"Like many of his fellow accountants, Jin Chang tried to quit the industry several times because of the tedium of grunt work. That was until 2020, when he had the idea to build software that could automate the more banal aspects of the job at a time when the accounting profession was hemorrhaging talent. The result, Fieldguide, predated the rise of ChatGPT, though its artificial intelligence-native approach was buoyed by the success of generative AI."
"As Chang puts it, the certified public accounting, or CPA, industry is going through a talent crisis. "And it's only getting worse," he told Fortune. "I would call it existential." The number of candidates writing the CPA exam is at a 17-year-low, with more than 75% of today's CPAs expected to retire over the next decade, according to Fieldguide. The work of accounting firms, however, is essential for many larger businesses, such as auditing the quarterly financial reports produced by public companies."
Jin Chang founded Fieldguide in 2020 to automate repetitive accounting tasks with an AI-native software approach that anticipated generative AI momentum. Fieldguide secured $75 million in funding led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives at a $700 million valuation, with participation from Geodesic, Bessemer Venture Partners, 8VC, and Thomson Reuters. Auditing serves a noble, important role and many accounting technology stacks remain fragmented. The certified public accounting profession faces a talent crisis, with CPA exam candidates at a 17-year low and over 75% of current CPAs expected to retire within the next decade. Many large companies retain long-standing relationships with accounting firms.
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