As AI automates routine finance work, the repetitive tasks that once defined entry-level accounting are disappearing, and advisory services are moving to the center of how firms create value. That shift leaves colleges racing to prepare graduates for a job that looks very different from the one in the textbooks.

Closing the gap between classroom and practice is now a priority for Intuit Inc. Accounting firms spend time retraining new hires, while fewer students are choosing the major out of fear that AI will take the jobs they expected to do, according to David Zasada (pictured), vice president of education and corporate engagement at Intuit.

“AI may be taking some of the tasks that are more repetitive and taking those over, but it’s opening up a whole other class of jobs with client advisory skills, and that’s growing,” Zasada said. “Those are better paying jobs than even the entry level.”

Zasada spoke with theCUBE Research’s Christophe Bertrand and co-host Alison Kosik at Intuit Connect, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the role of AI in advisory services. (* Disclosure below.)