With AI taking over more mundane tasks, organizations are now grappling with the challenge of preparing future generations of talent as more of the conventional learning opportunities are eliminated. In response to this, KPMG US is piloting a novel AI-powered simulation platform that will enable tax practitioners to gain knowledge and expertise in an era where AI technology is taking over much of the rote work that traditionally has been the bread and butter of career growth.
It is not just about professional services where the shift is happening; it is about a transformation that is happening throughout the industry, where automation is boosting productivity and transforming the way employees are learning to build practical skills. KPMG is looking at AI as more than just a productivity tool, but also as a training mechanism to help employees rise to higher value-added advisory services.
The Training Challenge has been created by AI
Professional development for accounting and tax services has been fairly predictably for decades. Junior staff spent their first several years doing tax returns, looking at financial documents and doing repetitive compliance work. These assignments were sometimes lengthy but were nonetheless a great way to learn the various client scenarios, rules and business situations.
After thousands of repetitions, young professionals finally ended up with a good judgment and analysis to become trusted advisors.
But with the advent of artificial intelligence, the model is changing quickly.
Many of the tasks that used to take years to do by junior employees in the tax preparation industry can now be automated by modern AI systems. This means that the process is more efficient and manual workloads are reduced, but also that many of the experiences that traditionally taught professionals are being lost.
The question, according to the KPMG executives, is how can employees build the skills they would previously have gained through repetition when AI takes care of the rote tasks?
Introducing TaxSIM
To tackle this, KPMG has created TaxSIM, an AI driven simulation platform to support professional learning by means of interactive learning scenarios.
The software enables staff to try a range of realistic tax scenarios in a safe and secure online environment. Users are able to encounter many situations and cases in a much shorter period of time rather than waiting years to experience them in real life with their clients.
Users are shown complicated taxation scenarios and a decision is asked of them based on the information provided. Based on those decisions, the simulation produces different results, and the experience is similar to the actual professional judgment of a person in the real world.
The objective is not just to impart technical expertise, but the reasoning, analysis and decision-making skills that separate seasoned professionals from the novices.
Later this year, KPMG will be rolling out the platform to about 10,000 tax professionals.
Constructing Judgment through Simulation
An important principle underlying TaxSIM is repeated exposure to varying situations for the development of expertise.
In the past, it could take a tax professional four or more years to prepare returns and navigate a range of scenarios with clients before he or she had enough experience to feel comfortable advising businesses on more complicated tax issues.
There was some incremental learning for each assignment. Gradually, workers learned the interaction between the rules and the enterprise’s choices, the economy, and strategy.
TaxSIM aims to shorten this learning curve
The system allows the users to experience a multitude of simulated scenarios on a timeframe that would be difficult to achieve with traditional work alone and thereby practice analytical thinking on a level that would not otherwise be possible.
Unusual tax situations, regulatory challenges, and business issues may occur that may not otherwise be seen for years by employees.
What KPMG executives refer to as “incredible acceleration” of skill development is the result.
Learning Through Feedback
The platform was created by the artificial intelligence firm Centaurian AI, which focuses on technologies for simulation-based learning.
The method is like elite sports training, according to Centaurian AI CEO Kes Sampanthar.
Professional athletes enhance their skills by practicing over and over, while also getting instant feedback on their performance. TaxSIM has a similar perspective with regard to professional education.
Following decisions made in the simulation, users will get feedback on the effect of their choices, allowing them to learn what works and what doesn’t.
This continuous learning experience allows them to become more effective in their choices and gain confidence in their decision making.
Most notably, the platform aims to foster independent thought instead of just accepting AI-generated answers.
Users are expected to first go through their reasoning process and then ask for AI’s help. This focus highlights an increasing understanding of the importance of human expertise in the midst of an evolving AI landscape.
Beyond Junior Staff Development
KPMG says that the platform is especially useful for early-career employees, but it can benefit any employee.
A simulation allows expert business people to discuss more general business issues and new economic trends that may only occur rarely in their daily life.
For instance, scenarios can be simulated to see how global economic changes like tariffs, supply chain disruptions, shifting regulations, and geopolitical events will affect tax strategies in various industries and markets.
Such exercises can help professionals learn to “test the waters” in challenging situations and find out how their choices are affected, before being faced with months or years in real-world contexts where the consequences may not be immediately apparent.
The platform enables employees to continuously learn during their entire career as it exposes them to a broader array of scenarios.
Equipping Labor for AI-Enhanced Jobs
The launch of TaxSIM is part of a greater trend in the professional services sector.
AI is taking over tedious work, changing the way professionals work. There is a growing demand for employees to think, decide, advise and monitor instead of doing.
In the future, a tax professional might not be spending so much time manually filling out documents and more time on interpreting information, advising their clients and managing AI systems that do the technical work.
That is why KPMG executives feel that simulation-based learning is a better way to equip employees to better adjust to this change.
Workers might learn higher level analytical skills early on in their careers, rather than spending years mastering manual skills before moving up to higher levels, which can speed up the progression of their careers and their advancement opportunities.
Sometimes, AI agents can be managed by professionals instead of doing everything manually.
Human Skills don’t Go Away
However, KPMG notes that simulations do not aim to replace traditional learning altogether as AI grows in importance.
Much can be gained from a fundamental understanding of how processes work.
While some employees might still profit from manually creating financial models, performing analyses, or doing calculations, others can move on to more sophisticated AI-based approaches.
The combination of the two methods allows for professionals to grasp the principles behind what they are doing and help them use the technology to make things more efficient.
The aim of automation is not to replace human skills but to augment them.
The Future of Professional Education in a Glimpse
KPMG’s TaxSIM initiative provides an early illustration of how organizations can reimagine their workforce development strategy in an AI world.
Professional expertise has been developed over many years, and by repetition for decades. Much of that work has become repetitive, and automation is taking it away, so companies need to find new ways to build judgment and critical thinking, and to ascribe practical knowledge.
One potential answer is AI-powered simulations
Platforms such as TaxSIM have the potential to revolutionize the way professionals learn new skills in a variety of knowledge-intensive sectors, including accounting, consulting, finance, law, healthcare and beyond, through realistic scenarios, instant feedback and large-scale experiential learning.
The winners in the new world of work may not be the ones who are using AI to replace themselves in certain tasks, but those who will know how to use it alongside uniquely human capabilities—reasoning, judgment, creativity, and strategic thinking.
