In 2026, the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the accounting landscape is almost old news. The technology now allows data entry tasks to be automated, forecasting to be more precise, and workflows to be more streamlined. And the list of changes goes on.
However, one thing remains unclear: What does this mean for today’s accounting students? Specifically, what kind of job market will they be navigating when they graduate, and what skills will they need to succeed in it?
As associate dean of the College of Business at Bryant University and a long-time professor of accounting, Daniel Ames, PhD, thinks about these questions a lot. Informed by his own experience and input from recruiters, Ames is able to look beyond the uncertainty surrounding the growing use of AI in accounting. He sees opportunities for today’s accounting students.
A Flourishing Job Market
Perhaps the biggest concern for every future and current accounting student is that AI will make them redundant.
“People worry that AI will replace the need for accountants,” Ames says. “And the reality is, I don't see how that’s possible. AI will increasingly automate processes and be able to handle more and more variations and edge cases, but it does not eliminate the need for a human to oversee things.”
As an example, Ames points to AI’s tendency to misunderstand data or miss it completely. He was recently using AI to crunch numbers from a collection of PDFs, and his AI interface insisted some of the values were missing.
“Extrapolate that to an audit for a tax filing,” he says. “Imagine a corporation, the level of accuracy and complexity that you’re dealing with. Would you buy a stock based on financial statements that had been prepared by AI and then validated by AI?”
The Accountant Shortage
While AI’s imperfections make an excellent case for the continued need for human accountants, that’s not the only reason Ames feels optimistic about the job market that students will face. The ongoing accountant shortage also is likely to work in their favor. In fact, according to a survey of over 250 finance and accounting firms conducted by Personiv, organizations had an average of five open accounting and finance positions in 2025—up from two in 2024.
“One of the consequences of a shortage in accounting is that the competition among firms has led recruiters to offer internships earlier and earlier,” he says. “The last time I taught our Intro to Accounting course, we actually had a handful of folks who were given internship offers.”
Bryant University accounting students landing internships isn’t remarkable in and of itself. Hands-on learning is essential to all of the school’s business programs. But students in Intro to Accounting have yet to complete a single accounting course, and recruiters pursued them based only on their interviews and the fact that they were enrolled in the program.
Ames also notes that most students in Bryant’s Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) program have jobs lined up long before graduation, often with one of the Big Four national accounting firms that regularly pursue the university’s students.
“When you’re looking at the MSA program, you’re looking at some of our best students,” he says. “Those folks, in most cases, will have already wrapped up the recruiting process before they start the MSA program.”
What Accounting Employers Want in an AI-Powered World
If accountants are not being made redundant by AI, what types of new skills do employers want accountants to have in this new era? Ames frequently talks to recruiters about this, but he doesn’t always get a concrete answer.
“Sometimes, employers say they’re looking to the universities to lead,” he says. “So there’s a little bit of an iterative back and forth in which everybody agrees AI is important, but it’s not clear in all cases what that means.”
Informed Automation: An In-Demand AI Accounting Skill in Today’s Economy
Despite some field-wide uncertainty, one skill that Ames believes will be important for accountants to have will be the ability to automate accounting tasks and streamline workflows efficiently. This means using AI to enter data, reconcile accounts, create multiple forecasts that take different circumstances into account, and even coordinate communications among junior and senior accountants.
“There are some partners at large firms that possess specialized expertise, and they get a lot of common questions,” Ames says, explaining that these professionals often have little time to field such inquiries. “I’ve seen partners who will actually build an agent or chatbot that will synthesize all of that partner’s correspondence, and then answer questions based on that.”
Ames emphasizes, though, that for these tools to be useful, they need informed input and oversight from human accountants. Employers want professionals who can handle that responsibility.
“Our biggest recruiters have told us that, moving forward, when candidates are interviewed, they’ll be expected to have something related to AI on their resume,” Ames says. “They’ll need to be able to answer questions like, ‘Tell me about your experience with AI,’ or, ‘Tell me how you’ve utilized AI to solve an accounting or a business-related problem.’”
Bryant University: On the Vanguard of AI in Accounting
As the private sector looks to academia to explore how AI can be best used in accounting, Ames and his colleagues at Bryant University are rising to the challenge. This fall, Ames has an accounting textbook coming out that covers relevant topics that include data mining and analytics, robotic process automation, and AI in accounting.
But learning and teaching about AI isn’t just a personal crusade for Ames. It’s an institutional one.
“Starting this fall, all College of Business majors, including accounting students, will be required to take a course on AI as part of the business core,” Ames says.
Bryant also offers a minor in artificial intelligence that undergraduate accounting students can pursue, as well as AI-focused certificate programs and a Master of Science in Applied AI program.
A Forward-Thinking Accounting Curriculum
Ames and his colleagues are exploring additional ways to integrate AI into the curricula of Bryant’s accounting programs, including the Master of Science in Accounting program.
“We review and revise the curriculum on a regular basis,” he says. “We reconvene committees all the time to say, ‘Hey, let’s take a look at this MSA program. Does it have the things in it that our recruiters need to see? Is it going to allow folks to get jobs, but are they also going to be leaders five or 10 years from now with this?’”
Given that commitment to growth, Ames is confident that Bryant’s programs will continue to meet the needs of the job market.
“Graduating students who have both the accounting expertise and the technology expertise are going to be in a position to really take advantage and contribute to the development of the economy,” he says. “They are going to have a fantastic opportunity set, probably the best opportunity set that we’ve seen within the accounting profession over the course of its history.”
Equip Yourself to Navigate an Evolving Field
With a higher-than-average certified public accountant (CPA) exam pass rate and a 100% career placement rate, Bryant University’s Master of Science in Accounting program has a long tradition of helping students become top candidates in an evolving field. And Daniel Ames continues to ensure that the eight-month, 10-course program serves a wide range of students.
“One thing that the MSA is not is solely a CPA review program,” he says, noting that graduates also become certified management accountants, internal auditors, and fraud examiners. “The program itself is intended to be more holistic than preparation for a single certification. The goal is that folks will be prepped for the certification exam of their choosing, but, in addition, and perhaps more importantly, be set up to be successful long term as they reach managerial and executive levels in their career.”
To meet these goals, students can choose the Analytics, Tax, or General Accounting track, which gives them the opportunity to make meaningful professional connections and learn skills they can use years into their career.
To find out more about enrollment in the MSA program and your options, request more information today.