18/08/2026
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has finalised its guidance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by tax and BAS agents, but Australian Bookkeepers Network (ABN) Director, Peter Thorp, says more practical support will be needed as AI becomes increasingly embedded in accounting software and general practice.
The guidance, released in July following consultation earlier this year, confirms that practitioners can use AI, but remain responsible for the work it helps produce. Practitioners are expected to understand the capabilities and limitations of the tools they use, exercise reasonable care, and review AI-generated outputs.
“The tricky part is that ‘reasonable care’ sounds straightforward until the AI is doing something you can't easily see,” Peter said. “If an AI function embedded in your accounting software automatically categorises a transaction based on previous activity, and there’s no obvious reason to question it, how much checking should a bookkeeper realistically be expected to do? That's where I think the guidance leaves some questions unanswered.”
While the practitioner remains responsible for meeting their professional obligations, the guidance does not establish a separate assurance framework for AI systems embedded in commercial accounting software, leaving the question of where responsibility sits when an AI error is not reasonably apparent.
The full TPB Guidance Statement, TPB(GS) 55/2026, is available from the Tax Practitioners Board here: https://www.tpb.gov.au/tpbgs-552026-use-artificial-intelligence-and-code-professional-conduct
