How-To Guide: Building a Digital Accounting Workforce

According to the Deloitte’s new report, Finance 2025, “Computers will handle routine requests from business leaders, giving Finance the opportunity to be more proactive,” and “Accountants using spreadsheets will be replaced by technology that does 90% of the work without human intervention.”

Your AI strategy is about generating value right now, not something to think of as a task for the future—you’ll either move further ahead faster or risk being left behind. The new Agentic AI era has the potential to double every company’s workforce when adopted, enabling teams to process data in real time with greater accuracy and predictive capabilities. Now is the time to implement an AI strategy to prepare your team for the changes ahead.

“AI agents are set to revolutionize the workforce, blending human creativity with machine efficiency to unlock unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation.” - Anthony Abbatiello, PWC Workforce Transformation Practice Leader, PWC 2025 AI Business Predictions

This comprehensive guide will help you understand how to leverage the new era of Agentic AI to build a digital workforce that will transform your organization.

Understanding Today's Accounting Landscape

Talent Shortages and Skills Gaps

‍The accounting industry is facing a significant talent shortage. According to Accounting Today, only 1% of accounting and CPA firms report having enough qualified staff to complete their tasks. A survey by Manpower reveals that “73% of employers in the financial industry report difficulty finding skilled talent."

With the combination of this talent shortage and the rise of the agentic workforce powered by AI, we are at a pivotal point to rethink accounting and finance operations. In the era of Agentic AI and automation, organizations can double productivity while enabling current teams to work more strategically.

What is Agentic AI?

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff explained it well in his recent interview on the Big Technology Podcast.

AI began its journey in 2010 with large language models, next-generation algorithms, and deep learning, which led the way for powerful language models. This first wave of AI introduced prompt engineering—a method for interacting with AI through instructions. As deep learning capabilities expanded and computing power improved, entered the era of Generative AI, giving spotlights to models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude—GenAI systems that are able to understand and generate human-like text.

We are now in the era of Agentic AI. By connecting these powerful language models with meaningful datasets and specific business contexts, we have the capability to create something transformative. To put it simply, while Generative AI excels at creating content and responding to prompts (think of it as a sophisticated conversation partner), Agentic AI takes things to the next level. It acts as a proactive team member, capable of performing various tasks and projects independently.

One of the core drivers for Agentic AI are known as AI Agents. Unlike traditional automation, AI agents can:

• Access and interact with your systems independently
• Conducting operations within defined parameters
• Provide contextual insights through real-time analysis
• Adapt to your existing workflows

How is Agentic AI Different from Traditional Automation?

‍Building Your Digital Workforce

Hard to imagine what AI agents can do for your accounting and finance team? Here are some examples of AI agents that handle complex data processing and routine accounting tasks—things you may currently be managing across multiple spreadsheets:

‍Reconciliation Agents

• Automatically match order-to-cash transactions
• Identify discrepancies
• Flag items needing attention

‍Close Management Agents

• Track close process, assign tasks, and identify bottlenecks
• Automate repetitive tasks, journal entries, and reporting
• Ensure completeness and maintain traceable audit trails

Multi-Entity Consolidation Agents

• Automatically identify intercompany transactions and data discrepancies
• Automate journal entries for general ledgers (GLs)
• Process invoices and contracts using simple English commends

‍Variance Analysis

• Identify significant changes and explain trends
• Predict potential issues and data discrepancies
• Generate detailed executive summaries and reports

‍Implementation Strategies

Focus on High-Impact Areas

‍Review processes that:

• Are time-consuming - If you are using spreadsheets, that’s a great place to start
• Have clear outcomes - Examples like month-end close, monthly financial reports, and more
• Impact multiple stakeholders - Team management tasks that can be automated
• Show quick wins - For example, improvements in data accuracy, clarity and accuracy, and hours saved

Start Small, Scale Smart

• Validate results before expanding - human review is necessary!
• Document processes during onboarding
• Build on successes

‍Evaluating Digital Workforce Solutions: Key Considerations

Integration Capabilities

• Ability to connect with existing systems
• Minimal onboarding time and disruption to current workflows
• Scalable architecture
• API accessibility

AI Capabilities

• User-friendly interface and usability
• Task automation
• Discrepancy and exception handling and flagging

‍Data Security

• Data protection
• Traceable audit trails
• Access controls

Questions to Ask Your Solution Providers

Implementation

• What is the typical implementation timeline?
• What resources are required from your internal team?
• What resources are required from your internal team?
• What support does the solution provide offer?
• How does the solution provider handle data migration?
• What training is included?

‍Post Onboarding

• How often is the data updated?
• How does the solution provider address data issues and inaccuracies?
• What is the solution provider’s data security policy?

Next Steps

‍The future of accounting is here, and it's more exciting than ever. With the right digital workforce, you can work faster and more accurately, empower your team for strategic work, scale efficiently, and provide better overall customer service.

Don't let your team fall behind in the Agentic AI era. Here's how to get started:

Book a time to chat with our accounting expert team:See your future digital workforce in action

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About Nominal: We're pioneering the future of accounting with Agentic AI solutions that adapt to your existing accounting operations. Our platform uses powerful AI Agents with intuitive workflows to create the accounting experience you've always wanted - from financial consolidation, close management to real-time flux analysis.