Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a routine part of professional practice, but accountants cannot treat speed as a substitute for judgement. In advice work, the danger is not simply that a system may be wrong; it is that staff begin to outsource the thinking that gives accounting advice its value. The concern is especially acute when junior employees lean on AI-generated drafts without pausing to test whether the recommendation fits the client’s circumstances, objectives and risks.

Under APES 110, the ethical duties of professional accountants do not change just because technology is doing some of the drafting. The code’s core principles, including integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour, apply whether the work is produced by a trainee, a partner or an algorithm. CPA Australia points to the same framework, while the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board has also issued updated guidance on technology, effective from 1 January 2025, to help firms manage emerging risks.

That matters because AI may be efficient, but it cannot weigh up the softer factors that shape good advice. According to the article’s response, clients need recommendations that are suitable, relevant and grounded in their individual position, not merely outputs that are "mostly accurate". The missing layer is interpretation: understanding family circumstances, appetite for risk, commercial priorities and the broader context that no model can fully grasp. That is where professional responsibility remains firmly with the accountant.

Research cited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland suggests many professionals share that concern, with more than two-thirds worried that generative AI could produce errors or poor decisions. The lesson is not to abandon the tools, but to place them inside a disciplined review process: clear supervision, documented checks, training on limitations and explicit accountability for final advice. Used this way, AI can support efficiency without diluting the ethical standards that underpin trust in the profession.

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Source: Noah Wire Services