AI Fluency for Accountants and Bookkeepers
Building capability and confidence to work smarter with artificial intelligence
This blog explains the essential practices accountants and bookkeepers need to adopt to build AI fluency across their work. It covers practical workflows, where AI creates value, how to validate outputs safely, the RTRI prompting method, and how to integrate AI responsibility into everyday practice.
In our latest webinar, Heather Smith and Cameron Anderson shared how practitioners can build capability, improve efficiency, and strengthen judgement by pairing human expertise with artificial intelligence. We also explored how the CA ANZ AI Fluency Playbook provides a structured approach for developing skills, governance, and confidence across the profession.
Webinar attendees shared how they are using AI today and how much time they are investing in learning it. The results highlight a strong interest in capability building.
How practitioners are using AI today:
- Not Yet - 47%
- Content Creation - 29%
- Data Checks - 19%
- Financial Analysis - 5%
Monthly time invested in learning AI:
- One Hour - 44%
- Two Hours - 15%
- Ten Hours - 7%
- Twenty Hours - 5%
- None - 19%
These insights show both the appetite and the opportunity for structured learning, practical frameworks and guided practice to accelerate AI fluency across bookkeeping and accounting roles.
In this blog, we cover:
- AI and human partnership
- Where AI delivers value in practice operations
- Governance, quality and ethical use
- Building AI capability
- The RTRI prompting method
- Your adoption roadmap
You can now watch this webinar On Demand HERE, or read on for the key things you need to know.
AI and Human Partnership
AI improves efficiency by handling repetitive tasks, surfacing anomalies, and producing first drafts. Human expertise remains essential to validate, contextualise and own the final output.
“We’re coming across tools that are making us so much more efficient” - Heather Smith
Example: A bookkeeper uses XBert to automatically scan client ledgers for anomalies such as duplicated transactions, inconsistent GST coding, or unusual vendor patterns. The system flags items needing attention, and the practitioner reviews each flagged entry, applies judgement and confirms the correct treatment before updating the ledger.
AI supports delivery, but practitioners remain accountable for quality, professional standards, and client context.
Where AI Delivers Value in Bookkeeping Operations
AI improves consistency and speed across communications, reporting, data quality and practice operations. Validation remains straightforward when humans review final outputs.
“We can actually start to query large data sets across our entire client base using natural language.” - Cameron Anderson
Example: A practice uses AI to generate monthly report insights for 40 clients. The practitioner checks the data, adjusts commentary and signs off faster than manual drafting.
Adoption starts with use cases that carry low risk and easy validation, creating fast wins across client service.
Governance, Quality and Ethical Use
A clear framework for privacy, review levels, disclosure, accuracy checks and risk assessment builds confidence and consistency. This is a key theme reinforced in both the webinar and the CA ANZ AI Fluency Playbook, which outlines ethical guardrails and responsible use standards for the profession.
“I would be telling the client about the use of AI within the engagement letter and being transparent.” - Heather Smith
Example: A firm updates its engagement letter to disclose where and how AI is used. Clients receive reassurance that data protection settings, review processes and output ownership remain in place.
Governance enables safe experimentation without slowing innovation.
Building AI Capability Across the Team
Skill building needs to span personal capability, business workflows, leadership, and technical prompting. Regular time investment compounds quickly, even in small teams or solo practices.
“If I want to learn something I put aside 15 minutes a day. It’s a really good bite-sized way of learning.” - Heather Smith
Example: A practice blocks a small amount of time each morning for team members to test prompts, improve workflows and share what they learnt. Small improvements multiply over time.
Capability building becomes sustainable when firms develop skills gradually and collectively.
Using the RTRI Prompting Framework
The RTRI method helps AI understand role, task, requirements and instructions, producing more reliable outputs. It aligns with guidance within the CA ANZ AI Fluency Playbook, which encourages structured prompting to improve accuracy, reduce rework, and support responsible application.
“This is a really concise way of looking at it. The role, task, requirements and instructions.” - Cameron Anderson
Example: To draft a client explanation, a practitioner sets the role as bookkeeping expert, defines the task, specifies tone and length, then adds client context such as industry type.
Structured prompting reduces correction time and produces clearer, more consistent outcomes.
Your Adoption Roadmap
Start with low risk, high value tasks. Monitor outcomes, adjust workflows, scale capability and continue learning. The CA ANZ AI Fluency Playbook reinforces the value of iterative maturity building through skill pathways, case studies, governance guides and self assessments.
“Identify two or three low risk high value tasks like automated XBert risk checks to start with. If we can make a difference of five to ten minutes that adds up” - Cameron Anderson
Example: A team identifies duplicated manual reporting steps. AI generates the base template, reducing ten minutes per report. The time saved compounds across all monthly cycles
Effective adoption grows through small, validated changes reinforced by capability, governance and community learning.
Why AI Fluency Matters for Your Practice
AI supports accuracy, speed and consistency across bookkeeping and accounting workflows, but its value depends on practitioner judgement, appropriate governance and strong capability. Building fluency ensures practices can serve clients reliably whilst improving internal efficiency.
