Login
iscover
New industry research has indicated a significant chunk of accountancy professionals are yet to implement cloud-based practices within their firms, and are lagging behind the cloud adoption rate of the SME clients they advise.
Newsletter
Significant number of accountants rejecting cloud
01 September 2016
•
9 minute read
You’re out of free articles for this month
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
When asked by AccountantsDaily, “Is your accounting software currently cloud-based?” 324 of the 602 respondents (53.8 per cent) indicated that their accounting software is currently cloud-based. However, 278 (46.2 per cent of respondents) noted that they are yet to implement cloud-based accounting software within their firms.
In early 2016, Panalitix founder Rob Nixon lauded the benefits of cloud implementation for accountancy professionals, noting that as firms begin to convert their client base into the cloud, capacity hours are reduced and greater avenues of efficiency are unlocked.
Australian accountants have continuously been urged to adopt cloud-based accounting software, and have been warned to avoid the compliance “death spiral” that has gripped their New Zealand counterparts.
According to Mr Nixon, New Zealand firms failed to price up-front for their compliance services, failed to actively market new services to attract new clients, and did not sufficiently fill their capacity gap.
Despite numerous warnings and plentiful encouragement, accountants are seemingly lagging in technological take-up when compared with the small business sector as a whole.
Recent research conducted by global software provider Intuit has revealed that most small businesses around the world are utilising the cloud and relying on apps to run their business.
The 2016 ‘Appification’ of Small Business Report, a multinational study of 2,000 respondents, indicated that 64 per cent of small businesses run in the cloud, while 68 per cent use apps in their day-to-day operations. In Australia specifically, a staggering 81 per cent of small businesses run their business via the cloud.
When it comes to choosing an app to use, finance apps are the most valuable for small business owners, with Australian small businesses reporting higher usage rates of banking/finance (51 per cent) and payment (49 per cent) apps than for any other app used for work purposes.
According to Intuit, small business owners are seeing – and experiencing – the long-term effects of technological implementation on their bottom line, subsequently allowing them to focus on the growth of their business.
“We’re thrilled that small business owners around the world are transforming how they run their business, and integrating innovative new technologies to improve how they operate,” said Vinay Pai, vice-president and head of the Intuit Developer Group.
You are not authorised to post comments.
Comments will undergo moderation before they get published.