Curiosity and Caution: Small Businesses Explore ChatGPT

Smaller accounting firms are both curious and cautious about the use of ChatGPT, an accessible artificial intelligence tool that could streamline accounting processes. While company leaders are eager to explore its capabilities, they are still examining the potential strengths and weaknesses of this new technology. The most common application of ChatGPT is currently to generate marketing and PR materials, creating content for social media and blog posts. MBS Accountancy leader Adolfo Marquez stated that his firm has been using ChatGPT as a junior writer for blog posts by training it with content they previously wrote. Another unconventional way that accounting firms have been using ChatGPT is by using it to perform accounting research. ChatGPT is a great sounding board for accounting issues and can help summarise long documents. However, each firm has also implemented controls to account for confidentiality risks concerning the AI tool. It’s important that companies are careful not to compromise data security by inputting client’s data into the OpenAI platform. The fact that firms are being cautious in using ChatGPT is understandable, as the full potential of this technology hasn’t been fully explored yet, and the legalities of using it aren’t yet clear.