AI FOR CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Get your bearings in the world of AI. We’ll look at where it came from, why it’s booming now, and how it’s not just changing finance — it’s changing what it means to work in it.

• A brief history of AI: How we’ve used it in the past vs. now
• Why now? The explosion of AI capability & accessibility
• How AI is shifting the role of a finance professional
• The wider social, demographic & economic impact of AI

Get to grips with the tools that are quietly running the show. In this session, you’ll learn how to prompt smarter, automate better, and make ChatGPT and Copilot do some of the heavy lifting in your day-to-day finance tasks.

• Overview: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot
• Capabilities & limitations
• How these tools work
• Writing effective prompts for financial tasks
• Automation for everyday finance functions

Assignment #3: Prompt Writing
Write and refine prompts for 4 financial tasks like summarising reports, generating insights, or drafting meeting notes.

Get hands-on with building your own finance-savvy custom GPT. Learn the tricks of effective prompting, follow a step-by-step build, then team up to test, tweak, and show off your tool in action.

• Building your own finance-focused custom GPT
• Group tasks & simple use case presentation

Assignment #4: AI Opportunity Assessment
Spot where AI can make the biggest difference across finance processes, from boosting accuracy to improving client service.

Understand how automation is changing the game in finance — from basic bots to smart systems. You'll explore real tools, watch them in action, and figure out where they shine and where they flop.

• Overview: Automation in finance
• What is RPA & how is it leveraged? 
• Demo: RPA tools
• Intelligent automation in action
• Demo: Copilot Studio, Agent Builder
• Best practices & common pitfalls

By the end of this session, you’ll have built your own AI agent that can answer financial questions and sum up insights. You’ll go from idea to working chatbot, using real docs, quick hacks, and a bit of teamwork to bring it all to life.

• Step-by-step build: From use case to deployment
• Using sample spreadsheets & word docs
• Building a chatbot 
• Breakout sessions for testing & collaboration

Assignment #5: AI Tool Selection & Justification
Find the right AI tools for your firm’s needs, and make the case for them based on benefits, scalability, and compliance.

Get smart about using GenAI where it counts — audits, controls, and catching the stuff that slips through the cracks. This lesson is all about spotting opportunities, avoiding red flags, and seeing how real companies are using AI to stay ahead.

• Things to consider while using AI
• Opportunities in using AI in audit, controls, & fraud detection
• Case studies: How firms are applying Gen AI in assurance & fraud prevention
• Discussion: Market tools & getting certified

Explore how AI is changing tax compliance — the good, the bad, and the risky. We’ll dive into real-world wins, red flags, and the practical stuff you need to know when using AI in one of the most tightly regulated spaces around.

• Important considerations & opportunities 
• Potential risks
• Issues & challenges
• Case study: Practical examples of AI application 

Learn how AI can turn financial data from a mess of numbers into sharp, strategic visuals. We'll explore what works, what doesn't, and how to spot real insights — not just pretty charts.

• Importance & value of data visualisation
• Opportunities, risks, & pitfalls of AI for data visualisation
• Considerations: Clean data, commercial insight, business context
• Case studies: Applying techniques & tools to real-world data scenarios
• Discussion: Market trends, new advanced tools, skills development 

Learn how to put predictive AI to work in financial forecasting — spotting patterns, flagging risks, and making smarter decisions. We'll work with real-world cases and explore how to turn data into strategy that holds up.

• Value of AI in forecasting 
• Key risks around predictive analytics
• Opportunities to enhance accuracy, efficiency, & insight
• Considerations: Structured data & strategic context to interpret forecasts 
• Case study: Applying predictive analytics to real-world financial scenarios 
• Discussion: Innovations, advanced forecasting tools, predictive analytics expertise

Time to connect the dots. This lesson is where your AI plans get real — you’ll shape a rollout strategy that works, prep your team for the change, and tackle the ethical curveballs before they hit.

• Assessing AI readiness in your team or organisation
• Building a phased implementation plan
• Preparing teams for adoption & upskilling
• Ethical considerations in financial AI use

Assignment 6: Use Case & Safe Implementation Strategy
Pick a high-impact AI use case (e.g. audit, forecasting, fraud detection), and create a step-by-step plan to implement it safely and effectively — with clear value, risk controls, and stakeholder alignment.

Figure out where AI moves the needle. This final lesson is all about mapping high-impact AI opportunities to real business goals — with a smart, scalable roadmap that makes financial sense and gets buy-in.

• Delivering value & identifying ROI
• Aligning AI opportunities with business objectives & stakeholder needs
• Building a roadmap step by step
• Frameworks for sequencing AI use cases: Effort vs. impact
• Managing change, building momentum, and scaling success

Assignment #7: AI Adoption Roadmap & Financial Considerations
Build a realistic roadmap for rolling out AI, including budget, training, and expected ROI.

Final Project: 3-Part Capstone Project

• Executive Report – Clear strategy, roadmap, and recommendations
• Findings Deck – A 10-slide summary of insights and takeaways
• Case Study – Show how one tool delivers real impact in your organisation