How AI Is Changing Accounting, Payroll and the Wider Workplace

What is AI actually changing?

AI is fundamentally changing how accountants, bookkeepers and payroll professionals spend their time. By taking on repetitive, manual tasks, it's freeing professionals to focus on higher-value work, from analysing data to providing strategic advice to clients. Last year, our research found that 82% of payroll professionals wanted to use AI and automation to reduce processing times, and I'd imagine that figure has only increased.

For accountants and bookkeepers, this presents an opportunity to move beyond transactional services and take on a more strategic, advisory role. Rather than spending hours processing information, they can spend more time helping clients understand what that information actually means for their business.

The issues firms shouldn’t ignore

Data security, accuracy and compliance have to be central to AI adoption, particularly when dealing with sensitive information. Our research found that 33% of payroll providers are concerned about data security and privacy when adopting automation, which is understandable when you take the technology at face value.

My advice to firms is to look carefully at how their technology providers manage data, maintain audit trails and ensure human oversight. Bringing processes together within a single, secure platform like Employment Hero can reduce the risks that come with constantly transferring information between disconnected systems, making it more secure.

Remember that AI is only as good as the data it's working with. If your systems are disconnected, you're limiting the information AI can draw on, which can lead to gaps and inaccuracies. The more connected your systems are, the better the foundation for smarter, more accurate automation.

What's your advice for firms looking to move beyond exploration?

My advice is simple: start small. Look at the repetitive tasks eating up the most time, choose technology partners you trust and build from there. You don't need to overhaul everything overnight. The goal isn't to replace human expertise, but to give professionals more time to put that expertise to good use.

How is AI helping your customers today and what's next?

At Employment Hero, we're using AI and automation to take away some of the administrative burden of managing people and payroll. Our connected employment platform brings HR, payroll and employee data together, reducing the need for manual data transfers and helping businesses work more efficiently and accurately.

What's really exciting is where AI goes next. We're moving beyond automating individual tasks towards more intelligent systems that can anticipate needs, spot potential issues and manage increasingly complex workflows, without businesses having to oversee every single step.

New AI features, developments and product roadmap updates

Powered by HeroAI, Employment Hero's AI infrastructure, we've built a connected employment operating system that brings recruitment, HR, payroll and payments together in one platform. This is about making the whole employment experience more seamless, reducing the risks that come with disconnected systems and creating a stronger foundation for smarter automation.

We're also developing an AI-powered Compliance Agent to help businesses navigate the growing complexity of UK employment legislation. It's been a difficult year for SMEs. Not only have they had to absorb rising employment costs, but they're also having to get their heads around significant changes under the Employment Rights Act. Small business owners shouldn't have to become employment law experts just to run their business, and we're committed to building products that solve the problems they're actually facing.

We've also recently partnered with Crezco to introduce automated payroll payments, removing the need for businesses to manually download BACS files and upload them to their bank. Instead, they can choose when they want to pay their staff, including the option to make instant payments. This is exactly the kind of unnecessary admin we're trying to eliminate.

Kevin Fitzgerald, UK MD of Employment Hero

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