Fieldguide Raises $30 Million to Combat CPA Shortage With AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Fieldguide has raised $30 million for its accounting industry offering.

The Series B funding round, announced Tuesday (March 26), will let the company launch new AI capabilities, expand its market reach, and add to its team as it tries to alleviate what it says is a talent shortage in the certified public accountant (CPA) field.

“Paired with the CPA profession’s profound talent shortage is a surge in demand for advisory and audit services, setting the stage for a perfect storm,” Fieldguide CEO Jin Chang wrote in a company blog post. “Faced with this challenging climate of limited human capacity, audit and advisory firms are turning to technology solutions to bridge the growing capacity crunch.”

The company says it helps alleviate this problem with its AI solution, which can automate workflows, streamline operations and give CPAs more time to do high-value work.

“Fieldguide’s AI platform serves to revolutionize the way audit and advisory firms navigate the practitioner capacity shortage, empowering them to thrive during times of unprecedented change,” Chang said.

Finance operations and accounting workflows have become home to some of AI’s most promising applications, Veena Gundavelli, founder and CEO of automation software company Emagia, told PYMNTS in an interview last year.

“Whether it is an accounts receivable report, accounts payable report, treasury report, cash flow forecasting, or something else, there is a time lag between having a report from a financial system and being able to take action,” Gundavelli said. “That time lag is typically spent in analysis, and many finance executives are slowed down in their decision making because they have to spend time on analysis.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote recently about the way small businesses are increasingly investing in AI to deal with daily operations.

“AI can help integrate data from across spreadsheets, PDFs, and business units, unlocking insights that can improve operations and progress toward business goals,” IBM Head of Sustainability Software Christina Shim told PYMNTS in an interview.

And in a separate conversation, business consultant Ayanna Carrington said that using AI simplifies back-end processes that would otherwise require twice the time for one person to accomplish.

“Investing in AI allows you to free up resources and budget to focus talent and time in other places,” she added. “Now, as a business owner, you can focus on the big-ticket items such as meeting with investors, spending more time with clients, and building up your actual dream team.”