TFS Gulf 
- The Finance Story interviewed the India leaders of US CPA Firms, Shrenik Shah and Ishita Doshi, expecting the usual AI doom narrative.
- Instead, India’s offshore accounting industry is winning with AI.
- But overpaid, over-titled professionals are under pressure.
India’s offshore operations aren’t doomed
Not a single offshore leader we spoke to believes AI will wipe out India’s offshore accounting model.
And no! It’s not because they’re being optimistic…But because structurally, it doesn’t make sense.
The offshore model isn’t built on repetitive tasks; it’s built on human judgment layered over execution.
And if AI replaces everything, it won’t just hit India; even US firms get disintermediated as clients go straight to AI.
Shrenik Shah, Managing Director at Armanino India (2025 revenue: $700Mn), adds a key point,
“Offshore firms are not resisting AI, but rather pushing for it.
India eams are actively helping clients adopt AI tools.
At Armanino, every department now has Business Unit Digital Leaders focused on implementing AI and digital systems.”
So, where is AI striking offshore firms the hardest?
The ‘repetitive layer of offshore work’ will be impacted faster than you think.
The entry point of offshore value has moved up. It is no longer execution at scale…It is
- Judgment
- Review
- Advisory
- Client communication.
As Ishita Doshi, India Tax Practice Leader at PKF O’ Connor Davies (2025 revenue: $535Mn), explains:
“Earlier, we handled a large volume of individual tax returns.
Now, all of them are automated. Even junior-level professionals are now expected to think critically.”
The same shift can be seen in:
- Data-related work
- AI is reducing manual effort in mapping
- Tax research.
Shrenik is blunt: “If today there are five people involved in one project, there may be three.”
Ishita’s team already lives this reality. K-1 data entry, historically an hours-long seasonal nightmare, now takes minutes.
Will there be AI-driven layoffs?
In fact, several firms are expanding aggressively not despite AI, but alongside it. Why? Because AI improves leverage and delivery capacity.
Armanino India currently sits at around 450 employees with 100+ roles open, targeting 550–600 by year’s end.
RSM US India, already at roughly 3,800 employees, announced plans to expand its India workforce across multiple cities.
Citrin Cooperman India went from 300 employees in early 2024 to over 1,000 today and is still hiring.
Deloitte is planning to add 50,000 professionals over the next 4 years, aiming for a 100,000+ headcount.
Also read: Offshore U.S. CPA Firms new reality: Talent crisis, attrition, skyrocketing salaries
Hiring focus is shifting toward…
Offshore firms are no longer chasing mindless headcount…They are chasing capability:
- Strong technical accountants
- Tax specialists
- Advisory talent
- FP&A professionals
- Data and tech talent
- Client-facing professionals who can work alongside AI
India teams are increasingly moving into:
- Risk advisory
- Transaction advisory
- Digital consulting
- Managed services
- Outsourced CFO services
- Higher-value tax and audit work
Industry chatter suggests senior-level hiring may slow temporarily, while entry-level hiring could dip before ramping up again.
But there is a real skill gap crisis!
From 2021–2024, Private Equity (PE) money flooded the US accounting ecosystem, and firms became desperate for raw execution capacity in India.
To stop attrition, firms threw money and Lollipop titles at anyone who threatened to walk.
(Senior became a Supervisor in 18 months; Supervisor became a Manager in 2 years.)
Now with AI, the pure checklist and execution layer that these fast-tracked managers were promoted to oversee is entirely absorbed by AI.
The result? Managers are left with high, inflated salaries, senior titles…but zero technical depth or advisory capabilities.
Shrenik puts it sharply:
“I have interviewed multiple managers from big firms who don’t know the basics of fundamental tax work.
A manager with 10 years of experience with ₹40–50 lakhs doesn’t know basic US tax residency rules.
Why? Because their entire career was a checklist. They were promoted for reliability, not depth.
Unless they upskill in AI, business intelligence, and communication, they will be first in line for displacement.”
Also read: The career ceiling no one warns you about in offshore US CPA Firm
AI hasn’t just exposed people…but the model too
Billable hours are facing an existential crisis.
When an AI tool reduces a 10-hour tax compilation project down to 45 minutes, hourly billing won’t cut it.
To survive this compression, progressive U.S. CPA firms are shifting toward Value-Based Pricing (VBP) and Fixed-Fee Subscription Models.
Shrenik adds: “If today you are serving 180 clients over 1,800 hours…with AI, the client volume will 10x in three years.”
Ishita highlights a very important point:
“Big 4 are now competing directly with mid-market firms as AI allows faster, cheaper, scalable delivery.
So, mid-market firms can no longer compete on cost alone….They must compete on trust and value.”
So, is India’s offshore accounting industry safe?
Directionally, yes.
As Ishita puts it: “There wouldn’t be any difference between the onshore and offshore teams in the near future.”
Shrenik and other leaders echo the same view.
India isn’t becoming irrelevant. India is becoming the team.
FAQs
Q: Will US CPA firms stop offshoring to India?
Highly unlikely.
Because the model is built on a stack of human judgment review, interpretation, communication, and client relationships sitting above the process layer that AI is currently automating.
Q: Which accounting and finance roles are getting replaced by AI?
AI is already automating many repetitive accounting and finance tasks like bookkeeping, reconciliations, reporting, and basic analysis.
But firms still need humans for judgment, strategy, client advisory, and decision-making.
Q: How will AI impact tax jobs?
Repetitive work like tax filing and compliance automation, document summarisation is already getting automated.
However, AI can’t represent your clients before the tax authority.
And neither can it build personal rapport, provide strategic advice, or have risk assessment abilities.
