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Accounting firms reluctant to adopt technological processes risk being “left behind” as the IT knowledge gap continues to widen, experts have cautioned.
Widening IT knowledge gap set to threaten firm efficiency and productivity
09 July 2025
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8 minute read
As technology and AI continue to rapidly evolve, accounting firms that fail to adapt and adopt new technology processes, systems and platforms risk the efficiency and productivity of their teams.
Technology experts, Alan FitzGerald and Matthew Peng, said the accounting industry is at the cusp of a pivotal shift between leveraging the benefits technology has to offer and quickly falling behind as the space continues its rapid transformation.
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Speaking on a recent Under the Hood podcast episode, Alan FitzGerald, founder of Practice Connections Advisory, said the IT knowledge gap existed in accounting firms due to the frequent level of change the industry had endured over a short period.
“What we've had, particularly over the last 50 years, has been the introduction of high-speed computing. Back in the day, it was high speed computing compared to someone manually typing the actual numbers. But that speed has dramatically increased over time,” FitzGerald said.
“The opportunity to utilise new technologies has further accelerated that speed component. So, what we have now is work, rather than being stretched out over days, weeks or months, has been pushed down into hours.”
“The concepts I see a lot of firms struggling with is using older technologies, which do produce the output at the end, but take a long time to actually produce that outcome. Whereas the smaller, nimbler and sometimes larger, nimbler firms can produce the same output in a much shorter space of time.”
According to FitzGerald, if firms were fluid and proactive within their response to technology, they would be able to maximise and free up their time to facilitate opportunities and productivity.
Matthew Peng, Business Continuum managing director, added that the IT knowledge gap existed and continued to widen due to many firms not understanding the concept that technology, software and platforms needed to be consistently monitored and updated.
“A lot of the accounting firms that I work with started their practice or journey with data or systems that were great at the time, but perhaps have not been well-maintained,” he said.
“As new version releases come about, if firms are perpetually managing their software in a traditional fashion and haven’t evolved their processes, then the gap does feel like it’s widening from where they need to be using the software optimally, to where their database processes and systems are still at their infancy.”
FitzGerald and Peng shared they planned to work together with accounting firms, from the big four to SMEs, to help bridge the knowledge gap and maximise industry efficiency and synergy.
“I think a lot of accounting firms have come to the realisation that they have to do something, but they haven’t come to the observation as to how they can do it,” FitzGerald said.
“A lot of firms have data that sit in their database, but when there's too much it can be hard to differentiate between what elements are useful, what elements are not useful and where there are gaps that need to be filled in.”
“Also, with new legislative changes coming through and so forth, it's just going to be progressively harder for firms to take that jump.”
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