From Automation to Augmentation: Artificial Intelligence, Competence Evolution, and Career Sustainability in the Accounting Profession

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the content of accounting work, but the career consequences of that change remain less clear in emerging economies. Using field responses from 600 accounting and finance professionals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya (200 per country), this paper examines whether intensive AI use is associated with professional role transformation, whether role transformation is associated with competence evolution, and whether those evolving competencies are linked to career sustainability. Learning and organizational support is considered both as a contextual resource and as a potential moderator. The analysis uses multi-item composite measures, HC3-robust path regressions, 5,000-resample bootstrapping, effect-size estimates, 10-fold cross-validation, and exploratory country comparisons. AI adoption was positively associated with role transformation (β = .491, p < .001). AI adoption (β = .286, p < .001) and role transformation (β = .462, p < .001) jointly explained 42.6% of the variance in competence evolution, while competence evolution was positively associated with career sustainability (β = .414, p < .001). The direct role-transformation effect on career sustainability was negligible (β = .013, p = .764), whereas the indirect effect through competence evolution was significant (β = .192, 95% bootstrap CI [.146, .242]). The serial pathway from AI adoption through role transformation and competence evolution to career sustainability was also significant (β = .094, 95% CI [.069, .123]). Learning and organizational support had a positive main effect but did not moderate the competence-sustainability relationship. The results suggest that the long-term value of AI-related role change depends less on the fact that work changes than on whether professionals acquire the digital, analytical, advisory, and ethical capabilities needed to succeed in the redesigned role.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; accounting profession; role transformation; competence evolution; career sustainability; emerging economies; Africa; human capital.