Accounting plays a critical role in any business’s financial health and overall sustainability. Therefore, it is important to understand how this field adapts to emerging changes. This is especially important with regard to technological advances around the world and across industries.
Why is tech adaptation an essential skill for accountants?
Online reports say the Accounting Software Market was valued at USD 12.01 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach USD 19.59 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period 2021 – 2026. The financial and accounting software solution market has witnessed many changes in the past two decades, among them the cloud-based offering of accounting software solutions.
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Adaptation to new and evolving technologies seems to be part of the solution for keeping up with these changes and ensuring continued business sustainability and growth. Yet, the role of accountants in utilizing and optimizing this technology will likely remain central to business success. According to online reports, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that accounting is a stable field estimated to experience 10% growth through 2026.
Expectations from accountants are no longer limited to simply accounting and bookkeeping capabilities, but also include improved analytical and reviewing abilities that can help them draw insightful inferences from accounting data. Here are some essential skills that accountants today must have to ensure they can optimize the advantages of technology and stay relevant.
1. Keeping abreast of tech advances, especially in accounting
As businesses navigate an uncertain economic landscape with the help of technology, cloud technology and automation play key roles in helping organizations maintain sustainability and growth. As cloud-based offerings bring changes to the overall accounting landscape —including how businesses communicate with internal stakeholders, clients, investors, and vendors — accountants will need to adapt to this new way of operating.
Accountants will need to sharpen their core accounting and bookkeeping skills, to keep pace with the technology that will ultimately support a more collaborative system within different business departments. Keeping abreast of technological upgrades and educating themselves on new and current tools, trends, and processes will help professionals add value to their businesses.
2. Optimizing technology
As accounting functions increasingly play an essential role in maintaining a business’s financial health, accountants may discover that technology and accounting software liberates them from the constraints of manual work. Given the high volume of numeric work involved in accounting, technology can also help accountants and bookkeepers discover higher-quality output free of errors and incomplete entries.
Additionally, technology often requires human input to function. Accounting software also requires insights to ensure optimal functioning. For accountants, understanding process requirements accurately allows them to get the best use from technology and also allows them to help businesses optimize their spending on technology.
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3. Staying tech-literate
To stay abreast of technological advances in accounting and ensure the optimization of accounting software, accountants and bookkeepers will need to add technology to their skills. This can help accountants contribute more to both the automation of accounting and to growth and business-building activities.
Accountants are also increasingly performing advisory roles. Therefore, they now need robust support and tech literacy to ensure they can leverage the information and data accessible to them. This will allow them to contribute more to financial planning, investing decisions, budget forecasting and refinement, and better business planning.
A basic understanding of technology is vital for accountants to optimize available technology. This is critical because any technical upgrade will involve periodically troubleshooting, upgrading, and securing systems.
