Key Trends and Insights for Accountants
It is becoming an imperative for accountants to up their ante with technology to aid workflows, solving problems and providing services to clients. The use of video conferencing tools enables accountants to reach out to clients or colleagues anytime anywhere in the world.
Data analytics tools allow accountants to identify patterns, anomalies and opportunities in financial data that can be leveraged to prepare business forecasts, perform scenario testing and optimise the allocation of resources.
Automation
Automation is a scapegoat for taking jobs away from humans, but actually it presents a great opportunity to learn accounting. It involves tasks such as data entry, payment reconciliation and report creation, which are manual but mundane and repetitive, that automation can take over. This frees up accountants to plan strategic initiatives and advise clients instead of manually putting together accounting reports that many do not understand anyway. Accountants who embrace automation will tend to out-perform those who don’t. And the trend will only grow more pronounced in years to come. For organisations, automation provides improved scalability at reduced recruitment expense; and for employees it offers a better work-life balance and aids in productivity across time zones. Security-related risks are mitigated by eliminating human error risks while also speeding up incident reporting.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Serving those clients will be easier if accountants understand the particulars of evolving industry-specific technologies. The mass automation of various aspects of accounting will save time and increase productivity while using AI to analyse data and operate cloud-based systems will make such analysis easier than ever. However, it’s worth noting that while these tools help accountants, effective communication and critical thinking skills will never be redundant for this profession. A high EQ is crucial in developing a strong network of trusted clients and getting to know their individual business needs. It’s all about scale: accountants could devote less time on compliance work and data entry, more time on budgeting and forecasting that is based on actual corporate history and driven by insights that will anticipate the best (and worst) scenarios and possibilities. Accountants can use AI for matching invoices or doing receipt scanning. They might also be able to delegate some communications to AI, like responding to routine emails. They might also be able to use AI for automated onboarding.
Data Analytics
Data analytics encompasses the act of looking for patterns and insights in raw data, often using factor analysis, cohort analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, etc. Modern information sources produce huge amounts of structured and unstructured data, too much for traditional relational databases and traditional tools that worked with structured information. Data analytics software helps accountants access, compare, manipulate and make sense of these huge categories to gain insight. Investors are demanding progress reports on these issues, and consumers increasingly have a say about what they will buy. Companies that can ‘score well’ on data strategy can promote themselves as responsible businesses which, in turn, allows data analytics and software engineers to attract recruits with progressive values. Accounting firms that embrace data analytics can score well on ESG reporting both for their clients, as well as for themselves.
Business Intelligence (BI) Tools
Collecting, analysing and visualising data for actionable insights, business intelligence (BI) tools are essential for accountants, enabling them to gain a deeper understanding of financial trends and help identify strategic options for the organisation. BI automates data collection, thus allowing accounting staff to update their clients timely and accurately and control costs. For companies, this will make submitting statutory accounts and maintaining accounts for assurance purposes in line with national and possibly EU criteria more straightforward. Provide a BI tool with self-service reporting and visual analytics features that gives your busy accounting team access to the tools they need to be successful, but doesn’t sacrifice security and operational efficiency. Also, make the tool easier for end users with limited analytics experience to pick up and understand.
Value-Based
Pricing Value-based pricing helps you shift from seeing your hourly invoices to the actual change and results that you will bring to the client, which means that not only do you create a stronger bond with the client (because you are no longer just another service provider but more of an ally who will get results), but also your retention rate is higher. Create buyer personas and highlight what customers get out of using your product or service – either through testimonials, case studies or persuasive evidence. Testimonials or case studies. Begin introducing your value-based pricing structure one client account at a time, and only a few at that. This way, you can sort out any initial kinks and modify packages after feedback; plus, it allows your team to practice and get the hang of implementing this strategy in your firm.
Blockchain
Blockchain creates transaction ledgers, which cannot be altered, while also increasing visibility and efficiency, overcoming intermediary boundaries and reducing fraud. It enables automation to process invoicing and payments from systems and contractors to streamline transactions and reduce administrative effort. This ensures accountability for real-time transaction processing and audit trails. It also lowers the time and cost of financial transactions and vastly improves the interoperability of accounting ecosystems and reduces compliance costs (as well as all of the costs of reconciliation) through use of standardising practises for accountants and auditors to help them bring value to the firms they consult for (as opposed to the value-leaking-away costs of compliance). Many of us expect more robust implementation of this technology. But until it’s integrated with legacy systems or AI, many think it can’t get off the ground.
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