A big firm just got caught by the thing I worry about most
The KPMG AI report failure was not an AI failure. It was a process failure. Why the firms that win will be the most disciplined about where a human signs.
19 June 2026
Umar Memon
AI, accountancy and the future of professional judgement.
I write about what happens when artificial intelligence moves from theory into real accountancy practice. Statutory accounts, SME finance, review quality, professional judgement, and the question that still matters: where is the evidence?
Umar Memon is Managing Partner at Jack Ross Chartered Accountants.
The partner still signs.
AI can draft, summarise, check, compare and challenge. But in accountancy, judgement still matters. The accounts still need to be right. The evidence still needs to support the conclusion. And the professional still carries the responsibility.
This site is about that gap: between what AI can produce and what a qualified accountant should trust.
He has been writing about automation in the profession since 2016, and about AI in finance since early 2023, before the hype cycle caught up.
For SME owners
Better numbers, cleaner accounts and fewer surprises. Practical writing on what business owners should expect from their accountant in the age of AI.
For accountants
How AI changes review, training, workflows, quality control and the career ladder inside modern accountancy practices.
For journalists, podcasts and events
Clear, practical commentary on AI in accountancy, SME finance, the future of work and professional judgement.
Featured thinking
Automation and 15m jobs lost in the UK …
In 2016, over lunch, Andrew Haldane told a room of accountants that 15 million UK jobs were exposed to automation. I was listening.
4 March 2016
AI in Finance: Benefits, Pitfalls, and Future Prospects
Written in early 2023, before the hype cycle: the benefits, pitfalls and prospects of AI in finance, from fraud detection to bias and GDPR.
13 March 2023
Xero can help the Chancellor with new Dividend Tax
I met George Osborne at Number 11 and told him his Dividend Tax needed a reporting mechanism. Real-time data was the answer even in 2015.
11 September 2015
The themes I return to
- AI needs evidence, not confidence.
- The partner still signs.
- SMEs need numbers they can trust.
- The accountant of the future is a reviewer, interpreter and systems thinker.
- Better technology does not remove responsibility.
- The next accountancy advantage is not who uses AI; it is who controls it properly.