Tracy Noga ’92, Ph.D., CPA, has two immediate goals as she returns to her alma mater to chair Bryant’s Accounting department: leading integration of AI into the curriculum and convincing more students of the virtues of getting an Accounting degree like she did.
Noga, whose interest in accounting can be traced back to a childhood where her favorite toy was a Fisher Price cash register, returned to Bryant in August after more than two decades at Bentley University. She recently sat down with Bryant News for a discussion on her goals for the department, education’s response to AI, and the future of the accounting profession.
You spent the last six years chairing Bentley’s Accounting department prior to accepting the same position at Bryant. What do you hope to accomplish now that you’ve returned to your alma mater?
Tracy Noga: I spent a lot of my time at Bentley leading curriculum updates and making sure analytics and technology were infused into every class to meet where the profession was going. I also thought a lot about how to recruit students into accounting, and our accounting numbers went through the roof, which was amazing. Those are two things that I want to do here.
AI is seen as both a boon and a threat in almost every profession, including accounting. How do you reconcile those thoughts as you work to recruit more students?
Noga: Every time new technology comes out, it's been the end of accounting and the threat that accountants won’t be needed anymore. It happened when spreadsheet programs came out, and it probably happened when the adding machine came out. AI is changing the tools we use, which then changes the work that needs to be done. But we'll always need accountants and tax professionals for planning and auditing.
"AI is changing the tools we use, which then changes the work that needs to be done. But we'll always need accountants and tax professionals for planning and auditing."
How does the evolution of AI impact how you teach accounting?
Noga: Students will still need a strong grasp of the technical rules of accounting, because you have to vet the answers that AI gives you. If you don't have the foundation to check for reasonableness, check for accuracy, learn to track down and confirm answers, then it's not going to help you very much in a profession that is based on trust and accuracy.
AI can give you more time for critical thinking and problem solving. Those are a little more difficult to teach, because it's all about hands-on application. That’s why I flipped my classroom: My tax students listen to lectures in preparation for class so we can have discussions in person, look at problems, and they can get their hands dirty.
How can a Bryant education give accounting students a leg up on the competition when looking for a job?
Noga: The accounting profession has a huge appetite to absorb AI, but everybody's still largely just testing the waters. Where our students can make a difference as entry level employees is to come in with that experience of how to write a good prompt, how to understand what influences AI results, how to build agents, grasp the ethics of AI, and be prepared to hit the ground running with whatever AI platform their organization is using.
There are some risks to using AI, and one is that it gives very homogeneous responses. It may be a fine response, but you don't know if it's the best response, and that's where critical thinking skills become more important.
"There are some risks to using AI, and one is that it gives very homogeneous responses. It may be a fine response, but you don't know if it's the best response, and that's where critical thinking skills become more important."
How do you think AI is going to change the accounting profession?
Noga: I think it is going to make things more efficient. AI will be a member of the audit team or maybe replace several members of the audit team who perform more routine tasks.
Most accounting firms have already said there will be lower hiring numbers, but not no hiring.
It's hard for accountants like myself, and probably a lot of other accounting professors, to accept that it's okay to replace some technical knowledge with AI training. In my tax classes, I say you can't know all the rules — they change all the time. It's about understanding how you find the current rules, the context of the situation you're in, and what kind of guidance you need.
I think AI will eventually become a thought partner for accountants and auditors where you can brainstorm and try to come up with an approach that’s more accurate and efficient, as opposed to AI doing the work all on its own.
"I think AI will eventually become a thought partner for accountants and auditors where you can brainstorm and try to come up with an approach that’s more accurate and efficient, as opposed to AI doing the work all on its own."
Much of your research also focuses on taxation and tax policy. Most people hate taxes; why do you love it?
Noga: I like symmetry and balance. I love problem solving and getting all the pieces and putting everything together until it makes sense. I also have a very short attention span, and taxes are always changing.
You seem optimistic that the world will always need accountants. What makes you feel that way?
Noga: Take taxation as an example. The possibility of tax policy changing has always been a business risk, but now it's constant and more unpredictable than ever. The international rules are crazy, with tariffs being one example, and nowadays even small businesses have international ties. Even for the simplest returns, the tax code for individual taxpayers is so complex.
Congress doesn't want to take responsibility, so they keep passing these tax laws that sunset and have to be renewed, or they expire. They’re making tax law changes that are implemented almost immediately and often too late for a lot of businesses to do planning, but they still have to worry about compliance. Companies are probably going to need more future tax professionals than auditors.
"Companies are probably going to need more future tax professionals than auditors."
Not many students walk into their first year of college knowing they want to be an accountant like you did. What’s your sales pitch to students about the virtues of choosing accounting as a career path?
Noga: Accounting lends itself to being very cross-disciplinary. If you are a Finance major who understands accounting, that's a huge win when you're looking for a job. If you're an accounting major who understands accounting information systems and cybersecurity, that's a very sought-after combination right now.
Accounting is not a skill most people develop on their own. If you are the person who can look at a set of financial statements and understand what the business did right and wrong, that's important. With the advent of big data, you have the ability to look at the history of the business, the industry, and macroeconomic data, and put it all together.
Many CEOs have an accounting background, and that's not a coincidence. If you understand the business, you can make better business decisions. Accounting is always going to be the language of business.