Guide to AI, Cloud Software and the Robot Revolution for accountants

Artificial intelligence, automated cloud accounting software, and robots are the things that bring a massive change in the accountancy sector. The future of accounting looks impressive. It brings a lot of excitement to the table.

Despite the fact, there is also a sense of fear and uncertainty among the accountants. They think that advancement in financial technology can make them unsuitable. However, here is the truth; the future of accounting and technology is not only about technological advancement; it is a much-needed positive trend towards a completely different model.

The evolution of technology is at its all-time high. It is influencing almost every sector in the world. Why shouldn’t it cover the accountancy sector? According to Accenture, cloud automated accounting software will deliver 80% of finance and accounting tasks shortly.

This prediction may leave a lot of accounting professionals in a state of uncertainty and insecurity. They might start thinking about the future of their jobs, and where they are going to stand in that future of automation.

However, here is a thing, there is no need to be afraid. In fact, as an accounting professional, you have plenty of reasons to be very excited. Nonetheless, here is a spoiler – You don’t need to afraid of this future of accountancy, only “IF” you are ready to leave behind the old ways of accounting, and you’re also prepared to become a “Robo-accountant.”

You can describe “Robo-accountants” as finance or accounting professionals who can adapt to the automation in accountancy and can perform time-saving, accurate, and repetitive tasks of data-entry.

In short, the future of accountancy, along with the automation, looks amazingly exciting. Here is an in-depth breakdown of how the future of accountancy with automation is.

The Most Important Question! Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

When the experts started to discuss the future of accountancy, people began to talk about it as a technological advancement that will completely change the accountancy industry. As a matter of fact, accountancy in the future looks much more than technology. It is not only about technology; it is a new, complete, and more productive way of doing business. The future model is promising to provide people the solutions, not the tools.

Since the time when the modern era of business started, the need for an account for the inflows and outflows remains a strong point. Since then, there have been countless technological revolutions in the accountancy sector.

During the 13th century, the accountancy in medieval Europe was revolving around the monetary economy themed with the trade. The bankers and merchants strongly felt that there is a need for proper accounting so that they can keep track of their money. As a result, the double-entry bookkeeping was introduced to the industry, which remained the standard until the end of the 15th century.

The 20th century witnessed the game-changing invention of mainframe computers. All of a sudden, the accountants of large industries started to access the revolutionary computing power of machines. In the 1990s, even accountants at smaller businesses began to use the accounting software.

Finally, in the 21st century, after going through a lot of revolutions, accounting technology for even smaller businesses moved into the cloud. Even the owners of small businesses were able to access their business accounts from anywhere and anytime.

 Presently, accounting and bookkeeping are inspired by the high-quality, low-cost, cloud-based tools.

The accounting tools have gone through a lot of evolutions. Now is the time for accounting solutions!

The New Frontier: Solutions, Not the Tools

The technological advancements of artificial intelligence and cloud computing are expected to play a strong supporting role in this transformation of solutions from the tools. Machines can perform even the most sophisticated computing tasks almost at one stroke. Moreover, humans can track the minor exceptions and inconsistencies of computers.

Now, the key is to bring them together. Accountants will bring together the artificial intelligence and the computing power of accounting software. It will make their job very easy to manage the clients’ financials and providing the proper accounting and bookkeeping solution.

Technology can’t exist alone. The future of technology relies heavily on how humans can anchorage it to improve their ability to deliver long-term value to the industry.

There are different ways professionals can adapt to make sure they can also flourish with the technological revolution.

Artificial Intelligence Will Transform, Not Replace the Accountants

There is no doubt that AI can single-handedly manage a lot of standard accounting tasks faster and more productively. The capabilities of AI are only going to increase with time. But it doesn’t matter that the future of accountants is in doubt. The human element or you can say, human intelligence will always be needed. In fact, according to a leading research organization, Gartner, AI is about to create more jobs than people think it may replace humans.

There is no need for accountants to be worried about their future. Companies will always require human intelligence that can correctly analyze and interpret the data of artificial intelligence. They will also need assistance from humans for consulting services. Rather than replacing human intelligence, AI will completely transform the duties of accountants.

How to Be Part of the Solution?

In the modern era, you’re not only an accountant using possibly the best accounting software, but you’re also an essential cog in the wheel that revolves around the business owners and customers. If you can transform yourself into a Robo-accountant, you can become less mundane over time.

Your job won’t be only to enter the accounting data; you will start assisting your colleagues and customers with futuristic decisions. It will make you an improved version of yourself. You will start taking more advantage of your professional knowledge; it won’t be only about your work ethic and your willingness to grind.

Here are a few tips on how you can be one step ahead of the future

Tip #1: Start moving everything in the cloud

If you are not doing that already, start today. Gone are the days when accountancy was only about maintaining the accounting data on systems only. Your ability to interact and integrate with artificial intelligence and third-party automation can make a lot of difference. So, learning them will be critical.

Tip #2:  Start providing in-depth, value-added analysis

As it looks highly possible that the automation is going to take over the mundane aspects of accounting completely, you will have to interpret and communicate the data for your clients. And for that, train yourself and your team to do the in-depth work, as value-added analysis can be proven to be ground-breaking.

Tip #3:  Understand the demands of the small business market

The small business market is a critical part of accountancy, and it is going to remain that way. So, understanding the demands and needs of this market will be the key.

The Positive Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Accountants and Small Businesses

We have discussed how you can be prepared for artificial intelligence and other possible advancements in the accountancy sector. Let’s have a look at how AI can influence accountants and small businesses.

Scalable Solutions for Millions of New Customers

In addition to numerous value-added benefits, there is a massive positivity about this new reality. It is easy to empower small business owners.

With the advancements in automation, the accounting services’ cost is expected to drop massively. Millions of small business owners, who were unable to afford the accounting services, will now be able to do so. They will be able to hire advanced Robo-accountants and specialists.

The human intelligence paired with integrated machine technology can deliver the maximum value and quality services to the customers.

Empowering small business entrepreneurs is always exciting. It will be amazing to help them grow their businesses in an altogether different way.

Improved, Predictive and Forecasting Solutions

If you can predict the future of the finances of your clients, it can be extremely helpful in a lot of ways.

With accounting software inspired by artificial intelligence, you can give an extensive and almost accurate insight to your clients without handling those “manual heavy lifting” report creations.

If you are able to easily and quickly forecast the up-to-date finance to your clients, you can have a strong and more useful relationship with them.

Machine learning, one of the fundamentals of artificial intelligence can make a lot of difference in the revolution of accountancy.

What is machine learning? It is the capacity of accounting software to program itself according to the data it faces. The software can quickly understand what you want to do with the data and can give you extensive solutions and suggestions.

You can see machine learning everywhere. It makes mobile phones compatible for enhancing the predictive texts, use and apply speech recognition, navigating through the route suggestions, and giving suggestions based on your visits around different places.

Around 77% of businesses around the world are already relying heavily on machine learning technologies. The researchers suggest that extensive data analysis and insights are the two top-most uses of machine learning.

That’s the reason, machine learning is making an impact in small and large-scale businesses. Technology like cloud computing makes all the accounting data easily accessible anytime and from anywhere. It also allows you to generate more extensive and useful data.

Smart Assistants

Are you an accountant, who’s turning off the phone or emails to get some focus on your work? You are not alone!

Fortunately, you can have some much-needed help from the smart assistants. They can help you with managing your customers. They might even provide the information to your clients.

You may already have an idea about smart assistants having your interaction with Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, or Amazon’s Alexa.

There is even an assistant who can help you with various accounting purposes – you can ask for the total money you have in your payment account, and it will give you the correct detail.

Automatic Tagging and Allocation of Transactions

Automatic tagging and allocations of transactions are the two major areas where artificial intelligence will help you in the near future. It will automatically tag the transactions and can automatically assign them to the right ledger account.

Anomaly Detection

Computers love data! And when you will apply machine learning to massive amounts of data, you will get a lot of benefits.

It will be easy for you to detect possible anomalies. The process of detecting the anomalies will be much quicker and smoother, and it will automatically save your time.

OCR Solutions

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is not something new but artificial intelligence can significantly enhance the accuracy and opens completely different usage scenarios.

Automatically extracting the documents’ information has always been possible, but it needed a human to identify the OCR software containing the data. With the proper application of artificial intelligence, the OCR software can automatically locate and recognize the types of documents such as invoices, receipts, and other financial documents.

So, What’s Next For The Accountants?

AI, Cloud Accounting Software and The Robot Revolution are not about the future. They’ve arrived with a bang, and they are going to change the accounting world. As an accountant, you need to make yourself prepared for these ground-breaking advancements in accounting technology.

There is nothing like uncertainty about the future of accountants. AI will only make them more powerful. It will completely change your perception of the accountancy and the possible application of advanced technology.

The robot revolution is going to be a beautiful thing. Rather than feeling upset or confused about your future, you need to be a part of this revolution. Make sure you are smart and skilled enough to not only survive but to make an impact in the near future. The future looks bright with the possibilities that seem to be changing the theory of bookkeeping and data-entry.

As an accountant, you don’t need to feel insecure or uncertain, it’s going to be the biggest opportunity of your life. It’s up to you, whether you make it or break it!