Jobs / Finance and accounting
Can agents do finance and accounting work?
Accounting, auditing, financial analysis, and investment work.
- US jobs
- 3,051,320 (2.0% of employment)
- Typical wage
- $86K a year (employment-weighted mean of occupation medians)
- Occupations
- 17 in O*NET 31.0
- Evidence
- 3 direct benchmarks, 3 also relevant, 4 context only
The answer today
Some tasksNo change since 10 Oct 2025.
Rule: Agents complete 20% or more of the tasks (or projects) on a direct benchmark.
The evidence that sets this step
- SpreadsheetBench 2 by Renmin University of China, Aptura, AfterQuery, and Shortcut: 54.5% of tasks completed · arito, 13 Sep 2026
Direct evidence that disagrees
- APEX-Accounting by Mercor and Ramp: 14.8% of tasks fully completed (Pass@1) · Claude Opus 5.5 (Max), 24 Sep 2026
Next step: Most tasks needs 60% or more of the tasks (or projects) on two direct benchmarks from independent institutions.
How much of the work is measured
33% of the work in this family is measured by direct benchmarks. Some of the work is measured (20% to 50%). On 10 Oct 2025: 3%.
Work = the O*NET 31.0 work activities of the family's occupations, weighted by how important each task is and by US employment. A benchmark measures an activity when its tasks make the agent do it and its grading checks it. Method.
| Work activity (O*NET) | Share of the work | Direct benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Examine financial activities, operations, or systems | 13.0% | Measured |
| Analyze business or financial data | 7.9% | Measured |
| Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets | 7.4% | Measured |
| Evaluate the quality or accuracy of data | 6.7% | Measured |
| Evaluate condition of financial assets, property, or other resources | 4.7% | Not measured |
| Advise others on financial matters | 4.4% | Not measured |
| Calculate financial data | 2.8% | Measured |
| Advise others on business or operational matters | 2.7% | Not measured |
| Explain financial information | 2.6% | Not measured |
| Communicate with others about business strategies | 2.5% | Not measured |
Our reading
Agents complete some finance tasks. On SpreadsheetBench 2, the best verified agent completes 54.51% of 321 spreadsheet tasks from financial reports, such as building financial models and fixing errors. On Vals AI's Tax Agent Bench, the best model answers 49.19% of 193 research questions fully correctly, scaled by citation quality. Bookkeeping disagrees: on APEX-Accounting, the best model fully completes 14.8% of 160 month-end close tasks, although it earns 61.8% of rubric credit. No direct benchmark measures evaluating financial assets or advising on financial matters. Two benchmarks from independent institutions at 60% or more would move the family to most tasks.
Evidence: SpreadsheetBench 2, Tax Agent Bench, APEX-Accounting by AfterQuery, Aptura, Mercor, Ramp, Renmin University of China, Shortcut, and Vals AI. Written 10 Oct 2026.
Benchmarks for this work
Direct evidence
Work benchmarks mapped primary to this family. They set the step when they report how many tasks agents complete.
- 54.5%arito · 13 Sep 2026Emerging
Also relevant
These benchmarks cover part of this family's work, or have no result yet. They do not set its step.
Context only
These benchmarks span many occupations, or they test how agents behave. They give context but do not set the step.
Retired
Their maintainers or a major evaluator stopped using them as a frontier measure. They do not count.
Functions: Bookkeeping and month-end closeSpreadsheet workFinancial analysisConsulting workLegal workProfessional deliverablesBusiness workflow automationEnterprise workflowsCRM operationsCustomer serviceWeb researchMCP tool useComputer useTax research
What we do not know
- Benchmarks measure tasks, not whole jobs. A job is a bundle of tasks, judgment, and relationships.
- Capability is not adoption. A task that agents can do in a benchmark may still be done by people at work.
- Most results come from single runs. Reliability over many runs is often unknown.
Occupations in this family
Sorted by US employment (BLS OEWS May 2025). O*NET sub-occupations share the employment figure of their SOC group. Work measured = the share of the occupation's O*NET work that direct benchmarks test.
| Occupation | SOC | US jobs | Work measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountants and Auditors | 13-2011.00 | 1.4M | 64% |
| Financial and Investment Analysts | 13-2051.00 | 362K | 23% |
| Loan Officers | 13-2072.00 | 274K | 0% |
| Personal Financial Advisors | 13-2052.00 | 267K | 0% |
| Financial Quantitative Analysts | 13-2099.01 | (132K group) | 0% |
| Financial Specialists, All Other | 13-2099.00 | 132K | 0% |
| Fraud Examiners, Investigators and Analysts | 13-2099.04 | (132K group) | 0% |
| Insurance Underwriters | 13-2053.00 | 105K | 0% |
| Tax Preparers | 13-2082.00 | 76K | 0% |
| Financial Examiners | 13-2061.00 | 68K | 0% |
| Credit Analysts | 13-2041.00 | 64K | 0% |
| Financial Risk Specialists | 13-2054.00 | 64K | 0% |
| Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents | 13-2081.00 | 57K | 0% |
| Budget Analysts | 13-2031.00 | 47K | 0% |
| Credit Counselors | 13-2071.00 | 28K | 0% |
| Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate | 13-2023.00 | — | 0% |
| Appraisers of Personal and Business Property | 13-2022.00 | — | 0% |
How to cite
Credit the original work first: the benchmarks listed on this page, and their institutions.
Then, if you used this page:
Can Agents Work. "Can agents do finance and accounting work?." https://canagentswork.com/jobs/finance-accounting/ (accessed 2026-10-11). CC BY 4.0.@misc{caw-jobs-finance-accounting,
title = {{Can agents do finance and accounting work?}},
author = {{Can Agents Work}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://canagentswork.com/jobs/finance-accounting/}},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-11. CC BY 4.0}
}