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CPA.com 2025 AI in Accounting Report Insights for CAS

Author

Luke Templin
August 13, 2025

Read Time: 3:29 minutes

✋Welcome to The CAS Cache, a newsletter designed to help accounting firms grow their CAS offerings in five minutes or less.

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I finished reading CPA.com's 2025 AI in Accounting Report. The core message is worth our attention: compliance work is inching closer to being automated, and advisory is where the profession's future lies.

If you've been following this newsletter for a while, you know this is not news to us. In my Reshoring Accounting Talent Accelerated by AI piece, I discussed how, as AI improves at routine tasks of CAS, the competitive edge will come from the aspects of CAS that AI cannot replace: relationships, communication, and nuanced advisory services.

Upcoming Live Events that I will be at:

  • The Kick C@$ Jam Sessions are for procrastinators to unite. A 55-minute weekly work sprint to knock out your “I’ll do it later” tasks in The Kick C@$ Community.

  • All Things CAS Roundtable - Have you got a question, challenge, or idea about running and growing your CAS service? Join our live, unrecorded monthly roundtable in The Kick C@$ Community. A space to ask anything and hear what’s working (or not) from fellow CAS leaders in real time on the second Tuesday of every month at 3 PM CST.

  • The CAS Quarterly Marketing Roundtable - Marketing a CAS firm isn’t one-size-fits-all. This live, unrecorded quarterly roundtable is your space to crowdsource ideas, check your strategy, and hear what’s moving the needle—from lead gen and niche positioning to referrals, content, and beyond. Join us on July 16th at 1 PM CST in The Kick C@$ Community.

  • Speaking at Intuit Connect on October 27th through October 29th.

The Reality Check from the AI in Accounting Report

The headline isn't that AI is coming, it's here. The report shares:

  • Tax prep automation is hitting 80% for some firms.

  • Audit research times have been halved with the use of LLM tools.

  • Agentic AI is now categorizing transactions, reconciling books, and even drafting client messages.

And yet, Gartner predicts only 15% of daily accounting decisions will be made autonomously by AI by 2028. That's a good reminder we're still in the early days.

I've seen this firsthand. My team has started using Intuit's Accounting Agent 👇, and while it's not perfect, I've had moments where it provided a more precise and faster analysis than a human could. Not because it's smarter, but because it can instantly process data patterns. It's a great starting point, and I've encouraged my team to lean on it for speed, then add the human judgment layer that AI can't replace.

A Perspective I Hadn't Considered

One idea from the report that made me stop and think: AI training as a recruiting tool.

Imagine telling new hires, "We'll make you AI-fluent, not just in Excel shortcuts but in building prompts, interpreting AI output, and managing AI-driven workflows." For the right candidates, particularly digital natives, that's a huge draw.

The report even highlights apprenticeship and reverse mentoring programs that use AI training as a hook. This idea could be a competitive edge in recruiting accounting talent.

If You're Ready to Jump in to AI with your Accounting Firm

The report includes a Roadmap to AI Readiness with four phases:

  1. Discover – Assess your AI readiness, identify high-friction workflows, and clarify ethical boundaries.

  2. Pilot – Start with 1–3 high-value use cases.

  3. Operationalize – Embed AI in workflows and train your team.

  4. Scale – Expand use cases and shift more capacity into advisory.

For larger firms that can invest, skip the trial-and-error approach where possible and work with specialists to accelerate growth. Here are a few automation and AI consultants I trust the founders of (but haven't personally used, nor is this sponsored): FinOptimal, Opzer, The Automated Agency, and Quanto.

If you're a smaller firm, tap into communities and education first:

  • Automation Town – Founded by an incredible human and firm owner, Chad Davis. The founders of Opzer and The Automated Agency are also active in the community that I am a part of as a member. (Again, not sponsored — I just like the people.)

  • TB Academy – Practical AI learning for accountants. (Also, not sponsored — I just like the people.)

The Shift to Advisory isn't Optional

The report makes it clear: as AI absorbs compliance, the opportunity isn't in resisting the shift, but in restructuring our services to put advisory services at the forefront.

That means:

  • Moving tax teams into scenario modeling and strategic planning.

  • Using AI to prep advisory deliverables faster: forecasts, dashboards, and KPI analysis, so you can spend more time interpreting and advising.

  • Treating AI not as a threat to your role, but as a colleague who does the tedious stuff without ever taking a vacation.

Where We Go from Here

The 2025 report is bullish on AI's role in our profession, perhaps more so than the reality warrants, but its core message remains. The firms that win will be those who move early, learn quickly, and reimagine their services before market forces compel them to do so.

In my firm, we're already blending AI into our processes, but always with human review at the center. That's the balance: trust technology enough to use it, but not so much that you hand over the keys without a second look.

In the next issue, I'll walk you through a few specific AI use cases we're currently using in my firm.

Thanks for reading, Luke Templin!

P.S. There are four ways I can help you grow your CAS offerings when you are ready:

  1. Join my How to Start Offering Advisory Services Cohort.

  2. Cannot wait until it starts? Check out the pre-recorded version here.

  3. Join The Kick C@$ Community to grow your CAS offering alongside others doing the same.

  4. Automated white-labeled financial digests for your clients with FinDaily.io