Looking for an accounting job? AI skills will help

To get a sense of how much AI has influenced the accounting profession, look no further than LinkedIn.

Job postings requiring AI skills have proliferated at the Big Four over the past year, according to the Financial Times. Staff at the newspaper examined 50,000 job listings at Big Four firms in English-speaking countries between January 2020 and January 2026. In 2025, they found, there were more than twice as many job postings where AI skills were a core requirement (nearly 7%) as there were listings for audit jobs (almost 3%).

Many of the job postings that mentioned AI as a requirement appeared to be for non-accounting roles, such as “generative AI engineers and machine learning experts in data science,” the FT observed. But others were accounting-related. KPMG, for instance, sought a manager with “chatbot prompt engineering” expertise, while EY posted a role for a senior associate who could “help clients ‘embrace’ generative AI” in tax, the FT said.

KPMG had the highest share of job postings requesting AI skills: Nearly 10% of listings mentioned AI as a core requirement.

A separate analysis of 5,000 finance job openings between January 2025 and January 2026 by FP&A platform Datarails found that 30% of accountant role postings at the end of that period explicitly mentioned AI or machine learning skills.

More tech focus. AI-related roles may also be getting more technical: In 2025, about 80% required coding skills, compared with only three-fifths in 2021, FT reported.

AI doesn’t appear to be replacing auditors yet, though the truism that “AI won’t replace you but someone who knows AI will” seems to be, well, true. Audit departments are “still increasing in size,” Ian Pay, head of data analytics and tech at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said, according to the FT, though he noted that “the majority of the additional roles coming in are more technology and AI-focused.”

Accounting job postings that mention AI increased more than twofold in 2025, from 1,178 to 2,535, per the Wall Street Journal.

However, firms may struggle to meet the demand for AI-savvy accountants. Faculty in accounting departments are racing to revamp their curricula to include AI, the Wall Street Journal reported. Much like the PCAOB, they’re playing catch-up to stay on top of a technology that changes every few months.