Prompt Engineering for Accounting and Finance: Theory and Practice

This textbook is the first resource specifically designed to equip business students in accounting and finance with a systematic and practical understanding of artificial intelligence (AI). Recognizing the current gap where business students often lack structured guidance on applying AI to their specific professional challenges, this book provides a comprehensive, step-by-step framework to effectively integrate AI into accounting and finance workflows. The textbook thoroughly addresses key areas, including foundational principles of prompt engineering, advanced techniques such as zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought, and multimodal prompting, as well as strategies for handling structured data and managing task-oriented AI workflows. Emphasis is placed on robust evaluation practices, incorporating quantitative and qualitative assessments, alongside essential ethical considerations such as bias reduction, misinformation prevention, model transparency, and data confidentiality. By offering clearly defined frameworks, best practices, and detailed instructional guidance, this book serves as an indispensable resource for developing dedicated AI-focused courses in business schools. It uniquely empowers students to confidently harness AI tools within their professional contexts, ensuring they uphold rigorous ethical standards while achieving accuracy and reliability in financial and accounting tasks. As the singular resource of its kind, this textbook directly addresses the pressing educational need to prepare business students effectively for an increasingly AI-driven professional landscape.