Don’t replace junior staff with AI, accounting body warns

Accounting industry body CPA Australia has urged firms not to cut junior accounting roles in favour of AI, warning that overreliance on technology could undermine long-term competitiveness.

One-fifth (19 per cent) of businesses across the Asia-Pacific said they had reduced or ceased filling entry-level accounting roles due to the introduction of AI tools, CPA Australia’s 2025 Business Technology Report has found.

CPA Australia urged businesses to strike a balance between technology and talent and warned that a loss of human skills could undermine long-term competitiveness.

“Harnessing AI for many routine and mundane tasks is improving business efficiencies and outcomes. This creates opportunities for businesses to invest in training their accounting and finance teams, including entry-level accountants, to perform higher-level and more complex strategic tasks,” CPA Australia’s business investment and international lead, Gavan Ord, said.

“Businesses must not underestimate the importance of keeping people in the loop. Specialist human oversight remains essential. Turning over finance functions that require accuracy, assurance and verification to technology leads to elevated risks.”

While CPA Australia said it found clear links between AI adoption and business performance, it warned that overreliance on technology could backfire in the long term.

Australian firms were cutting entry-level accounting roles at lower rates than the APAC average, with only 8 per cent reporting that they were slashing junior roles. However, CPA predicted that this proportion would increase as Australian businesses ramped up AI investments.

Survey respondents told CPA they were concerned that businesses were becoming too dependent on AI with reduced human oversight. CPA reiterated the importance of keeping people at the centre of decision making and oversight.

“Businesses still need accountants for many critical functions, especially providing strategic advice and insight that supports senior leaders and ensures sound financial oversight,” Ord said.

“There is no doubt that businesses are embracing AI to augment the capabilities of their accounting and finance teams. A key consideration is striking the right balance between efficiency gains and the human expertise essential to drive and supervise AI.”

Failing to properly oversee AI tools could bring financial and reputational risks to firms, CPA warned.

This was exemplified in a recent case where Deloitte was forced to partially refund the government after it used AI to assist in authoring a $440,000 report. The report was found to be riddled with mistakes and “hallucinated” references, leading to public backlash.

“We are now seeing many high-profile examples of businesses and organisations suffering financial and reputational damage because they have swung the balance too far in favour of poorly verified AI,” Ord said.

“Becoming too dependent on AI could ultimately leave businesses with a knowledge and experience chasm that AI is not yet capable of filling.”