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Accounting firms need to invest in utilising their accounting software to its full potential, or they are wasting their time, says one Brisbane director.
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‘Fighting technology is like fighting the tide’
05 March 2020
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9 minute read
Power2 Brisbane director Andrew Poots believes many small firms are not using their accounting software to its full potential.
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Mr Poots, who has spent over $500,000 in training and software over the past six years, said the investment has paid off with the improved productivity in his business and its recent acquisitions.
Acknowledging that it may not be financially viable for small accounting firms to invest in a dedicated software development staff member, Mr Poots believes firms can encourage their current team members to all play a part in improving their knowledge of software.
“It’s not really a project where we can go, ‘Right, we’re going to fix it in a year or in six months, and then we’ll be right in five years.’ It’s an accumulative process, just sort of chipping away all the time,” Mr Poots said.
“It’s all around the planning of the work and planning how it’s going to roll out through the system, and we’ve put a fair bit of time into that.”
Another key to improving business for Mr Poots was to encourage staff to be curious about the software and explore different processes.
“I think curiosity is the thing. I don’t think it really matters how old you are, if your staff aren’t curious about what that button does or what that process presents, then they will be relegated to old-style bean counter,” Mr Poots said.
“Get your staff to be curious about the cool little developments that are happening along the way. In terms of psyche about all of this, it’s about being on the front foot as opposed to being on the back foot.”
Mr Poots added that it does take time to start using the software to its full potential and tweaking the business’s processes.
“You’re not going to transform a business in 12 months, it’s not going to happen. There’s going to be a bit of blood on the carpet, but if you’re not prepared to fire it up, then you’re not going to keep up with technology,” he added.
“I don’t think we ever had a choice in this. We needed to make [the choice] because the wave of technology was so strong that holding onto our old ways was going to be a bit of a waste of time.
“Fighting technology is like fighting the tide; you’ve just got no chance, so you may as well just get on board.”
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