AI Shakes Up Big Four Accounting Job Market

Can AI agents actually reduce your workload—or just add hype? Blake demos how he rebuilt bill-entry “Hubdoc-style” in about an hour with Zapier Agents, then maps out why most AI pilots fail without documented workflows and human approvals. Plus: PwC’s plan to hire one-third fewer grads, juniors supervising AI, HMRC scanning social posts for tax gaps, and fresh salary and pricing benchmarks. Learn where AI truly fits—and how to price with confidence. Sponsors Relay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/relay TeamUp - http://accountingpodcast.promo/teamup Human at Scale - http://accountingpodcast.promo/human Digits - http://accountingpodcast.promo/digits Chapters (05:36) - AI Agents: Hype vs. Reality (07:49) - AI's Impact on Corporate America (10:28) - Challenges in AI Integration (19:11) - PWC and AI: Training the Next Generation (21:43) - Building AI Agents with Zapier (41:00) - Human at Scale: Transforming Accounting Firms (42:34) - Live Stream Chat and AI Future (45:14) - Outsourcing vs. AI in Business (46:37) - AI in Accounting: Supervision and Customization (48:33) - Intuit's Q4 Earnings and QuickBooks Live (51:00) - AI's Impact on Accounting Jobs and Tools (59:48) - UK's AI Tax Fraud Detection (01:03:27) - Accounting Salary Survey Results (01:13:40) - Client Relationships and Free Speech Issues (01:18:18) - Conclusion and CPE Information   Show Notes The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 (MIT NANDA Report) https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/ Getting a job at PwC out of college will be a lot tougher. It plans to recruit a third fewer grads by 2028 https://www.aol.com/getting-job-pwc-college-lot-120316405.html HMRC uses AI to spot tax fraud on social media https://www.accountancyage.com/2025/08/12/hmrc-uses-ai-to-spot-tax-fraud-on-social-media/ The 2025 Accounting Today Salary Survey: Sweetening the deal https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/the-2025-accounting-today-salary-survey-sweetening-the-deal 2025 U.S. Accounting and Tax Pricing Benchmark (Ignition) https://www.ignitionapp.com/us/2025-accounting-tax-pricing-benchmark TaxDome Releases First-of-Its-Kind 2025 Niche Business Accounting Report https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-newswire/20250819ph53815/taxdome-releases-first-of-its-kind-2025-niche-business-accounting-report 2025 Niche Business Accounting Report (TaxDome) https://taxdome.com/niche-report-2025 Need CPE? Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.com Subscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.com Get in Touch Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040. Sponsorships Are you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus. Need Accounting Conference Info?  Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com Limited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessities TeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merch SubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast Classifieds Want to get the word out about your newsletter, webinar, party, Facebook group, podcast, e-book, job posting, or that fancy Excel macro you just created? Let the listeners of The Accounting Podcast know by running a classified ad. Go here to create your classified ad: https://cloudacctpod.link/RunClassifiedAd Transcripts The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page