The value of "grunt" work for today's finance teams

Routine work has long been woven into the fabric of finance. Reconciliations, transaction checks and spreadsheet clean-ups are part of the daily grind. 

That is why AI has found such an easy pitch in the accounting and finance profession — fewer hours lost to spreadsheets and administrative tasks means more room for analysis, problem-solving and work that demands judgement. 

But the equation may not be so simple.

Diwas KC, professor of information systems and operations management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, says removing repetitive work should not automatically be treated as progress.

“Repetition is sometimes wasted time, particularly when the work is tedious and does not add much value to the output. But it would be a mistake to assume that all repetitive work is a waste.”

Some forms of routine work, he argues, do more than help get through a task list. They help professionals to build familiarity and confidence over time.

“In many cases, repetition helps workers master the fundamentals of the job. Think of musicians practising scales or athletes repeating basic drills, even at the highest levels,” he says.

“It helps people gain confidence and develop the judgement to know which tasks require deeper attention and which can be handled more routinely.”

Rosalie Adriano FCPA, founder and managing director at consultancy group RA Inspired, points to a similar pattern in finance. “People who have spent time in the details tend to develop stronger judgement, better questioning skills and more confidence in decision-making.”

A training ground for leaders

Many finance professionals begin their careers far away from strategy discussions and boardroom decisions.

“Early career roles provide exposure to how processes connect across finance, operations and systems,” says Adriano. “That understanding comes from doing the work — not just reviewing outputs.

“You learn how numbers move through a business, how systems connect and where issues can arise. When something does not add up, you work through it until it does. That builds both technical understanding and persistence.”

The issue is not routine work itself, she explains, but how capabilities are developed if it disappears. “If organisations remove the traditional learning layer, they need to replace it by design.”
KC sees a risk of deskilling if organisations move too quickly to take routine tasks from junior employees.

“If people no longer perform the basic tasks, they may lose the ability to understand, evaluate or improve the work being done by AI.”

Space for ideation

Research from the University of California suggests repetitive tasks that allow the mind to wander can be catalysts for innovation and creative problem-solving.

“Creativity often requires exposure to a range of ideas, including those that may seem unrelated at first,” says KC. “It also requires some incubation time before those ideas come together in a new way.”

He explains that switching to a more routine task can help with both. “It gives the person a small change in mental perspective and it gives the brain time to keep working on the difficult problem in the background. Routine tasks can also lower the immediate cognitive load, which may free up mental capacity to consider a wider range of possibilities.”

The task itself may not be creative. The space it creates can be.

The need for cognitive balance

Routine work can also serve another purpose that gets less attention: recovery. “If people are constantly pushed from one demanding task to the next, they may simply become too tired to think creatively,” KC says.

His research on multitasking suggests there is a set-up or warm-up cost when people switch tasks.

“The more complex and novel the task, the greater that switching cost is likely to be. So having some more routine tasks mixed into the workday may actually help people manage their task load better.”

There are also implications for satisfaction and motivation.

“If AI removes the easier tasks and leaves workers mostly with the hardest exceptions, employees may face a more concentrated form of complexity. That can increase dissatisfaction and attrition,” KC says.

Small wins often matter more than organisations realise. Completing a task, even a minor one, creates momentum and a sense of progress.

Staying close to the details

One of the risks of automation, Adriano says, is that it can create distance from the detail, which is often where problems first begin to surface. “From a governance perspective, that distance becomes an issue when people are expected to make decisions without fully understanding how the underlying information is produced.

“Over time, this creates capability gaps. People progress into more senior roles without having built the experience that comes from working through complexity and uncertainty.”

This is particularly important in finance and accounting where areas such as fraud, risk and compliance rely not only on systems but also on human judgement. Adriano says that while automation can flag unusual activity, it cannot replace the professional scepticism needed to assess it properly.

“AI can generate an answer, but a person still has to stand behind it. That accountability does not change.”

 

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