Navigating the Next AI Landscape: Generative AI – From Chatbots to AI Agents for Accounting Professionals

Overview

Generative AI is rapidly moving from answering questions to completing bounded workflows, and for accounting and finance professionals the shift from chatbot to AI agent is no longer theoretical—it is an emerging reality with direct implications for productivity, work quality, and risk. This course provides a clear, practical view of today’s Gen AI landscape, explaining how chatbots work, what distinguishes a copilot, custom assistant, and true agent, and where each fits in a finance professional’s day-to-day work.

Highlights

What Is Gen AI and How Chatbots Work - Define core Gen AI concepts and explain how chatbots produce outputs through prompting, iteration, and human oversight.

The Progression from Chatbot to AI Agent - Map the capability progression from chatbots to agents and clarify what does—and does not—qualify as an AI agent in practice.

Practical Finance & Accounting Use Cases - Identify high-value finance and accounting scenarios where Gen AI can improve productivity, analysis, and repeatable work outputs today.

Agents and Workflows - Learn how to design and choose bounded, controllable workflows that combine tools, steps, and human gates appropriate for finance work.

Risks, Controls, and Governance - Evaluate the risk shift from "output" to "action," and apply practical controls and governance as AI autonomy increases.

What Comes Next & Discussion - Translate the concepts into an actionable near-term plan, including a 90-day roadmap, pilot structure, and discussion takeaways.

Prerequisites

None

Designed For

Accounting and finance professionals and accounting leaders who want to build practical Gen AI fluency and understand where chatbots, copilots, custom assistants, and AI agents fit responsibly into their work.

Objectives

Recall the distinctions among Gen AI, chatbots, copilots, custom assistants, and AI agents.
Identify finance and accounting tasks where Gen AI can improve productivity and work quality.
Distinguish the scenarios best suited for chatbots, copilots, custom assistants, automation, and AI agents.
Recognize the risks, controls, and governance considerations for AI adoption and agent implementation.

Notice

This course is offered by a 3rd party vendor and will not be accessible in the My CPE Tracker section of the ISCPA website. Course access information will be emailed directly to you by AICPA.