Accountants and Auditors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 45% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 86% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 11% of the time, stays with people.
Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.
1,449,500 people do this job in the US. $83,680 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work18 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet17 h
- Stays with people5 h
Accountants and Auditors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 18 hours become checking its work, 17 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 5 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare and analyze accounting records (about 3 h, a person checks); Write audit reports (about 2 h, a person checks); Inspect books and systems for sound practice (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 72%
- 17%
- 8%
- 2%
- 1%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 45% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 6%. Today's estimate: 45%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.095% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 162nd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 4 of its 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.49% to 0.27% (released February and March 2025); 0.11% to 0.17% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.1% to 0.095% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.49% | 34 of 708 | 12 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.27% | 72 of 703 | 10 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.11% | 148 of 655 | 10 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.14% | 110 of 672 | 11 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.17% | 103 of 677 | 11 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.1% | 157 of 434 | 4 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.095% | 162 of 447 | 4 of 30 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 1% of this job's working time as physical work. For 1% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 1% in a structured facility. 0.02 of 3, the 636th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 99%
- In a structured facility 1%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
10% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Review taxpayer accounts and conduct audits, the conversation, 5%
- Examine records and interview workers, the conversation, 2%
- Supervise audits and set their scope, the conversation, 2%
- Inspect cash and securities against records, the hands-on work, 0.7%
- Direct staff who keep financial records, the conversation, 0.5%
What becomes checking the machine
84% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Prepare and analyze accounting records, costly if wrong, 13%
- Develop and document accounting systems, costly if wrong, 10%
- Write audit reports, costly if wrong, 8%
- Review taxpayer accounts and conduct audits, costly if wrong, 7%
- Inspect books and systems for sound practice, costly if wrong, 7%
- Compute taxes and prepare returns, costly if wrong, 6%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 72% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Running AI inside the business systems. About 17% of the time is work inside business systems, which a model can do only once it is connected: knowing the systems well enough to set that up and watch it.
- Handling protected records. Much of the work touches protected personal records: knowing what may be shared with a model, and how, is part of the job.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.Analysis of the books, with pulls from the accounting system.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 13% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 61%Half by now |
| Develop, implement, modify, and document recordkeeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer technology.Design and documentation, and setting the system up.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 13% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Documents 60%, systems 40% | 5%Half by Apr 2028 |
| Review taxpayer accounts, and conduct audits on-site, by correspondence, or by summoning taxpayer to office.Reading the accounts, with letters, calls and visits to the taxpayer.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | Documents 60%, conversation 20%, in person 20% | 17%Desk part half by Apr 2027 |
| Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.Pure document work.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 1 work day3.3 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 100% | 69%Half by now |
| Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.Reading the books and testing how transactions are recorded.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 3.3 work days | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 69%Half by now |
| Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.Working through the figures and filling in the return.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 70%, systems 30% | 55%Half by now |
| Evaluate taxpayer finances to determine tax liability, using knowledge of interest and discount rates, annuities, valuation of stocks and bonds, and amortization valuation of depletable assets.Analysis of a taxpayer's finances.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 100% | 55%Half by now |
| Examine records and interview workers to ensure recording of transactions and compliance with laws and regulations.Reading the records, and interviews to test them.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 33%Desk part half by now |
| Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.Reading how the system works and testing it.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | Documents 70%, systems 30% | 28%Half by Apr 2027 |
| Review data about material assets, net worth, liabilities, capital stock, surplus, income, or expenditures.Reading and analysis of financial data.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Documents 100% | 80%Half by now |
| Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.Planning the audit on paper and directing the team.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 3.3 work days | Documents 50%, conversation 50% | 23%Desk part half by Dec 2026 |
| Prepare, analyze, or verify annual reports, financial statements, and other records, using accepted accounting and statistical procedures to assess financial condition and facilitate financial planning.Analysis of the books, with pulls from the accounting system.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 work days5 h to 1.3 work weeks | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 31%Half by Mar 2027 |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Accountants and Auditors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 45% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 86% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (76% to 88% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Accountants and Auditors come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare and analyze accounting records (61% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Write audit reports (69% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Inspect books and systems for sound practice (69% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Accountants and Auditors stay with people?
- Every task has a desk part, so each can come partly within reach; the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of each task stay with people, about 11% of the working time.
- What should Accountants and Auditors learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and running AI inside the business systems. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 10% of the working time stays with people, 84% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Accountants and Auditors?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.095% went to this job's tasks, the 162nd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 4 of its 30 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 35%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Accountants and Auditors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 1% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 1% of the working time, 1% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.02 of 3. One example: Verity autonomous inventory drones for "examine inventory to verify entries". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 30 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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