AICPA and CIMA launch Rise2040 to shape finance’s AI future

AICPA and CIMA used a June 8 launch in Las Vegas to put a stake in the ground on finance’s AI future. Rise2040 is being pitched as a profession-led effort, shaped by more than 90 meetings worldwide and input from more than 6,000 accounting and finance professionals across more than 25 countries.

Mark Koziel, the CEO of AICPA and CIMA, made the central pitch plain: the project is “not about predicting a single future” but about helping the profession actively shape it. In the group’s telling, the next chapter for accountants and finance leaders will be defined less by software alone than by human judgment, trust, and the ability to lead in complexity. AICPA and CIMA, which say they have 689,000 members, students and engaged professionals globally, described Rise2040 as a “living program of insights” built to steer the field as artificial intelligence, data expansion and complexity reshape the work.

That matters inside KPMG because it lands right on the question teams are already wrestling with in audit, tax and advisory: what can be automated, what still needs a licensed professional, and what has to be documented to survive scrutiny from clients, regulators and quality reviewers. Rise2040 frames the profession’s emerging identity as a “forward-looking strategic business partner,” one that translates data into decisions, guides judgment under uncertainty and acts as a trust architect. For KPMG staff, especially those thinking about promotion cycles or the partner track, the signal is that technical fluency alone will not be enough. The market will keep rewarding people who can pair technical depth with client communication, scenario planning, governance and trusted-adviser skills.

The timing also echoes KPMG’s own AI strategy. KPMG launched AI Trust services on May 7, 2025, saying 82% of leaders saw risk management as their biggest challenge and 73% said data privacy and security was paramount when choosing a GenAI provider. On Sept. 25, 2025, KPMG LLP added AI Assurance services for GenAI and agents, including model risk assessments, validation, real-time system assessments and independent assurance.

KPMG says its AI Trust approach is grounded in transparency, fairness, accountability, integrity, resilience and explainability. Rise2040 gives that message outside validation: as AI moves deeper into finance work, the winning firms will be the ones that can prove where the machine stops and professional judgment begins.