Singapore’s AIxAccountancy Programme: Free AI Training for 60,000 Finance Professionals

Singapore’s AIxAccountancy programme is a free, sector-specific AI-fluency initiative launched by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on 3 July 2026. It aims to prepare 60,000 accountancy and corporate-finance professionals to use AI over three years, making the profession the first non-tech group developed with a professional body under Singapore’s National AI Impact Programme.

The wider national programme aims to help 100,000 non-tech professionals become confident using AI in their work by 2029.

Who AIxAccountancy is for

The programme is intended for people across Singapore’s accountancy and finance talent pipeline, including eligible Singapore citizens and permanent residents, ISCA members and students at local tertiary institutions. The fee waiver and eligibility conditions apply to defined participant groups, so prospective learners should check the latest ISCA requirements rather than assume that every applicant qualifies automatically.

That broad target matters. AIxAccountancy is not positioned as an advanced course only for data specialists or technology teams. Its purpose is to help accounting and finance professionals build enough practical fluency to use AI in everyday work while retaining responsibility for the result.

How the two phases work

AIxAccountancy progresses from general AI capability to professional application.

Phase 1: Build practical AI fluency

The first phase introduces participants to common generative-AI tools and the skills needed to use them effectively. Examples named in programme coverage include ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.

The foundations include:

• Writing and refining prompts
• Using AI for common workplace tasks
• Evaluating whether an AI-generated answer is accurate or useful
• Understanding privacy and data-protection risks
• Applying responsible-use principles
• Building AI-enabled workflows, including for financial-statement analysis

The emphasis is on informed use rather than simple tool familiarity. In accounting and finance, a fluent user needs to know not only how to obtain an output, but also when that output requires verification or should not be generated using confidential information.

Phase 2: Apply AI to professional workflows

The second phase moves into role-specific use cases across accounting, finance, audit and tax. Reported examples include analysing financial data, extracting insights from raw data, supporting audit work, identifying fraud risks and improving accounting and tax-related processes.

This structure gives learners a practical progression: first understand the capabilities and limitations of general-purpose AI, then assess where those capabilities can be useful in a professional workflow.

The programme is therefore better understood as AI enablement for finance professionals than as a promise of fully automated accounting. The human responsibilities—checking evidence, applying professional judgement and remaining accountable for decisions—still matter, particularly in work involving accuracy, confidentiality, auditability and compliance.

Why the online format matters for working professionals

The training is designed as self-paced online learning, allowing professionals to study around existing employment and other commitments. ISCA describes the course as approximately 30 hours of practical, bite-sized e-learning, with CPE hours available on completion.

Learners who complete the programme receive a certificate and a digital badge that can be displayed on LinkedIn. The badge is intended to provide a portable way to show that a participant has completed AI-fluency training, rather than merely claiming informal experience with AI tools.

For employers, that creates a more consistent starting point for conversations about AI adoption. For employees and students, it provides a structured credential while they build experience applying AI to actual finance workflows.

Why the programme matters to the accountancy profession

Accountancy and corporate finance teams handle large volumes of structured information and increasingly data-intensive processes. AI can assist with analysis, workflow support and pattern identification, but its usefulness depends on the quality of the underlying data and the judgement applied to the output.

That is why the programme’s stated goal is AI fluency with responsible adoption, rather than tool adoption alone. ISCA says the initiative supports its wider ambition to strengthen AI capability across the profession and equip practitioners with the confidence to apply AI meaningfully in their work.

The approach also has visible employer interest. Singapore accounting firm PKF-CAP said its colleagues had expressed keen interest in participating, suggesting that firms see value in an accessible way to build baseline AI capability across teams.

The longer-term progression is from safe individual use to identifying worthwhile use cases, applying professional judgement and eventually helping teams adopt AI responsibly. Whether that progression succeeds will depend on how learners apply the training in real organisations, but the programme is designed to support that path.

AIxAccountancy versus SkillsFuture Green Workplace courses

AIxAccountancy and the SkillsFuture Green Workplace (SFGW) sustainability-reporting courses address different skills needs.

Programme	Main focus	Delivery or funding model
AIxAccountancy	Practical and responsible use of AI in accounting, finance, audit and tax workflows	Free for eligible target trainees; online and self-paced
SFGW sustainability-reporting courses	Technical knowledge for sustainability reporting and assurance, aligned with the Sustainability Reporting Body of Knowledge	Modular and stackable courses with subsidies of up to 90% for eligible participants

In practical terms, AIxAccountancy helps a finance professional work with AI safely and effectively. SFGW courses help them understand, prepare or assure sustainability and ESG reporting information.

The programmes can complement each other. A professional working with climate or ESG data may need both the technical reporting knowledge covered by SFGW and the AI skills needed to analyse information or improve workflows. They are related to the changing demands on the profession, but they are not the same qualification or training programme.

The bottom line

AIxAccountancy gives Singapore’s accounting and finance workforce a structured route into AI: build foundational fluency first, then apply it to professional tasks. Its scale—60,000 professionals over three years—reflects the view that AI capability must extend beyond technology specialists.

The most important qualification is that AI remains an assistant to professional work, not a substitute for verification and accountability. For participants, the practical value will come from learning where AI can save time, where it can improve analysis and where human judgement must remain firmly in control.