A Forbes article, The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Professional Services, points out that accountants and lawyers are using artificial intelligence to cannibalize their own businesses...before someone else does. The article points out:
The firms that prosper will be the ones that grab the opportunity first to re-skill their technology and their people. The future is not about number-crunching transactions, but about judgement and wisdom.
And it says:
Automation is about removing friction, driving down costs, speeding processes up, and generally improving efficiency. Making goods and services better and cheaper is a good thing: it makes us all richer.
The article discusses what EngineB, the Big 4, several of the next tier and challenger firms, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and Microsoft are doing to improve efficiency.
EngineB is not the only one automating processes. ContractZ.app, Logical Contracts, and likely others are all over this opportunity. People are thinking about using distributed ledgers for audits. AI assisted audits are here.