The unicorn CEO betting her industry’s AI crisis isn’t the one you think

The CEO of DataSnipper, an Amsterdam-based audit and finance automation company, believes that the profession is currently in crisis mode. Vidya Peters, the CEO, has pointed out that there are currently two to two and a half times more job openings than qualified individuals to fill them. The profession has high attrition rates and is very cyclical in nature.

Peters has been advocating for a crisis of scarcity in the audit profession for the past two years. However, the conversation around AI and its impact on white-collar work has largely overlooked this issue. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has predicted that most tasks involving "sitting down at a computer," including accounting, will be fully automated within a year to 18 months.

Peters argues that this statement is premature, as the numbers show that the profession is already facing a crisis. Federal data shows that the number of accountants and auditors has decreased significantly since 2019, and despite a slight recovery, the profession is still short by approximately 200,000 workers compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The pipeline of new graduates in accounting has also decreased by 6.6% in the 2023-24 academic year. However, there are early signs of a turnaround as enrollment in accounting programs has increased 12.4% in spring 2025. Despite this, the demand for auditors is expected to continue growing. In 2035, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 115,300 openings for accountants and auditors, most of them to replace workers who retire or leave the field.