Modern obstacles that face accounting firms today

The past couple of years have been cruelly difficult for the accounting industry. A once-in-a-century pandemic disrupted the tried and tested methods of accounting firms and forced them to adapt, which wasn’t easy. However, what cushioned the blow a situation like this would’ve otherwise dealt is the innovation being made out there. Accounting technology has made massive strides over the years, developing in parallel to some of the biggest advancements which have changed the way we live and go about our business on a day-to-day basis.

While the transition has been far from simple, accounting firms are quickly playing catch up and embracing the latest the world of technology has to offer. The pandemic and increased emphasis on remote connectivity sort of forced everyone’s hand, but ultimately this will pave the path for elevated efficiency and new possibilities in the future. At the end of the day, a lot of tedious accounting work is wrapped up with the use of software fine-tuned for those very tasks and a lot of them are engineered to be easy for the user to pick up on. It also helps you connect seamlessly with stakeholders and find talent for you to hire. All in all, there’s a lot of good being brought to the table by these innovations.

In any case, one cannot be blamed for feeling a little confounded by the sheer amount of information there is to take in, and one has to constantly be on their toes regarding the new technologies coming into the market. Technology is great, but it hasn’t quite solved all the problems accounting firms today and has created a couple of its own by token of its design.

Here are some of the major problems facing accounting firms today:

1. Replacing an ageing workforce

Every year, approximately 4 million people belonging to the ‘Baby boomer’ generation retire and this trend is expected to continue for the next 19 years. You can imagine the amount of experience leaving the business, and this is something that has affected the accounting industry in a much more exacerbated manner. As CA/CPA firms across Australia strive to find the best talent to replace the outgoing veterans, the talent pool of qualified college graduates has become subject to stern competition, with accounting firms having to vie for them and offer abundant benefits to bring them in. As a result, CA/CPA firms are having to deliberate upon the ideal balance between needing the best candidates and their own pecuniary limitations, sometimes having to trade-off quality in favour of numbers.

In many ways, outsourcing helps one address this. Outsourcing to a company that offers accounting services is nothing new, but in the current scenario, they have the opportunity to play a greater role in us coping with the hardships that’ll be present for the next two decades. Accounting services have an established set of employees ready to handle the workload, and with ubiquitous access to all kinds of cutting edge technology, turning to them is a good idea and has its benefits, namely in the form of you not having to undertake the responsibility of recruiting and staffing, saving up on a lot of time and cost as a result.

2. Saturated market

In today’s day and age, there are examples aplenty of how important branding is and how beneficial it can be for companies who do it well. Ideally, you’d like your firm to not be lumped along with the countless others operating out there and stand out. It is important that your firm has an identity and a reputation amongst consumers, or it might struggle to survive. However, it can be quite difficult for a CA/CPA firm to engage in branding exercises when they barely get time to do much other than cater to their core competencies.

Again, it is perhaps prudent to outsource a certain cog or portion of one’s functions to a competent accounting service. By taking on a good chunk of your workload, an accounting service can help you have the time to participate in activities that fortify your firm’s future and overall presence.

3. Data security and susceptibility to cyber-attacks

The increasing sophistication of technology is being matched step-by-step by the inventiveness of crime and the many ways in which it is committed. Malicious scammers are always targeting CA/CPA firms as they possess plenty of confidential financial data, throwing the proverbial kitchen sink in the form of phishing attacks and cyber breaches. In a matter of seconds, all your data can be acquired and put to criminal use if sufficient measures are not taken by the firm in question.

Outsourcing to an accounting service firm will be a solid decision in this case, as they tend to be well-versed with data security measures, and their infrastructure is geared towards ensuring that no data goes out of the premises and the servers remain protected.

In conclusion, the challenges facing accounting firms today and tomorrow are formidable. However, by way of strong decision-making and staying on the course in terms of staying in touch with the developments happening around you, you can considerably reduce the impact of these adversities. With the availability of accounting services geared towards addressing those very problems, perhaps you’d be best served giving them a go.