We review the reality of the accounting profession updating the content of this post, which shows that the professional advice and offices They are constantly modernizing in recent decades, going directly along with the rise of technology.
- Discover the opinion of more than 3,000 consultancies and professional offices from around the world in the report updated to 2018
- A 39% of professional offices considers that it has adopted technology at an early stage for its business
He future of the accounting profession It can create a disconcerting feeling. The current reality is very different from what existed until recently. As a result, fears and good expectations mix in a context that poses various challenges.
The main points of attention regarding the future of the accounting profession
The evolution of the accounting profession is marked by different drivers, circumstances that characterize the current environment and the future perspectives.
The international vision of the accountant
On the one hand, every day the need to continue taking steps in the process of approximation of regulations accountants in different countries. These changes, in general, affect SMEs in a differentiated way, in order not to introduce more complexities than necessary to their obligations.
However, this need arises in a context in which more SMEs are internationalizing every day. They do it startups that are beginning to be successful, but also professionals who provide services in different countries, businesses that see the opportunity to begin to open abroad in their online store, small workshops focused on export...
This requires, on the one hand, providing knowledge of the accounting obligations that may be found in the destination countries. On the other hand, it requires strengthening the advisor's own knowledge of accounting for trade, investment and international financing operations. And it will also be increasingly common for these SMEs to request advice on accounting matters related to their internationalization process.
The accountant before the new generations of businessmen
Generations like millennials or generation Z They are going to shape the future of the accounting profession. The challenge is, on the one hand, to understand the context of each of them. It will be a very important condition of the requirements that will be demanded of your advisor.
But, on the other hand, we must understand in all its depth the diversity that exists within the members of the same generation. A very relevant part of the future of the accounting profession involves the provision of new value-added services. Understanding the characteristics of the different profiles of entrepreneurs who are arriving is the first step to be able to draw up a correct strategy of segmentation.
The technological challenge of the accountant of the future
Accounting is, above all, a source of information. Therefore, it falls within the heart of the main areas of impact of the new technologies. Let us not forget that some of the most decisive advances come in information and communications.
Automation is a path that will produce a profound change in management. Entrepreneurs will be able to have better tools at their disposal and they will save a lot of time.
The change for the accountant is very significant and not a few are afraid. The focus of your work will not be so much completing specific tasks as accompanying the client. Many daily tasks in consultancies are in the process of automation, but what is not going to be automated are the customer needs. They are increasingly complex, ambiguous, changing and face high uncertainty.
The specialization of the accountant of the future
A relevant part of the activity of accountants has been marked by the repetition of the same services to different clients. Fundamentally, they have been linked to compliance with legal obligations. Furthermore, these clients were more or less stable over time. In this way, it has not been unusual to see some whose accounts have been handled by the same office for many years.
Now, the service catalog expands enormously. Accounting information and the systems that generate it will continue to be the central axis. However, it is foreseeable that services not strictly related to the fulfillment of obligations will become increasingly important:
- advice on treasury management
- accounting information security
- accounting analysis
- presentations to third parties of financial information
- use of financial information in project preparation
- costs
- forecasts
- Risk management
- management advice
- financial control systems…
And, within each of the areas, there will be very particular needs of a group of clients. In order to offer a service quality, it will be necessary invest in training and specialization. And, in order to amortize that investment, it will be necessary to have a sufficient number of clients with these specialized needs. This will require measures to expand the geographical radius of action, providing many services wherever the client requires them and others by telematic methods. Likewise, it may be more necessary to collaborate with other offices.
The current situation, what is new for professional consultancies and offices?
If we compare some of this year's results with last year's, we see how the activity of the accounting advisor has changed and evolved. To start, a good fact: a 56% of professional offices affirms that their income has increased in the last 12 months. And in 2017 the commercial environment was difficult for any type of business, so knowing that the majority of professional firms are going against this trend is good news. In this sense, Competition continues to be one of their biggest concerns, considered a problem by 67% of respondents.
At a technological level, a clear majority of professionals in the sector affirm that the cloud facilitates their function by allowing them to collaborate with clients and improve the service offering. For this reason, more than half of them (a 53%) have adopted a cloud management solution for the office. Therefore, we can affirm that the long-announced revolution in the cloud or cloud computing has clearly occurred in this sector.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) It is beginning to be something that interests the sector: a 66% would invest in it if it allowed them to automate laborious and repetitive tasks, and a 55% plans to use AI in the next three years. Data that shows one of the biggest changes in mentality in the sector, since until a while ago it was a vague mirage on the technological horizon, now being a reality in the business world (as well as in the consumer world).
Fountain: SAGE
