Rise2040

That's a great question, Sri! As you've mentioned, traditionally, auditors learned by doing. Staff tested transactions, tied out schedules, investigated exceptions, and worked through thousands of repetitive procedures. Over time, those experiences helped them recognize patterns, understand business processes, develop professional skepticism, and build the judgment needed to lead engagements.

If AI performs much of that work, we risk creating a generation of auditors who are asked to supervise processes they never personally experienced. It's similar to asking someone to review a complex workpaper without ever having prepared one themselves.

Future auditors may need more deliberate training, simulations, rotational experiences, and opportunities to perform procedures manually, even when AI could do them faster. Aviation offers a useful analogy: pilots rely heavily on automation, but they still spend significant time learning the fundamentals and training for situations where the automation fails. The AICPA's Profession Ready Initiative is focused on workforce transformation so, it's definitely worth following this initiative if you aren't already. Profession Ready Initiative | Professional Insights | AICPA & CIMA

Ultimately, the question may not be whether AI can do the work, but whether we can create a pathway for auditors to develop the judgment, skepticism, and intuition that historically came from performing the work themselves. That may be one of the most important talent and training challenges facing the profession over the next decade.