The rebel accountant who rewrites the rules.
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Advocate · Researcher · Policy adviser

Lucy Cohen is one of the most credible voices on AI in finance in the UK today.

Lucy Cohen sitting on a bench, wearing a blazer, looking to the side with her arms crossed, seen through a camera monitor.

Lucy Cohen with styled hair and tattoos on her arm being assisted by a man, possibly a stylist, in a professional setting with studio equipment visible.

She is not a consultant who has studied the technology from the outside. She is a founder who has spent nearly two decades building and running AI systems inside a live accountancy firm, a doctoral researcher with papers in publication that are already challenging the profession's assumptions, and the elected President of the AAT, representing 130,000 accounting professionals across 105 countries.

When Lucy talks about what AI is doing to the accountancy profession, she is drawing on over 20 years of transaction data, a live research programme and the direct experience of having built the systems she is talking about. That combination — practitioner, researcher, professional body leader — is exceptionally rare. It is why she is in demand as a speaker, and why audiences leave with something they cannot get from anyone else on the circuit.

She is equally at home delivering a keynote to two thousand delegates at a national conference and speaking after dinner to a room of twenty senior leaders. She speaks on AI in finance, entrepreneurship, disruption and women in business, and brings the same directness, depth and absence of corporate polish to all of them.

Lucy Cohen and another presenter on stage at an event, speaking to an audience. The background shows a large screen with text about professional bodies guidance and ACCA. The audience is seated and listening attentively.

Speaking topics

AI in Finance and the Future of Accountancy

The profession is sleepwalking into an AI crisis. Most firms are adopting tools without understanding what type of AI they are buying, what it is actually doing to their data, or what the consequences will be. Lucy brings the perspective of a practitioner who has built and run AI systems in a live accountancy firm, combined with active doctoral research into where the profession is going wrong.

Entrepreneurship and Building a Business

Lucy founded Mazuma on the back of an apprenticeship with no outside investment and no safety net. She built it into a multi-million-pound firm. She talks honestly about what that journey looks like: not the highlight reel, but the decisions, the mistakes, the moments of doubt and the ones that mattered most.

Disruption and Innovation

Lucy invented a business model that didn't exist. The subscription accountancy model is now standard across the UK profession. She talks about what genuine disruption looks like from the inside: the resistance, the doubt, the loneliness of being early, and what it takes to hold your nerve long enough for the industry to catch up with you.

Women in Business and Finance

Accountancy is a profession that has historically been designed by and for men. Lucy has spent her career inside that system, reshaping it from within. She talks about what it actually takes to build a successful business as a woman in finance: not inspiration, but strategy, resilience and an accurate understanding of the landscape you are operating in.