In this article, we will consider why it is important to keep up to date with the latest tech as an accountant, ways to enhance your digital skills, and which tools you might want to try.
Have you ever scrambled to meet a client deadline only to discover your accounting software has crashed? In today’s digital world, it’s not enough to have accounting expertise. To thrive, you must also be fluent in digital tools and their applications.
Equipped with the right digital tools, you can automate tedious and time-consuming tasks, gain deeper insights, and deliver exceptional value to your clients, setting yourself apart in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Why it’s important to keep up to date with the latest tech
In the National Association of Teachers Journal 1907, a complaint was raised about the invention of the pen. It read as follows:
Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.
The irony is apparent now, if not then. There are far more places where you are called to use a pen than a pencil – when filling in official documents, for instance. I can’t think of any occasion when I’ve been called upon to sharpen a pencil with a pen knife, and I distinctly remember being told we’d fail our matric exams if we wrote them in pencil. But in 1907, teachers feared their pupils would be inept in the working world if they replaced pencils with pens.
What if digital tools are our equivalent of the pen?
Xero Australia’s 2024 State of the Industry special report found that using digital tools in your practice can positively impact performance – commercially, internally, and through client services and relationships. This report is based on discussions and a survey with 249 accountants and bookkeepers in practices across Australia. While Australia tends to be ahead of the digital curve, that doesn’t mean we should have lower expectations for adoption in South Africa. After all, South Africa’s CAs are the best in the world, and we want it to stay that way.
The report finds a distinct link between digital tools and practice growth, dividing those surveyed into three categories:
- App Masters
- App Adopters and
- App Delayers
The names are self-explanatory. Needless to say, being known as an ‘App Delayer’ isn’t a good look. What’s more, the report found that:
- Practices who were App Masters experienced 81% revenue growth and 61% profit growth in the past 12 months
- Practices who were App Adopters experienced 67% revenue growth and 62% profit growth in the past 12 months, and
- Practices that were App Delayers experienced 65% revenue growth but only 50% profit growth
Similarly, a Wolters Kluwer survey in the US found that 81% of firms that use cloud-based firm management technologies reported higher revenue growth and profitability than traditional firms, practices that were early adopters of cloud technology were 13% more likely to add new services, and 77% of respondents found that technology helped them reduce the number of hours worked per client and return.
Therefore, it’s become apparent that investing in robust applications can improve both your revenue and profitability. How? Well, in a nutshell, apps save you time and improve your accuracy. After all, human beings are prone to error – even accountants – while computers are far more precise. Moreover, technology gives you more time to add value to your clients and empowers you to use the data at your disposal to make better decisions.
So, now that we’ve established why it’s important to be tech-savvy, let’s look at where you can start.
Toss out those shoeboxes
It’s 2024. If you are still asking your clients to save receipts for you in a shoebox that you’ll slog over at month-end, you might want to think again.
There are now plenty of tools that help you capture and process receipts digitally, such as Hubdoc or Dext (previously Receipt Bank). In addition, accounting software that integrates directly with your bank feed to save you time – and paper.
With all the time you save on data capturing, you can dedicate more energy to higher-value tasks such as advising your clients in their businesses, providing cash flow forecasting services, and helping them make better business decisions.
After signing up with the financial reporting tool Syft Analytics, Neil Criddle, Founder of NDC, found that he was able to save a ton of time and spend this saved time with clients:
The time I’ve saved on running everything manually in Excel is spent with the clients, talking them through everything and doing additional analysis with commentary.
With tools like Syft, you can share real-time insights with clients so that they can act proactively rather than reactively. And this is just one of many tools contemporary accountants have at their disposal.
How can you enhance your digital skills?
There are several ways in which you can improve your digital skills. This needn’t be too difficult. An abundance of webinars and online learning platforms make it easy for you to digitally upskill yourself in your own time. For example, Google provides dedicated courses to help you grow your career or business, with specialisations in areas such as digital marketing, coding and development, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, online safety, and data and analytics.
We’ve worked to contribute in this space with Syft Campus, a free platform to upskill yourself and your team on software, as well as more technical and soft skills.
However, acquiring digital literacy is not just about taking courses or attending webinars. One of the best ways to improve your digital skills is to practise using them. By integrating the use of software into your daily routine at work – or even at home – you can leapfrog your tech-shy competitors in no time. This can be as easy as:
- Comparing different platforms at work, such as the Microsoft Office suite or the Google suite
- Trying new AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini AI to tweak the wording of your emails or adverts for your firm
- Planning your family holiday with tools such as Miro or ClickUp, and
- Finding ways to automate tasks with Zapier
The key is to practise your skills over time. Learning new skills is fantastic, but as the saying goes, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Another great way to enhance your skills is by completing courses as part of your CPD requirements. Yoou can attend conferences, read articles, or even listen to podcasts as part of your continuing education, gaining knowledge and crucial points in one go.
Last but not least, you can improve your digital acumen by having a good old play around with software. Tutorials are great, but they’re not for everyone. I know I’ve skipped over more than a handful of help videos in my time with the sense that I should be able to figure it out. After all, it’s accounting software, not rocket science.
By tinkering with the software, you can figure out a lot about how best to use it, and when you get stuck, you can usually reach out to an agent for support.
The importance of digitalisation for a business
Digitalisation is important not just for you as an accountant but for businesses more broadly. Whether you work as part of the finance team or a dedicated accounting practice, it never hurts to be efficient or to provide value-added services. However, there’s another area in which digital tools can help – controls.
The best digital applications provide solid security and fraud prevention measures. The right accounting software can help you keep track of your financial data and ensure it is secure with gold-standard security features such as encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), secure data storage, and automated backups.
Moreover, certain solutions offer mobile device management, which gives you control over the devices with access to your financial data. So, you can make 100% sure that only authorised users have access to your data.
What are some digital tools businesses can use?
So, what tools should you consider? There are a number of solutions available to meet business needs, including:
- Cloud accounting software such as Xero, QuickBooks Online, or Sage Business Cloud Accounting
- Analytical tools to automate your financial analysis and reporting such as Syft Analytics
- Practice management software such as Karbon or Pixie
- Document or email management software such as Zendesk and Mailchimp
- Workflow management software such as Jotform, Notion, and Asana
- Client onboarding software such as GUIDEcx, Pipefy, and Process Street
- Corporate compliance tools such as Zilflow and RiskOptics
Remember, when it comes to building an app stack that works for you, you need to identify what your practice needs. As Jolene Lutman from Centegrity says:
Identify the gaps and pain points, then look at the capabilities of different tools to try and solve these problems. If you’re unsure about where to start, speak to your peers or reach out to the providers directly. Some of the apps I value most in my firm come from building great relationships with the teams behind the software.
Visiting roadshows and other events where you can meet app partners can be immensely beneficial as it gives you the opportunity to learn how they work with your existing systems and to find out exactly what they offer. Remember, implementing new software can be tricky and time-consuming initially, but it’s worth the investment in the long run.
Closing thoughts
There’s no need for you to dedicate months and years to learning everything there is to know about digital tools. However, it’s become clear that to stay relevant and continue to provide clients with the best possible service in the shortest time, investing in technology is the way to go.
Remember, pens still dominated the world of pencils, despite what teachers had to say. Computers replaced typewriters despite the fuss kicked up at the time. The same can be said for digitalisation. The question is just whether you join the train or get left at the station.
Author
Jodilee Manuel CA(SA), Head of Education and Implementation at Syft Analytics
