Is your accounting firm digitalized?

We live in an age where people have embraced technology in a big way. Transforming digitally is a priority for organizations – irrespective of size and industry – because if they don’t, they have a higher chance of running out of business. A McKinsey report confirms that.

Therefore, digitalization has become necessary to survive more than ever. And, the accounting industry is no exception. Automation, cloud accounting and artificial intelligence are three major technologies ruling the industry as of today.

Accounting firms need to integrate digital technology with their operations and amp up the value offered to their clients. Let us analyze three functions where they can perform better with digitalization:

1) Auditing

Imagine using an auditing software that scans through 100% of the data at a fast pace by applying anomaly detection and advanced analytics. It makes a tedious job sound easy, right? AI-powered tools are capable of performing such tasks and can eliminate risks and decrease liabilities for an accounting firm in a short span of time.

2) Clerical accounting jobs

Payroll processing, invoicing, vendor purchase order processing and accounts receivable are some of the main time-consuming tasks that an accountant is responsible for. Thanks to technology, there are automation tools to do clerical and routine jobs.

Digital automation reduces errors and generates information more quickly, shifting rapidly from producing reports to investigating discrepancies. This way an accountant spends more time on innovation than managing copious amounts of books.

3) Front-end client experience

By 2020, the key brand differentiator will become customer experience and not services or pricing offered. As a 21st century accounting firm, having a basic digital presence is non-negotiable. With prospective customers coming to your website looking to get help, it is important for your front-end team to have necessary information at hand.

Therefore, build a knowledge base for your team to access end-to-end data that can be helpful in converting your prospects.

End notes

Gartner reports 89% of companies now expect to compete based on customer experience. This is a big responsibility for them since only 8% of customers believe they receive a superior client experience. Therefore, the necessity to adopt digital technologies for accounting firms is real.

If you want your accounting firm to evolve, it should be able to process taxes, manage books and run financial forecasts more efficiently. It has to undergo massive digital transformation to ensure the overall client experience is up to the mark.

Are you ready to take a plunge?