Accountants spend a lot of time doing research. They look at rules and documents to find important information. It takes a long time to do this, and it's hard to teach.
Managers spend 8–15% of their time doing complex research. Then, they write about what they found. A lot of accountants think it would be great if a computer could help summarize the research. It could save them hours or even days.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can help. It can summarize the research in simple words. This helps accountants work faster and better. It also gives managers more time to do important tasks, like planning taxes. This helps both the company and its clients.
Using AI makes tax research easier and faster. It helps managers make better decisions. Instead of spending time on research, they can focus on using the information. AI tools can help new accountants feel more confident when doing research. For instance, GenAI can look at tax laws and cases, find important details, and explain them simply. This helps professionals learn more about tax law and solve problems.
Accuracy is crucial in tax research, especially when dealing with sensitive client data. So, it's important for accountants to be careful about the accuracy, privacy, and security of AI-generated results.
To use AI safely and effectively, look for software that uses a closed AI system. This means it only uses a controlled environment of approved data sources. Instead of learning from any information available, a closed AI system sticks to verified sources, which helps ensure accurate results and reduces the risk of errors. Specialized AI tools can be trained using private data and have security measures in place.
When picking AI tools, businesses should consider frameworks for governing and protecting data security and privacy. With a closed AI system and secure data, researchers can trust that the results are reliable.
AI can transform the ways accountants leverage tax research in many ways, including:
Summarizing insights and drafting customer communications
AI can summarize dense research and present just the highlights, communicating complex findings in simple business terms. Tax practitioners can use AI-enabled research summaries to offer tax strategies or potential options in plain language. AI can generate clearly written, positive and helpful messaging to the customer about specific tax situations in terms that everyone can understand.
Using GenAI to summarize technical tax documents, senior accountants can save time – sometimes hours or days, according to research -- to focus on strategic analysis and delivering value rather than conducting manual research, drafting bulleted summaries, or crafting customer communications.
Bringing tax research directly into the workflow
Instead of stopping in the middle of a client’s tax return to open a browser window and lookup a specific tax question, AI-enabled tax software can seamlessly integrate with research tools. Without having to switch systems, tax pros can stay focused on their tax preparation workflow and find the guidance they need all in one place.
Simplifying search terms with Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Tax concepts can be complex, which makes navigating research a challenge. Less experienced accountants may not know what keywords to search for or what questions to ask. With NLP, researchers can ask questions in plain language instead of laboring over complex search queries. NLP also considers the context of the ongoing work, not just search keywords. Researchers receive targeted results, translated from complex tax or accounting jargon into straightforward guidance that’s easy to apply to each client’s situation. AI simplifies the search experience.
Providing timely prompts for proactive client service
Monitoring the direct impacts of legislative changes on your clients is a time-consuming task that often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. As a result, advisory opportunities are missed, or you find practice being reactive rather than proactive. When integrated with client data, AI-powered solutions, like Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess iQ, can monitor real-time tax events and cross-reference client data to flag affected. Armed with tax event summaries and client letters written in plain language, tax advisors can proactively reach out to clients to explain changes and set up advisory engagements Advisory services add value, which improves client relationships, engagement, and retention.
Several tools and platforms are pioneering these AI capabilities in the tax profession, including: