Accounting in the AI Age: Revising Courses and Preparing Students
As the growth of artificial intelligence-based technologies impacts companies and workplaces across industries, LeBow’s Department of Accounting is leaning into innovation across all of its programs to address this era-defining shift.
Along with reviewing current plans of study and adapting existing courses to fit a semester-based schedule starting in fall 2027 as part of Drexel’s ongoing Academic Transformation initiative, the accounting faculty are also aligning curricula with key skills desired by employers.
“We’re seeing that companies want students that are AI-ready,” says Assistant Clinical Professor of Accounting JT Thazhathel ’12, MBA ’19, currently serving as a LeBow Dean’s Fellow for Academic Transformation. “Drexel is known for co-op and for producing work-ready graduates, so how can we make our curricula and coursework match the skills employers want?”
An Industry-Aligned Change
Thazhathel and his colleagues have backing on these changes from the top firms in corporate accounting. Members of the Accounting department’s advisory council have provided feedback on proposed greater AI integration in both new and redesigned courses, along with increased use of analytical tools.
“Employers are looking for accounting graduates who are comfortable both using AI-enabled tools and reviewing the output from the tools, but who also understand that technology does not replace professional judgment,” says Kevin Brady ’06, assurance partner with RSM and accounting advisory council member. “LeBow’s proposed curriculum changes strike the right balance by building AI fluency while reinforcing critical thinking, verification and accountability.”
The department’s increased emphasis on AI use is balanced by an increase in storytelling and communications across the department’s offerings, making sure that students gain fluency without sacrificing critical thinking skills.
Additional, Thazhathel’s research on AI use in the accounting profession, supported through a 2024 Accounting Education Research Grant from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), found that early-career accountants are being called upon to use AI more in their day-to-day work.
I think AI is going to make accountants faster at their job, not necessarily better. There are so many judgment calls involved, and because clients hire accountants to make sure they’re on the right track, the work you turn in is a reflection of you.
Embracing New Technology
Associate Clinical Professor of Accounting Stephen Bates, DBA, CPA, has advocated for AI integration as chair of the accounting department’s curriculum committee.
“I’ve seen so many technological changes and advances in my career, and AI is another one that we all have to do,” he says. “It’s important to embrace it and learn to work with it.”
Bates has demonstrated the importance of human reasoning and the pitfalls of AI’s analytical abilities in his Financial Reporting course. For the course’s final report — an extensive analysis of a company’s performance, based on detailed but anonymized financial records — he has assigned students to use an AI tool to complete the first draft. He then reviews with students what the LLM has produced, and it’s often, in his word, “analysis without insight.”
“At the analysis level, AI is a tool, just like Excel is a tool, but ultimately, you have to use your own insight,” he says.
When Using AI is a Requirement
Thazhathel has undertaken similar class-based experiments with AI use. After initially seeing students rely heavily on generative AI to complete assignments, he began encouraging its use for Excel functions, coding basics and other technical applications, and then mandating its use — within certain parameters.
For these AI-required assignments, he’ll task students with using AI to verify something, like missing transactions from a balance sheet, while also requiring students to fill out an Excel template to verify the AI output.
“If they simply put it into AI and turned in that output, they’d lose credit,” he says. “This way, they get familiar with the technology without becoming completely reliant on it.”
With scenarios like these in mind, Thazhathel is now mapping out a series of AI-driven assignments to be infused throughout the undergraduate accounting curriculum.
“We know students have to take 115 and 116” — the two required, introductory-level accounting courses — “so how do we map it out so they build on these AI skills?” he asks.
By incorporating projects and modules throughout required and elective courses, he says, “we can do more advanced projects in upper-level classes.”
Thazhathel lays out a scenario in Cost Accounting, a mid-level accounting course, involving break-even analysis for a carwash business: given certain parameters — rent, employee payroll, utilities, marketing costs — how many carwashes do I need to sell to break even, or to generate profit of a certain amount?
“If you use AI or AI-based tools and you get it wrong, it’s going to be marked wrong, which comes down to critical reasoning skills.” In professional accounting, he adds, “you’re the one signing off on your work. We want students to think about how they can use AI to enhance their work while making sure to verify in the end.”
