INTUIT
Accounting professionals: Embrace new technologies and evolve to a ‘Firm of the Future’ or be left behind
n today’s digital age, you would be hard-pressed to fi nd an industry that hasn’t been transformed by technology. There’s been a dramatic shift in Canada’s small business landscape over the last few years, and more entrepreneurs are relying on new technologies, like cloud computing and automation, to help them run their businesses – from the “mom and pop” shop down the street to the digital startup.
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These innovations are also transforming the face of the accounting industry and changing how accounting professionals collaborate with their small business clients. At QuickBooks Connect Toronto last month, attendees experienced fi rsthand the ways QuickBooks’ ever-expanding ecosystem is continuing to evolve to incorporate new technology, from an AI-driven virtual assistant to automated tax prep.
To keep pace in today’s competitive, demanding, technology-driven world, accounting professionals will have to change the way they do business and become a ‘Firm of the Future.’ If you haven’t yet embraced the power of technology to grow your practice, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Keep up with the pace of change
Small businesses are adopting new technologies in record numbers, and expect the accounting professionals they work with to be equally well-versed in these solutions. Recent studies by Intuit found that 61 per cent of Canadian small businesses use the cloud to operate their business and the same number are now using automation technology like AI, machine learning or auto- mated communication.
The accounting industry is moving from a desktop to online platform, and providing an opportunity to reimagine how small business and their accountants collaborate in real time. Cloud accounting software enables accountants to get real-time insights into their clients’ businesses never before possible. Today, it is increasingly possible to provide proactive strategic advice, instead of post-mortem analysis and compliance. The rise of AI-powered tools for small businesses is poised to accelerate this trend, driving more proactive and predictive insights, improving the effi ciency of workfl ows and automating the mundane so that entrepreneurs and their accountants can focus on what matters: growing their business or practice.
QuickBooks Online Accountant gives accountants and bookkeep- ers one place to manage all of their clients and to run their entire practice. With new practice and client management features, QuickBooks Online Accountant helps them stay on top of tasks, share secure documents and messages with their clients, and deliver insights to make their clients more successful from anywhere.
Take advantage of new opportunities for growth
Current clients and prospects want to work with a fi rm that works the way they do: leveraging cloud technologies and using the web to drive customer and overall business growth. If they can’t fi nd you online, they’ll fi nd someone else who is.
Social media is key to boosting any accounting fi rm’s online presence. Update your LinkedIn profi le and join one of the many accounting groups available. Participating in online communities will help to build an online brand. This will not only help prospec- tive clients fi nd you, but also give you the opportunity to connect with others in your fi eld.
Intuit has also heavily invested in matching small businesses to accountants to enable their collective success. The company’s ‘Find-An-Accountant’ directory helps connect small businesses to accountants in their area off ering relevant services to help both groups grow their businesses. The directory drives 1,000 leads a month for Canadian accountants, connecting them to small businesses.
Start working smarter
New innovations designed for Canadian entrepreneurs and accountants are embracing automation to help eliminate mundane tasks and operate more effi ciently. For example, Intuit recently unveiled QuickBooks Tax, currently in Beta-testing and expected in late 2018, a new way for Canadian accountants and bookkeepers to prepare taxes inside of QuickBooks Online Accountant.
QuickBooks Tax will automate much of the tax work by eliminating multiple tax software tools and connecting books data to the tax platform. Through integration with QuickBooks, accounting professionals can quickly and confi dently prepare and fi le taxes, allowing them to save their clients more money through proactive tax planning and manage all of their tax preparation work directly within QuickBooks Online Accountant, including books with client management, year-end with Workpapers, and now tax with QuickBooks Tax. With all of the work taking place in the cloud and on the same platform, the ability to unlock even more game-chang- ing tools for accountants and their clients is on the horizon.
Canadian practices are already harnessing these innovations to become a ‘Firm of the Future.’ For the fi rst time ever, Intuit crowned a Canadian fi rm the winner of its Global Firm of the Future Contest, awarding AIS Solutions, founded and led by Juliet Aurora, a $25,000 USD cash prize as the global fi rm that best embraces the future and emulates the Firm of the Future pillars to get online, be clients’ trusted advisors and grow their fi rm. AIS Solutions is an ideal example of this new model because educa- tion is at the core of everything they do. In addition to using cloud-based technologies to serve clients, AIS Solutions has also launched the Kninja Knetwork Division, an exclusive online education and support community to help bookkeepers move their practices to the cloud.
As users continue to join the QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed ecosystem, our platform of connected data will continue to expand, driving our ability to leverage automation and machine learning. This growing community will make our ecosys- tem work harder, enabling accountants to reduce the amount of time they spend on compliance tasks and focus on helping their clients identify new opportunities for growth, ultimately helping them to become a ‘Firm of the Future.’
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