What Do We Think About PwC Putting AI to Work Offering Clients Advice?

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez
AI generated image of a young woman on a computer with a robot beside her

Article image obviously generated by AI.

Reported by Bloomberg last week, PwC is putting AI to work. Officially.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has teamed up with ChatGPT owner OpenAI to offer clients advice generated by artificial intelligence as the Big Four audit firms look to cut costs and boost productivity. [emphasis ours]

The accounting firm will use AI to consult on complex matters in tax, legal and human resources, such as carrying out due diligence on companies, identifying compliance issues and even recommending whether to authorize business deals.

PwC is the first of the Big 4 to partner with OpenAI. A $1 billion AI investment and some scheme to use GPT-4 and Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service was announced in April.

Speaking of Microsoft, KPMG announced its own partnership with Microsoft over the summer, a $2 billion investment in artificial intelligence and cloud services over five years that the firm expects to bring in $12 billion over that period. The timing of that particular partnership was not great.

 

ANYWAY, the above is relevant given the latest OpenAI announcement as the AI will “consult on complex matters,” probably with superior efficiency and accuracy to early career consultants which isn’t saying much about either’s abilities. Of the concern that this technology will put people out of jobs, PwC chief products and technology officer Joe Atkinson has been quoted many times in many places assuring PwCers that AI will complement their job, not steal it.

For example, this is from “Big Four Agree: AI Will Not Replace Accountants” published in the NYSSCPA newspaper in August:

“I think there’s a role for both,” he told Accounting Today. “I’m not a purist on one side or the other. But I think the power of augmentation ultimately will unlock the power of automation by itself. We’ve been on the automation journey [for many years] and we’ve benefited enormously.”

“I don’t love a vision of allowing a computer to do [an engagement] end to end,” said Atkinson. “This is where you get into the trust, integrity and responsible use of AI. AI tools are really good at pulling out information and making predictive choices but they can’t replace human judgment.”

And here he is in “A.I.’s Threat to Jobs Prompts Question of Who Protects Workers” by New York Times:

What spurred the [$1 AI investment] initiative was the chief executive’s trip to the World Economic Forum’s gathering in Davos, Switzerland, where he heard constant discussion of generative A.I.

“A number of us walking out of that room knew something had changed,” recalled Joe Atkinson, the company’s chief products and technology officer.

PwC’s workers have expressed fears about displacement, according to Mr. Atkinson, especially as their company explores automating roles with generative A.I. Mr. Atkinson stressed, though, that PwC planned to retrain people with new technical skills so their work would change but their jobs wouldn’t be eliminated.

Back to Bloomberg:

The OpenAI partnership, which is not based on ChatGPT, won’t result in jobs cuts in the near-term, PwC said. [emphasis again ours]

PwC’s new AI system is already “behaving like a 25-year tenure partner,” Bivek Sharma, chief operating officer for tax, legal and people at PwC UK, said in an interview Monday.

“The compliance burden globally is increasing and with geopolitics, the level of complexity that the C-suite is facing is like you’ve never seen before,” said Sharma. “A lot of people talk about how there’s gonna be job displacement with AI, but the reality, to navigate these very complex situations, AI is going to be necessary to actually do that work.”

All this time we’ve been worried about the low level grunts getting put out of a job by technology, do partners have to worry too?

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Busy Season Interns: Don’t Waste Their Time

Continuing with the busy season theme, let’s touch on everyone’s favorite coffee jockeys, the interns. This isn’t prime season for interns at accounting firms but we know there are a few lucky (?) teams out there that have an extra set of hands on deck.

Getting serious for two, this time of year, everyone is under pressure to get things done and if you happen to have an intern on your team, they either make your job infinitely easier or they are the bane of your existence. If you fall into the latter category, why is this the case?

It’s pretty easy for you to conclude that the blade of grass tapping you on the shoulder every ten minutes is the person at fault but a lot of times, interns get thrown into bad situations where they end up working for seniors or managers that are so swamped (or helpless) that they can only think about their own workload while there’s a 21 year old that needs something to do (besides looking through menus and making copies).


Since accounting firms put so much effort into recruiting the next wave you’d think that this enthusiasm would spread to teams like the Plague. Unfortch, there are many that see interns as an annoyance during this time of year because, “I have so much work to do and I don’t have time to handhold interns” and we think that’s bullshit.

We’re not saying that there aren’t bad interns out there. And we’re not saying you’re not busy. We know better. But if you gave that intern something meaningful to do instead of whining about how busy you are, they might make your life a speck (or a few) easier.

And interns need hand holding because they’re interns. Don’t forget that up until this point, they’ve been wearing sweats 24/7 and that you used to be just like them. Experienced team members should take this time to utilize them in a meaningful way and not as gofers. If you’re one of those teams that needs a gofer, at least squeeze some meaningful work somewhere so they can learn something and they probably won’t mind the gofering as much.

Yeah, it might take some effort on your part but it’s definitely worth your time to mentor these future associates. If you give them some challenging work now and show them a little bit of appreciation for their efforts, they’ll run through walls for you later.

Exterior of PwC building in Munich

PwC Forces People Out and Then Tells Them to Fib in Their Farewell Emails

This is not very Chad of you, PwC. In another round of “voluntary separations” (aka […]

Accounting News Roundup: The Debate Over IRS-prepared Tax Returns; KPMG HK Senior Manager Arrested for Bribery; CFOs Starting to See Job Options | 04.09.10

• Should the IRS Fill Out Our Tax Returns? [TaxVox]
Some say, YES! At the very least the Service could get the ball rolling, “by filling in your wage income, exemptions, and standard deduction and perhaps even figuring some other deductions and credits. This…could be a huge benefit for those who file Forms 1040A and 1040EZ.” Naturally, the taxpayer has to approve the return prior the actual “filing” of it but this would potentially assist millions of Americans who are otherwise stumped by 1040s of any stripe.


The other side of this argument is that it will delay refunds:

Bob Weinberger, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security and a former top executive at the tax prep firm H&R Block. Bob counters that the “fatal flaw” of such a system is that it could delay refunds for months. For many taxpayers, Bob argues, getting a check from IRS in April is a key to their annual financial planning, and postponing that refund would generate a huge backlash. Bob also said such a system would be a huge drain on IRS resources.

While this likely true, the root of the problem is the “check from the IRS is key to financial planning” part. If these people need the money so bad, they should adjust their withholding so they don’t pay in so much during the year. Perhaps that’s not an easy concept to grasp, so if we say “You’re giving the government an interest-free loan for 12 months,” that will help.

• HK charges KPMG man with bribery [FT]
Leung Sze-chit, a senior manager in the Hong Kong office, has been arrested on corruption charges after offering a co-worker a $12,280 bribe related to a client’s IPO. The FT reports that the firm learned of the situation via its internal hotline, “After investigation, the member of staff in question was suspended by KPMG and a report was then made . . . to the relevant authorities.” So yes, to answer some of you, people do call those internal hotlines.

• CFO Job Options Opening Up [FINS]
After hunkering down for the last couple of years or so, CFOs are starting to see some new job options. FINS reports that “Some felt loyalty to organizations in financial straits, while others hesitated to jump given uncertainty about potential landmines at other companies.” Now that growth is slowly creeping back, “some companies are likely to find they need a different type of executive in the role. And some CFOs may even find themselves in line for positions higher up the corporate ladder.”

2 thoughts on “What Do We Think About PwC Putting AI to Work Offering Clients Advice?”

  1. “PwC’s new AI system is already “behaving like a 25-year tenure partner,” Bivek Sharma, chief operating officer for tax, legal and people at PwC UK, said in an interview Monday.”

    So it’s chasing higher profits in the short-term at the expense of the longer term health of the profession? That’s impressive programming.
    Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

  2. I can’t wait for PWC to have to apologize for its AI telling clients to fire all their Jews and negros. I heard that’s how things always end up eventually with AI.

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