Tax Preparers vs Accountants and Auditors
Tax Preparers carries the higher exposed share at 52.2% against 49.5%, a gap of 2.7 points. The difference is driven by friction: the work is similarly producible in both, and what differs is what stands in the way of letting a machine finish it. Release v2026.Q3.
| Occupation | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Capability | Friction | Median pay | Rank | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax Preparers | 52.2% | 31.8% | 16.0% | 0.84 | 0.38 | $54,920 | 93 | exposed |
| Accountants and Auditors | 49.5% | 33.1% | 17.5% | 0.83 | 0.42 | $83,680 | 113 | exposed |
What stands in the way, in each
Tax Preparers: the dominant friction is that it runs on knowledge of the organisation that a model cannot hold. Capability sits at 0.84 of 1 and friction at 0.38 of 1.
Accountants and Auditors: the dominant friction is that it runs on knowledge of the organisation that a model cannot hold. Capability sits at 0.83 of 1 and friction at 0.42 of 1.
Capability asks whether a generally available system can produce the work product at all. Friction asks what stops it finishing the job: physical work, being present, being accountable, unseen context, or the cost of checking the output. The rubric is here.
Read each in full
Exposure is not displacement. A higher score does not rank two jobs by how safe they are, and nothing here models adoption, employment or pay.