Constitutional AI in Accounting ? Pathways to Ethical and Transparent Decision-Making

This research project examines how AI systems, increasingly used in accounting for tasks such as financial audits, fraud detection, and resource allocation, can be designed to ensure legitimacy, transparency, and adherence to legal frameworks and ethical standards. The study focuses on the emerging concept of Constitutional AI, where explicit principles—similar to those found in legal constitutions—are embedded into AI models to guide them toward fairness, accountability, and harmlessness.

The project explores innovative frameworks like Public Constitutional AI, which incorporates stakeholder input, and Inverse Constitutional AI, which derives guiding principles from preference data. These methods offer potential solutions to align AI-driven accounting systems with both professional standards and public expectations. Additionally, Collective Constitutional AI integrates broader societal values into AI decision-making processes, while Case Law Grounding enhances consistency by applying precedent-based reasoning to accounting judgments.

By mitigating biases and enhancing transparency, these approaches aim to align AI systems with ethical accounting standards. Despite these promising methods, challenges remain, particularly concerning AI opacity, dynamic regulatory landscapes, and evolving financial norms.

This research proposes that combining constitutional principles with participatory frameworks and precedent-based reasoning provides a robust pathway for achieving legitimate and accountable AI governance within the accounting sector. The study will culminate in a scholarly paper outlining these frameworks, their potential applications, and the challenges and opportunities they present for the future of AI in accounting.