Bill Hanna, a CPA, says AI agents will reshape accounting roles, but the people who design AI workflows for finance will stay valuable. He advises positioning yourself as the one who oversees AI implementations and catches where they fail, not as someone being replaced by them.
We need you to create AI agents that will streamline all of the accounting work. So we are restructuring and unfortunately your role has been eliminated. Okay, a reality check here. People who know how to create AI workflows in finance are very rare. So when you become one of these people, you become very valuable. Not replaceable. When you speak to management, always frame your AI progress not as "AI is doing my job," but "I am using AI to save time and reduce error, which allows me to be more strategic with my time." In every AI discussion, make sure your manager knows that you are the one who knows how all systems are connected and you know the risks of where AI tends to fail or make mistakes.
