SINGAPORE — More than 15,000 accountants and finance professionals have signed up for Singapore’s national artificial intelligence training programme just two months after its launch, putting the initiative a significant step closer to its three-year participation target.
The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) announced the figure on Friday, August 28, saying the number of participants already represents about one-quarter of its goal of reaching 60,000 people over three years. The early response points to strong interest within the accountancy and finance sectors in acquiring practical skills for using artificial intelligence in professional work.
The programme is being developed around the growing role of AI in financial and corporate operations, with ISCA seeking to ensure that professionals can use the technology effectively without losing the human expertise and judgement required in areas where accuracy and accountability are critical.
Rather than limiting the initiative to general lessons about artificial intelligence, the ISCA AI Fluency Programme is built around practical workplace applications. Its training material contains more than 180 AI use cases covering six professional areas: audit, finance, tax, internal audit, governance and board reporting.
The programme also contains more than 600 learning activities, giving participants opportunities to explore how AI can be incorporated into specific tasks carried out by accounting and finance professionals.
Those applications range from financial analysis and reporting to audit planning and tax research. The objective is to help participants understand not only what AI can do, but also how it can be incorporated into existing professional processes in a responsible manner.
The strong participation has come from people at different stages of their careers and from organisations of varying sizes. Students are among those taking part, alongside practitioners from smaller accounting firms and senior business leaders.
Employees from major organisations, including EY, Deloitte and SP Group, are also participating, demonstrating that interest in developing AI capabilities is extending across different parts of Singapore’s professional and corporate landscape.
ISCA’s strategy comes as artificial intelligence increasingly becomes part of workplace processes. For accountants and finance professionals, the technology has the potential to assist with information analysis, reporting, research, document processing and other activities that traditionally require significant amounts of time.
The organisation is consequently focusing on practical AI fluency rather than simply encouraging professionals to become familiar with the technology.
The distinction is important because the adoption of AI does not remove the need for professional responsibility. Financial information must still be reviewed, interpreted and applied by people with the appropriate expertise, particularly when the results affect clients, businesses, regulators or other stakeholders.
ISCA President Lee Boon Teck stressed this point while commenting on the programme’s early response.
“AI will not replace professional judgment. Its greatest value will come from professionals who can combine AI capabilities with their expertise and judgment to deliver better outcomes for clients, employers and society,” Lee said.
He said the level of participation showed that the accountancy profession was prepared to embrace artificial intelligence as ISCA works towards developing what it described as an “AI-fluent accountancy profession” in Singapore.
The programme is also beginning to produce examples of how the training and AI adoption can translate into measurable changes in workplace operations.
At Accredify, a credentials platform, AI workflows have been developed for selected finance and contract-processing activities. According to ISCA, the workflows have the potential to reduce the amount of time spent on those activities by an estimated 50 to 80 per cent.
The example provides an indication of why professional bodies are increasingly focusing on practical AI implementation. The value of the technology is not simply measured by whether employees can access an AI tool, but by whether organisations can apply it to appropriate tasks while maintaining quality and professional oversight.
For the accounting profession, this can mean using AI to support repetitive or information-heavy processes while allowing professionals to concentrate more heavily on analysis, interpretation and decision-making.
ISCA is also looking beyond Singapore as it seeks to expand the programme’s reach.
The institute is preparing Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese versions of the AI training programme and is holding discussions with professional accountancy bodies, accounting firms and companies across ASEAN about potential regional cooperation.
The regional expansion would give the programme a much wider audience and could help accountancy professionals in different Southeast Asian markets gain access to training developed around practical AI applications.
The move comes only a week after ISCA signed an agreement with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) aimed at strengthening cooperation in AI training and professional recognition.
The collaboration could significantly expand the reach of Singapore-developed training because ICAI has more than 1.5 million members and students. Under the agreement, the two professional bodies are exploring ways to make the AI training available to that wider community.
The partnership also illustrates the increasingly international nature of professional skills development. Accounting and finance professionals often work across borders, while businesses and professional services firms operate across multiple markets. Developing AI capability across those networks could therefore have benefits beyond individual organisations.
ISCA’s decision to prepare versions of the programme in several Asian languages also indicates that the institute sees AI fluency as a regional professional requirement rather than an issue limited to Singapore.
At the centre of the initiative, however, remains the question of how professionals can use AI without compromising the standards expected of their profession.
Accountancy involves responsibilities that cannot simply be delegated to technology. Financial reporting, auditing, taxation, governance and corporate decision-making require professionals to evaluate information and take responsibility for their conclusions.
AI can help process information and support certain tasks, but its output still needs to be assessed by people who understand the relevant professional and business context.
That is why the programme places emphasis on using AI effectively and responsibly. The goal is not simply to increase the use of artificial intelligence, but to equip professionals with enough understanding to determine when the technology is appropriate and how its output should be evaluated.
The participation figure announced by ISCA suggests that this approach is attracting substantial interest. With more than 15,000 people enrolled after two months, the programme has already achieved 25 per cent of its 60,000-participant target for the three-year period.
Maintaining that momentum will be important as ISCA moves from the initial launch phase towards wider adoption. The organisation will also have to ensure that participation translates into genuine workplace capability, particularly as AI tools and their applications continue to evolve.
The planned expansion across ASEAN could provide another test of the programme. Different countries have different professional environments, business practices and regulatory requirements, meaning the training may need to be adapted while retaining its central focus on responsible and practical AI use.
The cooperation with ICAI similarly creates an opportunity to take the initiative beyond Singapore and into one of the world’s largest professional accountancy communities.
For Singapore’s accountancy sector, the early response nevertheless provides a clear indication of the level of interest in AI skills. Students entering the profession, practitioners working in smaller firms and senior executives are all participating in the same broader effort to understand how artificial intelligence can change the way financial work is performed.
The emphasis on practical applications also suggests that the discussion around AI in accountancy is moving beyond speculation about whether the technology will affect the profession. The focus is increasingly on determining where it can provide useful support, how much efficiency can realistically be gained and where professional judgement must remain firmly in human hands.
The experience at Accredify, where selected workflows are estimated to deliver substantial reductions in processing time, offers one example of the potential efficiency gains. But the broader objective of ISCA’s programme is to build a workforce capable of applying such technology consistently and responsibly across a much wider range of professional activities.
With its three-year target of 60,000 participants, ISCA is aiming to make AI capability a mainstream part of professional development in Singapore’s accountancy and finance sectors.
The early enrolment of more than 15,000 participants means the initiative has already established a sizeable base from which to build. Its next phase will involve expanding participation, developing additional language versions and strengthening partnerships with professional bodies, firms and businesses across the region.
For ISCA, the immediate result is more than a registration milestone. It represents evidence that a substantial section of the accountancy profession is willing to invest in understanding artificial intelligence and its practical role in the workplace.
The broader challenge now is to turn that interest into lasting professional capability — ensuring that AI becomes a tool that strengthens the work of accountants and finance professionals while leaving responsibility, expertise and judgement where they belong.
More Than 15,000 Finance Professionals Enrol in Singapore AI Programme as Industry Pushes Digital Skills
