For some years, AI has been automating manual, repetitive work. The latest iteration, agentic AI, can also plan and carry out multi-stage tasks rather than simply responding to prompts. The question is: can it be trusted?

“As AI becomes more autonomous, one of the biggest concerns for accountants is the ‘black box’ scenario,” says Angad Soin, managing director Australia and New Zealand and global chief strategy officer at Xero. “Here, lack of visibility makes it impossible to check whether a reconciliation or legislative accounting task has been done correctly. Accountants must be able to see the workings so they can understand and endorse the process to clients and regulators. That’s exactly why Xero introduced Accountable Intelligence.”

Accountable Intelligence keeps humans in the driver’s seat

Underpinned by Xero OS, Xero’s AI-native operating system, Accountable Intelligence ensures that AI stays transparent, verifiable and under human control.

“Our AI isn’t generating generic accounting content, it’s grounded in your own data,” says Soin. “It also builds on the proprietary data we’ve collected from millions of customers around the world for over 20 years. It can be audited, and it keeps humans in the loop for judgement, ethics and review. An accountant can trust it to do the heavy lifting while they retain professional judgement and the ability to make the final call.”

David McLennan CA, a Xero partner and managing principal at Forsyths – one of the largest finance and business advisory firms in regional New South Wales – agrees.

“We’re accountants, but we’re also in the business of relationships,” he says. “AI can surface patterns and highlight potential issues, but it’s our understanding of the client that turns those insights into meaningful action.”

Xero Partner Hub: Accountable Intelligence in action

Built on Xero OS, Xero Partner Hub is Accountable Intelligence brought to life. It consolidates Xero Practice Manager, Xero HQ, Xero Tax and Workpapers along with key third-party apps into a unified workspace with real-time visibility across the whole practice.

“At Forsyths, the whole firm uses it, as do all of our clients,” says McLennan. “We have seven offices and over 150 professional and support service teams. With Xero Partner Hub we can access a shared, holistic view across different teams in multiple locations.”

McLennan also appreciates the dashboard-style homepage.

“Different roles require different levels of information, so it really helps that Xero Partner Hub can be customised to meet the various needs,” he says. “For example, when I log in the first thing I see is my own home summary – my billable and non-billable hours, how I’m tracking and where I need to make up time. From a practice-wide perspective, the dashboard also shows the progress of income-tax returns, activity statement lodgements, job status and which organisations people are currently working in.”

JAX, your AI finance partner 

Embedded within Xero Partner Hub is JAX, providing another layer of efficiency.

“We think of JAX as an AI finance partner,” says Soin.

JAX can extract information from bank transactions, invoices, bills, reports and tax data, then turn it into summaries and highlight the most important conversations to have with clients.

“JAX uses real partner data inside Xero’s ecosystem,” says Soin. “At the same time, humans are fully responsible for accuracy, completeness, ethics, client obligations, mandatory reviews and disclosures.”

This is what makes Accountable Intelligence not just helpful but essential, says McLennan. “AI strengthens client relationships by helping accountants drill down into issues faster and deliver better outcomes, but human judgement, ethics and professional insight remain central. They also create the foundation of trust.”

Equipping the next generation of talent

By automating routine work and surfacing strategic insights, JAX is also helping practices to navigate the skills shortage.

“There are fewer graduates entering the profession each year, but demand for accountants is increasing,” says Soin. “Our systems help practices to deliver high-quality work efficiently by reducing the pressure on teams and freeing up time for the value-adding work accountants enjoy and clients appreciate.”

McLennan sees the skills shortage creating another challenge: the experience we’re able to give the next generation.

“If young accountants rely solely on AI and back-office tools to do the thinking for them, they miss out on developing the analytical skills that are core to the profession,” he says. “We need both the experience and the client-relationship skills that come from real practice. The future of the profession depends on combining human judgement with the power of AI, not replacing one with the other.”

Xero’s Accountable Intelligence is designed with that balance in mind. By grounding insights in real client data and making the logic transparent, it gives accountants information they can trust – and frees them to focus on the higher value work where professional judgement is critical.

For McLennan, the message is clear.

“AI isn’t going to replace accountants,” he says. “But as the rise of Accountable Intelligence continues, accountants who don’t use AI will fall behind those who do.”

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