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Accountants and Auditors

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.

now
9%

of the working time. Estimate.

Kinds of work
  • 82%
  • 5%
  • 13%
35%

Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.

Half the desk work within reach
October 2027

On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.

Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 82% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.

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, 5%. Today's estimate: 9%.

0%5%10%15%20%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 0% within reacho3, April 2025: 0% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 1% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 1% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 1% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 1% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 1% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 5% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 9% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

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.

The tasks

Sorted by . 30 tasks from .

TaskKind
Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task.13%6.7 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days9%Half by Aug 2027
Develop, implement, modify, and document recordkeeping and accounting systems, making use of current computer technology.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 weeks0%Half by Apr 2029
Review taxpayer accounts, and conduct audits on-site, by correspondence, or by summoning taxpayer to office.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 12%1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work weekStays with people
Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task.8%1 work day3.3 h to 2.5 work days5%Half by Jul 2027
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.Done more than weekly by most who do it. 7%6.7 h3.3 h to 3.3 work days9%Half by Jul 2027
Compute taxes owed and prepare tax returns, ensuring compliance with payment, reporting, or other tax requirements.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 6%6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days8%Half by Sep 2027
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.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 6%6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days8%Half by Sep 2027
Examine records and interview workers to ensure recording of transactions and compliance with laws and regulations.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task.6%6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days8%Half by Sep 2027
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 4%1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week2%Half by Apr 2028
Review data about material assets, net worth, liabilities, capital stock, surplus, income, or expenditures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 4%3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days25%Half by Mar 2027
Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 3%6.7 h1.7 h to 3.3 work daysStays with people
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.Done more than yearly by most who do it. 3%1.7 work days5 h to 1.3 work weeks2%Half by Feb 2028

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.

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.