AICPA and CIMA Release Rise 2040 Vision Report: Four Predictions and Response Paths for the Accounting Industry in the AI Era
AICPA and CIMA recently released the "Rise 2040" vision report, stating that AI will drive compliance to become "invisible," audits to become continuous, and reshape entry-level roles. Based on discussions with over 6,000 accounting professionals across 25 countries between June 2025 and January 2026, the report proposes four predictions and solutions, including adopting subscription-based pricing, cross-generational training, and trust scoring platforms. AICPA Executive Vice President Tom Hood stated that the industry needs to transform fear into optimism and redesign talent development pathways.
A new report jointly released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) offers sober and practical advice for the accounting profession as it navigates intensifying AI and technological change. Based on broad industry consensus, the 44-page report treats the coming changes as a call to action for accounting professionals while candidly acknowledging anxieties and concerns about job displacement and the profession's future shape.
Titled "Rise 2040: Shaping the Future of Finance and Accounting," the vision report was co-commissioned by AICPA and CIMA. In an interview on Friday (February 6), Tom Hood, Executive Vice President of Business Engagement and Growth at AICPA and CIMA, said the report's conclusions stem from multiple discussion sessions organized by the two bodies between June 2025 and January 2026, involving more than 6,000 accountants, CFOs, controllers, and educators from 25 countries. Hood said the overall output represents one of the industry's first global responses to AI-related changes affecting the profession and provides a roadmap for navigating this new era.
"Yes, there is fear in the discussions, but when you shift your thinking to 'How do I find opportunity in this?' it turns into optimism," Hood told CFO Dive. He cited as an example the future challenge of cultivating a new generation of accountants—who will be responsible for overseeing technology and verifying its results, yet may never have personally performed the routine, repetitive work themselves. The profession and education will ultimately "teach people accounting without them practicing accounting," Hood said.
Here are the report's four major predictions for the future transformation of the accounting profession, along with corresponding recommendations:
- AI-enabled accounting expansion will make compliance "invisible," turn auditing into a continuous activity, and require the redesign of entry-level roles.The report recommends that, to "pre-solve" foreseeable issues that may arise from this, firms could create AI-driven "institutional memory" and provide risk and fraud monitoring through continuous analysis.
- Automation and AI will lower costs, compress manual hours, and affect talent demand.To address this trend, the report suggests accounting firms could consider adopting subscription-based or value-based pricing models, or offering new services such as "CFO-as-a-Service."
- Workforce reshaping and increased AI enablement could lead to the breakdown of traditional training pathways and the loss of institutional knowledge.The report recommends that firms consider solutions such as cross-generational training and "human-machine collaboration" training models.
- As "manual processes become obsolete," the value of trust and assurance will become increasingly prominent.The report states: "As complexity increases, so does the demand for trusted professionals, ethical oversight, and high-quality standards." Professionals could consider developing "trust scoring platforms" and deploying automated anomaly detection mechanisms.