The New Reality for Entry-Level Accounting: Why Average Is No Longer Safe
If you're a student preparing for a career in accounting, you've likely heard the buzz (and maybe a little fear) about artificial intelligence and offshoring changing the profession. As both a CPA and an accounting professor, I hear your concerns—and they're valid. The landscape is shifting quickly. But here’s the truth: while the tools are getting smarter, the real opportunity lies in getting better.
Let me explain.
The Disappearing Training Ground
When I started in public accounting, I spent hours auditing files, ticking and tying financial statements, reviewing invoices, and performing walk-throughs. These tasks weren’t flashy, but they were foundational. I saw hundreds of business processes and supporting documents in a matter of months. Over time, I developed instincts: how to spot errors, what good documentation looked like, and how to ask the right questions.
That experience was my training ground. It gave me a mental framework to handle more complex work later in my career. But today, many of those entry-level tasks are being automated or offshored. AI can run a reconciliation faster than a junior staff member. Offshore teams can confirm receivables overnight. The pipeline of basic-but-valuable experience is shrinking.
The Tools Are Smarter—So You Need to Be, Too
I’m excited about AI. It makes our profession more efficient and powerful. But here's the hard truth: many entry-level professionals are already being outperformed by generative AI tools at basic accounting tasks. What that means for students is simple—you can’t afford to be average.
Ten years ago, even students with a C average could often find a decent entry-level job at a public accounting firm. They would get in, learn on the job, and build their skills slowly. Today, that same profile is no longer a sure thing. The marketplace expects more: stronger fundamentals, sharper critical thinking, and the ability to use AI wisely, not blindly.
And here's something even more important: students who struggle to learn quickly—either in school or once they start working—are at a real risk of falling behind. If you're not keeping up with the pace of change, you won’t be in a position to leverage AI. Instead, you'll be at risk of being replaced by it. My fear is that some students may end up in a cycle: unable to fully understand or adopt the latest tools, unable to grow in their roles, and therefore stuck—repeating the same outdated processes while the world moves on without them.
AI Is a Tool, Not a Crutch
I constantly remind my students: don't rely on AI to do your thinking for you. Use it as a tool to enhance your understanding, not replace it. If you don’t understand the mechanics behind a journal entry, an internal control weakness, or a tax provision, no chatbot is going to save you in the long run.
I wrote a blog last week about how accounting education needs to change to keep up with this environment. (If you missed it, I recommend checking it out.) But even with changes in the classroom, personal responsibility remains the most important factor. No curriculum can substitute for your own drive to learn deeply and quickly.
So What Should You Do?
Here’s my advice to anyone entering this profession today:
Master the fundamentals. AI can help you work faster, but only if you understand the work it’s doing.
Get exposure. Take internships. Ask for messy projects. Volunteer to clean up a set of books. You’ll learn by doing.
Learn to learn. The most valuable professionals are those who can adapt, grow, and ask good questions.
Be better than the tool. If ChatGPT can do it faster than you, find the thing it can’t do—interpretation, judgment, professional skepticism—and become great at that.
The Bottom Line
The bar has been raised. Entry-level jobs are still out there, but they’re not the same, and they’re not guaranteed. If you want to be successful in accounting today, you need to be more prepared, more curious, and more resilient than ever.
There’s no room for coasting. The marketplace has no patience for mediocrity.
But if you’re willing to put in the work, embrace new tools with strong fundamentals, and think critically about the profession you’re entering, there is an incredible career ahead of you.
And I, for one, am rooting for you every step of the way.