Technology trends: their impact on the global accountancy profession

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    Iheonu Nkechi Gloria 2 years ago

    Accountants have always exploited emerging technologies to help them to complete their tasks more accurately, quickly, or simply: from the incised clay tablets of the Sumerian scribes, through the adding machines of the 19th century, to the calculators and computers of the 20th century. But all of these technology developments were simple propositions by comparison with the myriad technologies that are now rapidly reshaping the worlds of business and accountancy.

    Heading into the 21st-century technology trends in cloud, big data, mobile and social collaboration are converging to change how we consume information technology resources, share knowledge and experiences, and access products and services. At the same time, these trends are also underpinning and influencing developments in cybersecurity, digital service delivery, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. A ‘new normal’ is emerging. 

    Accountants in practice and the finance function are part of that connected world. This is changing how they communicate and collaborate with those in the businesses they work with and for, and shaping new working patterns. It is providing accountants with the opportunity to automate and de-skill time-consuming and repetitive work and focus on higher-value work so that they can consolidate their role as advisers on finance and business. It is impossible to predict the future with any degree of certainty. By keeping informed about technologies as they evolve, considering new technologies as they emerge, and then assessing their implications for finance professionals and those they serve and support, accountants can be prepared to minimize the burdens and maximize the benefits. In this way, the profession can exploit technology and potentially change the scope of what it means to be an accountant.

    The ten technology trends are: 

    • mobility

    • cloud

    • social collaboration

    • digital service delivery

    • big data

    • payment systems

    • cybersecurity

    • robotics

    • augmented and virtual reality

    • artificial intelligence.

     

    As valued advisers to the organizations they work with and for, accountants must maintain a watching brief across a broad range of technologies and trends. 

    Finance professionals need to consider the challenges and opportunities created by new and emerging technologies, and then use their analytical and problem-solving skills to assess their potential influence, so that they can provide the financial insights needed to guide any affected tactical and strategic business decisions.

    THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGIES ON THE FINANCE PROFESSION

    1. By 2015 every accountancy firm will give clients an app they can use to access their business/accounting data from a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone. 

    2. Accountants will need to re-skill to retain their emerging role as the gatekeeper of corporate data.

    3. The profession must develop new ways to measure and value technology costs and benefits for the world of cloud computing and social networking.

    4. The accountancy profession will shrink as software vendors build progressively more finance expertise into self-learning products and services.

    5. The CFO of the future will need to know as much about technology as they do about financial management.

    6. Unless accountants embrace technology they will follow the dinosaur into extinction – individually and as a profession.

    7. By 2020 audits may well be real-time. Regulators will conduct them automatically pulling data in from business systems and sensors embedded in everything – from stock to livestock and even human beings.

    8. If accountants do not position themselves as subject matter experts on emerging trends such as crowdfunding and new payment platforms then other professionals will. 

    9. Accountants must exploit emerging technologies to attract talent and to develop and manage existing talent.

    10. By 2025 all digital data will be available to everybody.

    Credit: ACCA global

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