Better yet, AI reporting tools are then able to use deep learning in order to assess patterns from various data streams and go on to provide unprompted insights around budget forecasting, spending and investment opportunities.

Plenty of mainstream accounting solutions providers have already brought these sorts of products to market. For example, QuickBooks Auto Categorization is an easily enabled product feature that learns from manually recorded transactions and then automatically repeats those categorisations and organises future transactions accordingly.
Read more... 

Source: Accountancy Age