Danielle Supkis Cheek of Caseware delves into AI’s role in accounting, showing how it amplifies human judgment, efficiency, and strategic insights.
Danielle, you have an impressive background in both academia and professional services. Could you start by sharing your journey and what led you to your current role at Caseware as VP, Head of Analytics and AI?
My journey to my current AI and analytics role at Caseware hasn’t been typical, but it has given me the perfect balance of expertise to understand our customers, who are auditors and accountants looking to use technology to improve their daily workflows. At the beginning of my career, I followed my mother’s advice to take an accounting class in college. She insisted that understanding financial matters was crucial, no matter what career path I chose.
Once I entered the accounting world, I followed a fairly traditional career path. I also went on to earn a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Virginia. However, I found that while I can understand and work within traditional accounting frameworks, I also bring a different, non-linear approach to problem-solving, which ultimately led me to the world of software, analytics, and AI within the accounting industry.
My ability to bridge the gap between traditional accounting and innovative technologies has definitely positioned me well for my current leadership role at Caseware, and I am enjoying leveraging both my accounting expertise and my unconventional thinking to drive advancements in analytics and AI for our customers.
AI is transforming many industries, but why do you believe professional services, particularly audit and accounting, are uniquely positioned to benefit from AI advancements?
Our profession is highly regulated with an exceptionally high expectation for precision. This has historically made it difficult to adopt new technologies, as we can’t afford to ‘fail fast’ in auditing. The complex, judgment-intensive tasks we perform are not conducive to automation through previous technological innovations. As a result, the accounting profession has often been perceived as a technology laggard, not due to unwillingness, but because of the stringent requirements for reliability and accuracy in our work.
Generative AI represents a fundamental shift. Unlike previous technologies that focused primarily on automation, generative AI is designed to work alongside humans to enhance our capabilities rather than replace them. This aligns well with our existing processes, which already incorporate extensive human review and validation.
Caseware’s new AI-driven digital assistant is an exciting development. Can you elaborate on how this technology is designed to enhance the work of auditors and accountants?
Caseware’s new AI-driven digital assistant, AiDA, is designed to significantly enhance the work of auditors and accountants, and I’m excited about its potential. AiDA provides every team member with immediate access to a wealth of knowledge and expertise. This is particularly valuable for junior staff at accountancy and audit firms, who previously had to learn primarily through trial and error. By offering guidance, information, and context that would typically require years of experience, AiDA is accelerating professional growth and enabling these teams to tackle more complex tasks earlier in their careers.
AI-driven digital assistants are set to make accounting and audit roles more meaningful and impactful by freeing people of routine tasks and allowing them to focus on higher-value activities. With AI handling basic information gathering and flagging potential issues to human review, we can dedicate more time to strategic analysis, client relationship management, and complex problem-solving. It’s about focusing on work at a higher level, and the tasks that truly require human insight, creativity, and judgment.
In your experience, how can AI make the roles of professionals in auditing and accounting more meaningful and impactful?
We’re currently grappling with a significant backlog of work and increasing pressure to do more with less. Simultaneously, we’re facing a pipeline problem – retirements are outpacing the influx of new professionals.
AI is proving to be a vital tool in bridging this gap. It’s allowing firms to train new audit and accounting professionals faster and more effectively, enabling them to acquire a broader knowledge base in a shorter time frame. This is crucial because there’s a wealth of institutional and professional knowledge held by retiring professionals that has traditionally been difficult to impart to first and second-year staff due to its sheer volume and complexity.
This shift is crucial for the future of the profession. It’s making accounting and auditing more attractive to new talent. As we face the challenges of losing staff and increasing workloads, embracing AI isn’t just an option – it’s becoming a necessity for the future of accounting and auditing.
As AI continues to evolve, what steps should professionals in audit and accounting take to prepare for the integration of AI into their workflows?
I think it’s essential that firms conduct a comprehensive AI inventory within their organizations. This isn’t just about knowing what AI tools we’re using; it’s about understanding where AI fits into our risk profile, particularly in light of upcoming regulations like the EU AI Act.
Transparency is key in this process. I’ve noticed that many vendors are incorporating AI into their products, but not all of them are accustomed to the level of rigor and transparency that professional accountants are expected to maintain. I strongly recommend that firms centralize the approval and management of AI technologies. This aligns with quality management standards and ensures that AI tools are being deployed and used in a safe, controlled, and consistent manner.
There’s often concern about AI replacing jobs. How do you see AI complementing the work of professionals in your field rather than replacing them?
In my experience, the concern about AI replacing jobs in our field is largely misplaced. We’re facing a significant shortage of qualified professionals in our field, and in extreme cases, companies are receiving material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in their financial statements due to a lack of accounting staff.
However, AI isn’t a threat to jobs; it’s a tool that can help us manage the workload more effectively and allow professionals to focus on higher-value tasks. Our profession requires a high level of cognitive capability that AI simply can’t replicate. The complex decision-making, professional judgment, and nuanced understanding of business contexts that auditors and accountants bring to their work are not easily automated.
Ethically, auditors are not allowed to subordinate their judgment, and the existence of heightened requirements makes auditors so important to the stability of capital markets.
The reality is that our profession is about much more than data entry or transaction coding. It’s about providing insights, managing risk, ensuring compliance, and supporting strategic decision-making. These are areas where human expertise is crucial and where AI can enhance our capabilities rather than replace them.
What are some common misconceptions about AI in the context of professional services, and how can these be addressed?
AI, like human professionals, isn’t perfect, and that’s why it’s essential to have a robust review process in place. The misconception that all AI is a ‘black box’ and therefore is categorically unusable is simply not true. Standards, including new International ethical guidelines, recognize the potential of AI and provide frameworks for responsible use. It’s not about avoiding AI entirely, but rather about ensuring proper oversight and validation to make the most of its capabilities to underpin the stability of markets in the best way we can.
Given your involvement with various AI task forces, what ethical considerations should be top of mind when implementing AI in auditing and accounting?
It’s crucial to remember that using AI doesn’t absolve you of your ethical responsibilities. You must never subordinate your judgment to others, including AI. This is a fundamental ethical expectation of any auditor or accounting professional, and it applies even when using advanced technologies. You can rely on AI for assistance, but you must always understand what you’re doing and take responsibility for the results. The involvement of AI doesn’t change that.
In fact, ethical standards have doubled down on this responsibility. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) clearly states that professionals must take accountability and responsibility for the output generated by AI, and there are specific ways to ensure this happens. Whether through rigorous testing, validation, or oversight, you are still the one ultimately responsible. The key ethical point here is that you don’t blindly trust anyone—or any machine—today, and that remains true with AI. It’s essential to ensure that, even with AI, you maintain professional judgment and oversight.
How do you see AI shaping the future of professional services, particularly in terms of enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and compliance?
One of the most significant ways AI will make a difference is by creating efficiencies at the foundational level. By improving the quality of work at the lowest levels there is a ripple effect: reviewers spend less time refining workpapers, which speeds up the whole process.
The real game-changer is putting AI tools in the hands of staff in a way that empowers them to ask better questions without needing perfect research skills or deep expertise in areas they may be unfamiliar with. AI can bridge those gaps by providing more accurate information at the user’s fingertips, guiding them through complex standards or regulations.
Finally, what advice would you give to organizations in the professional services sector looking to maximize the potential of AI in their operations?
Prompt-writing really could be the most impactful step you take to unlock AI’s full potential in your organization. One of the most effective ways to get the best out of AI is by improving how you interact with it. It might sound simple, but asking better questions is key. This means training your staff to craft prompts that guide the AI to provide the most useful, accurate, and well-structured responses.
For example, you can start encouraging your team to ask AI for authoritative citations, links, and to clearly lay out the logical steps it took to arrive at an answer. These steps improve the quality of the output and also ensure that the AI’s responses are transparent and easy to verify. The better the prompts, the more precise and helpful the AI’s assistance will be.
Danielle Supkis Cheek
VP, Head of Analytics and AI at Caseware
Danielle Supkis Cheek is VP, Head of Analytics and AI at Caseware, a global leader in cloud-enabled audit, financial reporting and data analytics solutions. Danielle sits on the Technology Experts Group for the International Ethics Standards Board She is also on the AI Task Forces for Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC) and Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC). Danielle is a part-time faculty member at Rice University’s Jones School of Business, teaching data analytics to Masters of Accountancy (MAcc) students. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of Texas, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA).
