← UK Occupations
🇬🇧 UKSOC 2421· Business, Media and Public Service Professionals

Chartered and certified accountants

Chartered and certified accountants provide accounting and auditing services, advise clients on financial matters, collect and analyse financial information and perform other accounting duties required by management for the planning and control of an establishment’s income and expenditure.

Accountant (qualified)Auditor (qualified)Chartered accountantCompany accountantCost accountant (qualified)Financial controller (qualified accountant)Management accountant (qualified)
£45,538
median salary
£33,974 – £60,100
261,100
currently employed
249,027
projected 2035
Strong growth
9 tasks scored3 AI Automates6 AI Assists

Task Bundle Breakdown

How AI interacts with this occupation's task bundle

33%
67%
33%
AI automates
67%
AI assists
0%
Human-led

Task-by-Task Breakdown

Every task scored individually — sorted highest to lowest AI exposure

78

prepares financial documents and reports for management, shareholders, statutory or other bodies

AI Automates

Tools like Xero, QuickBooks AI, and Microsoft Copilot for Finance can auto-generate financial statements and management reports from structured data with minimal human input.

78

evaluates financial information for management purposes

AI Automates

Power BI Copilot and similar tools can rapidly synthesise and interpret large financial datasets, surfacing insights and trends that would take humans significantly longer to identify manually.

78

prepares periodic accounts, budgetary reviews and financial forecasts

AI Automates

AI-driven FP&A platforms like Planful or Workday Adaptive Planning can automate periodic accounts, rolling forecasts, and variance analysis with high accuracy from connected data sources.

67

audits accounts and book-keeping records

AI Assists

AI-powered audit tools like MindBridge Ai Auditor can analyse 100% of transactions for anomalies, but professional judgment is still required to interpret findings and sign off.

67

prepares tax returns, advises on tax problems and contests disputed claim before tax official

AI Assists

AI tax software such as Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE or Avalara can automate return preparation and flag issues, but complex advisory work and dispute representation still require human expertise.

56

plans and oversees implementation of accountancy system and policies

AI Assists

AI tools like Microsoft Copilot can help draft accountancy policies and flag gaps, but strategic planning and implementation oversight require professional judgment and regulatory knowledge.

56

liaises with management and other professionals to compile budgets and other costs

AI Assists

AI can accelerate budget modelling and scenario analysis using tools like Anaplan or Vena, but cross-departmental liaison and negotiation remain inherently human activities.

56

conducts investigations and advises management on financial aspects of productivity, stock holding, sales, new products, etc

AI Assists

AI can process operational and financial data to surface productivity or stock insights, but translating these into strategic recommendations for management requires human commercial acumen.

44

conducts financial investigations concerning insolvency, fraud, possible mergers, etc.

AI Assists

AI can assist with data pattern recognition and anomaly detection in fraud or insolvency investigations, but the legal, ethical, and contextual judgments involved remain firmly human-led.

ROI Calculator

Chartered and certified accountants

20hrs
saved per week
960hrs
per year ≈ 25.6 weeks
£24,287
salary-equivalent capacity freed per year

This is not a pay rise — it's 960 hours of productive capacity that AI could return to you, valued at your current rate.

£45,538
value at risk — 100% of role exposed to AI

The portion of your current salary tied to tasks AI can automate or augment. Not a prediction of job loss — a signal of where your role is changing fastest.

How is this calculated?▾

Task weights — each task is weighted by its O*NET frequency rating. Where frequency data is absent, equal weighting is applied.

AI time reduction — tasks scored as "AI Automates" assume 80% time saving; "AI Assists" assumes 40%; "Human-Led" assumes 5%.

Salary equivalent — annual hours saved × (salary ÷ 1,800 working hours/year).

Value at risk — salary × share of role time in AI-automate or AI-assist tasks.

Figures are indicative estimates for planning purposes, not guarantees of productivity gain or job loss risk.