People skills: You are a human being, not a human doing

As excellent as artificial intelligence (AI) is at cutting through large datasets quickly, its social abilities are limited. This creates an opportunity for accounting and finance professionals to focus on human relationships and shine.

“AI is changing the profession in a way other technologies didn’t. Think about the significant advances that have come along in the profession. When you had the calculator, and then the computer, they were a huge boon, but they didn’t affect the clients,” said Guy Gage, a licensed professional counselor and co-owner of PartnersCoach Inc. in Bridgeport, W.Va. “Then upgraded software and cloud computing came along. All these tools have helped accountants do what they do, only better. But AI is different because this tool is now accessible to everybody to produce the documents they need. Clients will no longer need document preparers the way they used to.”

CPAs have long been trusted for their occupational expertise, or hard skills, which they acquire through formal education, training, and work experience. But in the AI era their real value goes beyond just delivering tax returns, financial statements, or budgets. What distinguishes a CPA today is the ability to read body language, understand emotions, troubleshoot, build strong relationships, and communicate well — the building blocks of people skills, which can be defined as a type or subset of soft skills that some call success skills.

Whatever the name, skills such as self-awareness, curiosity, and communication can be practiced and honed.

“Unlike technical skills, with people skills, you’re talking about behavioral, not cognitive training,” Gage said. “It’s like sitting down learning how to drive a car from a book. You can know every single law and code there is about driving, but until you get behind the wheel and have to use the gas pedal, you’re not going to be able to drive.”

To exercise behavioral strengths that welcome collaboration, build trust, and offer strategic insight, he added, accounting and finance professionals “have to learn to understand how to engage with their clients and their client projects beyond just what the actual paper deliverable is.”

The widespread accessibility of AI changes the script of what clients are paying for — or what the CEO or board of directors need from the CFO and finance team — with the emphasis now on human connection instead of documents and returns alone.

“Relationship building will set you apart from other people … or other machines,” said Sandra Wiley, founder of Sandra Wiley Strategies, based in Manhattan, Kan. “What matters is that you find ways to develop relationships with your clients, your peers, and people who know more than you, so you can learn something new.”

The advice provided in this article can apply to CPAs in all areas of the profession, but to keep things simple, most examples refer to clients.

CURIOSITY: THE DOORWAY TO DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS

Curiosity is an integral way to build relationships and learn more about a client’s story, motivations, and goals. Ask open-ended questions during conversations and build upon each response. What may start as idle chitchat could help develop deep connections and trust, and map out financial goals and strategies.

“Building trust happens when you’re sitting with a client and having a conversation about their tax return (a deliverable document), and you notice something related to an item, you need curiosity: ‘Tell me about this,'” Gage said. “Or if you’re just chitchatting, you can simply say, ‘You have a child ready to start college, is that right? Where are they going to go? Why did they choose that one?'”

Information sharing should not be one-sided — CPAs should be empowered to share some of their own story, too. The onus can’t be on the client — or your colleagues — alone. Trust builds with more information swapped.

“So, now this trust starts to evolve because I’m a human being, not a human doing,” Gage said. “I’m not a robot giving and spitting out answers. We have AI for that.”

ENABLE PERSONALIZED SOLUTIONS

A demonstration of care and concern really shifts the focus of a relationship from transactional to partnership-based. CPAs can demonstrate their understanding and concern for a client’s unique challenges and perspectives by creating personalized solutions that meet those needs.

“When you’re sitting down with a client and they’re saying, ‘Business was not good this past year, and I’m really wondering what I should be doing,’ you can feel the client’s anxiety and apprehension. AI can’t feel that,” Gage said, adding that you can respond to that client’s moment of vulnerability with curiosity. For example, he suggested, you can respond: “I can imagine this is a real difficult time for you. Tell me, when have you experienced this before?” That’s human connection, and people are hungry for it.

“When the client feels their accountant knows and understands them, and trusts them completely, that puts them far ahead in the competition to retain the client,” Wiley said.

WHEN DATA MEETS JUDGMENT

AI can complement your thought process and help you tease out ideas, but it cannot replace human judgment (see “5 Human Competencies CPAs Need in the AI Age,” JofA, May 1, 2026).

When a client reveals their business had a tough financial year, AI alone can’t offer realistic solutions. An AI tool could analyze a client’s financials for their small business and suggest potential actions — reducing staff, raising prices, changing vendors — to curb certain risks. While the suggestions are mathematically sound, they don’t tell the whole story. Through conversations with your client, you would know how stretched thin the client already is, how raising prices could damage customer relationships, and how emotional burnout is affecting the client’s overall well-being. You can use the AI plan as a framework to develop a more compassionate and realistic plan that takes the client’s constraints into consideration.

“While AI can analyze data and provide insights, human judgment is crucial for solving complex problems and making decisions that require a deep understanding of ethical considerations,” Wiley said.

INFLUENCING WITHOUT MANIPULATING

Gale Crosley, CPA, CGMA, revenue growth strategist at Crosley+Company in Atlanta, learned how to navigate all kinds of client relationships during an intense, yearlong sales training early in her career. A lasting lesson from that training was how to apply communication skills to influence a customer or client.

“Persuasion and influence skills are what’s needed in public accounting,” Crosley said.

CPAs are financial experts, but all their knowledge, strategy, and advice aren’t helpful to a client who isn’t persuaded. Strong persuasion requires active listening, negotiation, confidence, collaboration, and communication. The goal isn’t to manipulate a client to a decision, but instead gently guide them to a beneficial solution.

“[Clients] don’t care what your tools are … they don’t want to know if you’re using a hammer or chainsaw,” Crosley said. What matters most, she said, is giving the client the most value through available tools. “Your job is to draw the picture through good communication skills.”

GROWING CONFIDENCE TO BUILD YOUR CAREER

Gage believes more professionals need to develop their self-awareness — a pillar of emotional intelligence that is important for leadership and collaboration. It’s important to understand how you come across in professional relationships, he said.

“You’ve got to know who you are and how you come across to others because you’ve got to develop trust in relationships, and that trust may sometimes waver by certain behaviors you have,” Gage said. Effective, self-aware professionals pay attention to this.

Having strong self-awareness, he added, can affect how you communicate.

“Some people love to be the one who has all the answers, and so they don’t listen. They don’t ask questions because they already know the answer,” Gage said. “On the other hand, some people are so quiet and thoughtful that nothing comes out. Neither provide much more than an AI assistant.”

You can fall outside of these two examples, but for Gage they show how a communication style can block meaningful and constructive relationships.

Self-awareness extends to listening and reading others. Listening to others and observing body language are communication tools. Self-awareness comes into this scenario if you know that you need to actively listen and be mindful of others’ facial expressions and body language. Presenting as confident and self-aware conveys to another person that you are ready to listen, collaborate, and lead with an open mind.

Building confidence is a characteristic that may take a little practice. But “the more you believe in yourself and the more confidence you gain, the better your career will be and the better your life will be,” Wiley said.

BUILDING THE HUMAN EDGE IN AN AI WORLD

The best thing CPAs can do, the experts agreed, is to invest in the development of their people skills — learn to address weak points, cultivate personal abilities, and excel in natural strengths.

Ultimately, there is no substitute for human connection.

“I think we must view new tools as exactly that: tools. They cannot replace our creativity, emotional intelligence, and ethical judgment,” Wiley said. “They are only there to assist us, not replace us. It will improve us if we understand them, and it will ultimately make us better.”

“I worked in an accounting firm for eight years and I saw some great advisory relationships that partners had, but I saw way too much of the other where accountants hid behind the document and were too busy to talk to their clients about their issues,” Gage said. “We can’t hide behind the documents any longer.”

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About the author

Jamie J. Roessner is a senior content writer at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.

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“Hard Truth About Soft Skills: Invaluable Insights for Financial Advisers,” JofA, July 14, 2025

“Insights from ENGAGE: CPAs Get a Crash Course in Communication,” JofA, June 10, 2025

“5 Steps for Conducting a Personal Skills Audit,” JofA, Feb. 1, 2022

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