The following is a guest post from Mike DePrisco, president and CEO at The Institute of Management Accountants. Opinions are the author’s own.
The accounting and finance industry has been on a tumultuous ride for the last few years. Between economic swings and several geopolitical events, confidence in the financial sector and the global economy has fluctuated greatly from 2020 to the present. In the first quarter of 2026, confidence among accountants globally fell sharply, hitting its third lowest point ever, according to the Global Economic Conditions Survey Report, an assessment from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants.
The industry is facing several headwinds, from geopolitical instability heightened by the conflict in the Middle East to ongoing inflation and rising operating costs. In fact, these are primary concerns for accountants globally, with 69% of those surveyed in the GECS reporting increased operating costs. Additionally, the worry that customers might go out of business rose for the third consecutive quarter. Notably, geopolitical instability emerged as the top risk priority among those surveyed.
While these are critical factors contributing to the dip in accountants’ confidence, there’s another key storyline rising to the surface. AI and advanced technologies are a growing concern for accounting and finance professionals — and are changing the role they must play in their organizations.
AI is a risk and an opportunity
The hastened adoption of artificial intelligence tools is adding another layer of stress to accounting and finance professionals as they are expected to learn how to integrate, train and govern these technologies. In the survey, accountants ranked technology, data and cybersecurity as their second-highest risk priority. Within their responses, three key concerns around AI emerged.
1. Pace of adoption. Accountants expressed concern that with the speed at which AI is being implemented, it is not always being applied in the appropriate way, either without controls or without a clear strategy, which could undermine their service. They see that AI is affecting all areas of finance and worry that people will become over-reliant on the technology.
2. Quality of output. With AI comes speed and complexity — and many accountants worry that existing data governance frameworks are not cut out to protect against intensifying cybersecurity risks. Professionals are seeing small errors multiply with automation tools, leading to major reporting inaccuracies — and keeping up with compliance is hurting productivity.
3. Erosion of trust and risking expectations. Most critically, accountants noted an erosion of trust in data, systems and decision-making. Many question how AI is being tested and are concerned that leadership is not always considering long-term implications. Professionals noted that confidence in information itself is weakening.
Their sentiments are not unique. A study from the University of Melbourne found that less than half of global respondents were willing to trust AI. Other research has shown that customers lose trust in companies when they disclose AI usage. While finance teams are eager to ramp up the use of automation tools to yield immediate productivity benefits, the questionable quality of AI’s output, as well as the wavering trust in these solutions, will need to be top considerations as adoption builds.
To address these challenges, accounting and finance professionals must perform a balancing act — utilizing these new tools to meet professional expectations and ensure career growth, while also navigating the realities of hastened adoption and broader skepticism. The most important foundation for AI adoption is the human element, and accounting and finance professionals are aptly suited to serve as the human thread and ensure due diligence.
Professionals need to become stewards of compliance to rebuild trust in the technology
Accounting and finance professionals who want to be successful will need to invest in building practical AI capabilities and applied skills, going beyond fundamentals to learn how to implement AI for real-world finance use cases, including forecasting, auditing and risk management. They’ll also need to understand the proper governance of these programs and how to spot bias and inaccuracies. This is just the first step in building back trust within the systems and across the profession.
At the same time, leveraging AI to simply report out data is no longer enough. Many professionals mistakenly assume they only need to become technical experts to remain relevant. In reality, teams need to drive bigger business impact through sharper analysis, stronger insights and more strategic decision making. They also need to understand how to exercise sound judgment about AI recommendations and collaborate effectively in human-AI teams. The end goal for all finance and accounting professionals shouldn’t just be knowing how to use AI — it should be how to responsibly harness its vast capabilities and pair its output with their own dependable analysis to deliver insightful recommendations their teams can trust.
This type of upskilling doesn’t require going back to school — accounting and finance professionals can take advantage of targeted, industry-validated credentialing programs that not only build knowledge but equip them with practical, immediately applicable skills. The key is to start now and begin working toward the future-proofed skills that will enable their success today and tomorrow.
