site.btaACCA Southern Europe Head: Opportunities Outweigh Risks When AI Is Used Responsibly

The opportunities far outweigh the risks when artificial intelligence (AI) is used responsibly, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Southern Europe Head Andea Stanciu said in an exclusive interview with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). The global professional body in accounting celebrated 120 years since its founding. The association's membership exceeds 154,000 and it has more than 432,000 students from around the world.

Stanciu added that the artificial intelligence and in particular the generative AI, has sparked great excitement in business, including in accounting. However, as with anything new, this excitement comes with some uncertainty and caution. "There are real concerns about issues such as over-reliance on AI results, especially when incomplete or invalid data leads to errors - what we call 'AI hallucinations' - or the danger of misunderstanding models because AI only refers to information already collected," she explained.

Other barriers can be cybersecurity risks, copyright concerns, and even the fear of missing out on benefits due to a lack of confidence in AI's results, Stanciu added, underlining that the opportunities far outweigh the risks when AI is used responsibly. 

She believes that the key lies in strong governance, human oversight and clear policies for implementing AI. Artificial intelligence combined with human expertise can be a real revolution for the profession, automating repetitive tasks and so giving accountants and auditors more time to focus on strategic activities such as financial planning and advising the business on growth, she said. 

Stanciu described Bulgarian professionals as ambitious, visionary and always scoring highly in ACCA examinations. 

"As far as Europe is concerned, the trend we are seeing in the profession is a shortage of staff, so we are working across the region with regulators, chambers of auditors and employers to find the best solutions to this problem. We are also using our international expertise and the resources of our partners to ensure a balance between supply and demand," said the ACCA Southern Europe Head.

She addressed the European standards for non-financial audits of companies that have come into force by saying that the implementation of the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) has created a demand for professionals with expertise in non-financial reporting. Although there is a skills gap in some areas, organisations such as ACCA are actively addressing this and providing specialist training and qualifications around the world. Efforts are being made in Bulgaria and other European countries to upskill accountants and auditors to meet these new standards.

"I believe that thanks to the transition opportunity and the coordinated action between regulators, national bodies and ACCA as a global body, we are now in a much better position than we were a year ago. Collaboration between regulators, professional and academic bodies is crucial to ensure we have enough skilled professionals in this transition," she said.