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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3313

Accounting associate professionals

Software already does the sums. The job is shifting to checking and advising.

AI could take a fair chunk of half the six tasks, including the accounting sums and preparing financial statements. Untangling bookkeeping problems and supervising clerks are mostly out of its reach.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Accounting associate professionals maintain complete records of financial transactions of an undertaking and verify accuracy of documents and records relating to such transactions. Tasks include - (a) maintaining complete records of all financial transactions of an undertaking according to general bookkeeping principles, with guidance from accountants; (b) verifying accuracy of documents and records relating to payments, receipts and other financial transactions; (c) preparing financial statements and reports for specified periods; (d) applying knowledge of bookkeeping principles and practices in order to identify and solve problems arising in the course of their work; (e) using standard computer software packages to perform accounting and related calculations; (f) supervising the work of accounts and bookkeeping clerks. Example of the occupations classified here: - Accounting assistant - Bookkeeper Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Accountant - 2411 - Actuarial assistant - 3314 - Bookkeeping clerk - 4311

  • bookkeeper
  • grants administrator
  • accounting assistant

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

51 / 100

Changing significantly

AI could do a real share of the everyday tasks. The job is changing shape, not vanishing.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Exposed: Gradient 2

374 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 6 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 49.2 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 49.2 = 50.8.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Exposed: Gradient 2”: A good share of the tasks are affected.

This job rates 16.2 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Accounting associate professionals 51

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Data entry and reconciliations.
  • Financial statements.
  • Checking transactions.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Sorting out problems.
  • Supervising and checking.
  • Advising small businesses.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Automated bookkeeping tools.
  • Digital tax reporting.
  • Advisory services.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: High

69 could do without you

It could take over a lot of this job on its own. It could help with 76 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Lower

16 how hands-on

Not much of this job needs hands, so the robot can sit this one out.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 23 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

16 How
hands-on
23 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 34 · hand skill 25 · cramped spaces 11.2 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 66, against an average of 49. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 66

    Using standard computer software packages to perform accounting and related calculations

    Medium
  2. 61

    Preparing financial statements and reports for specified periods

    Medium
  3. 51

    Verifying accuracy of documents and records relating to payments, receipts and other financial transactions

    Medium
  4. 45

    Maintaining complete records of all financial transactions of an undertaking according to general bookkeeping principles, with guidance from Accountants

    Low
  5. 39

    Applying knowledge of bookkeeping principles and practices in order to identify and solve problems arising in the course of their work

    Low
  6. 33

    Supervising the work of accounts and bookkeeping clerks.

    Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
76
AI does it for you
69

Sidekick wins, by 7 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 5512, 5523

So, should bookkeepers be worried?

Short answer: not worried, but paying attention. The job is changing.

Yes, much of this job is exposed. Accounting software, financial statements and verifying records are rated Medium; keeping records, solving problems and supervising are Low. Automated bookkeeping takes on routine entries; problem-solving stays human.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” family, averaging 66. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →