Accountants Would Like AI to Take This Job for Good

In the world of audits, the most dreaded assignment doesn't involve spreadsheets. That honor goes to the mind-numbing and not-always-comfortable task of counting inventory—a job those who complete it wouldn't mind handing off to AI, if only AI could handle it. The Wall Street Journal's Mark Maurer spotlights accountants like Iowa auditor Matt Gardiner, who recently had to get to the top of 90-foot grain bins in order to verify what's inside.

For junior auditors—the job is typically handled by newbies—these trips can mean shivering in giant freezers to tally frozen fish, counting rocks in quarries, or even logging the number of telephone poles. Maurer sourced some of his tales from Reddit, and it's easy to see why (this page recounts tales of stirring vats of raw scallops and climbing over a cart of dead chickens).

Maurer notes that firms are eager for technology, particularly AI, to take over these grunt tasks, and some progress is underway: Drones have replaced helicopters and planes in some cases for aerial counts, for instance. But US auditing rules still require humans to physically verify inventory, and technology can be costly or unreliable. Drones, Maurer explains, aren't precise when it comes to "items that are covered or hiding, such as cattle in mountainous terrains." Read the full story for more here.