“Whether or not you’re afraid of AI, we’re going to need it to meet the demand for services,” said Scott Kadrlik, managing partner at Meuwissen, Flygare, Kadrlik & Associates, quoted in an article for Accounting Today. His firm is a full-service accounting services, tax, and consulting firm that includes a business valuation practice. He continued: “Anything that will reduce the repetitive nontechnical tasks will be greatly appreciated.”

This comment hits upon the good news behind AI, particularly for business valuation, that is, using AI as a tool to handle the grunt work to free up the valuer’s time to do more analysis. A common flaw in many valuations is the failure to tie the numbers to the narrative. Often, numbers are presented, but there is no explanation as to how the numbers relate to the subject company. How do the numbers help tell the story? Redirecting a valuer’s time away from number crunching and more toward storytelling is a great advantage of AI. But always remember this: An AI tool cannot do 100% of a business valuation—a healthy dose of professional judgment will always be needed.

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