Former Formula One executive Nick Fry believes the accountancy profession has every reason to be optimistic despite the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
Fry, who co-owned Brawn GP which won the 2009 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships with Jenson Button at the wheel, will take part in a debate next month on the future of accountancy as it comes to terms with the rise of AI.
Now non-executive chair at high-performance technology company Motion Applied (formerly McLaren Applied), he joins a line-up of speakers at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland conference in London next month.
The professional body has been vocal on the potential impact of AI on the profession. Earlier this year, ICAS CEO Bruce Cartwright issued an open letter to former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, disagreeing with remarks he made suggesting that graduates should avoid pursuing careers in accountancy due to the rise of AI.
Fry will discuss the issue alongside astronaut Tim Peake, entrepreneurship expert Susie Warran-Smith, computer science pioneer Dame Wendy Smith, leading economist Paul Johnson, and the journalist Tina Brown.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Fry said: “I think the doomsayers will be wrong. There will be consequences but never in the history of humankind has the development of technology ever made everyone redundant.
“It has changed the shape of things, so people are deployed often from less interesting jobs towards more interesting jobs.”
On the impact for accountants, he added: “AI will probably end up doing the grunt work, but it’s not going to give you that accidental bit of genius on top. The low-level accounting tasks will go but the high-level stuff probably won’t.”
ICAS has placed AI at the forefront of its conference agenda and its long-term ambitions. In 2024, it became the first accountancy body to launch a future-fit CA syllabus, designed to equip chartered accountants with the skills needed to navigate AI, data, and sustainability.
The conference, which is open to both ICAS members and the wider business community to attend both in person and online, will tackle a number of other themes including the UK’s global political influence, business sustainability and ethical leadership.
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