Technology and CPAs: Visions of the Future: Experts Foresee How Mobile, Cloud, and Analytics Will Transform Accounting
2012; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 213; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance
ResumoEXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Look for cloud computing and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to be the technologies that make the most impact on the accounting profession in the near future. These technologies, which allow for access to email, applications, and data on an anytime, anywhere basis, already have transformed the profession, enabling CPAs to work at home for employers based in other states and leveling the playing field for small CPA firms, which now have worldwide access te clients and infrastructure previously accessible only by large, multinational firms. In the near future, CPAs, clients, and vendors will all be connected over the internet via mobile devices and cloud-based applications and data, allowing for real-time interaction, analysis, and decision-making. * Tools that automate data-entry tasks and other lower-margin work will shift the focus of the CPA's job from compiling data and reports to mining the data to find the nuggets of information that produce profitable business decisions. * Technological advances likely will create new CPA revenue streams in the fields of consulting, information analysis, and CFO and controllership work. Technology also could spur the launch of more startup businesses, establishing more potential clients and employers for CPAs and creating additional opportunities to provide services such as Service Organization Control reports. * CPA firms should look to add touch-screen capabilities and dynamic, original content to their websites, while also formatting the sites for access via mobile devices. Firms will need to provide fresh content in the form of checklists, how-to articles, videos, and blogs. * Social media will provide CPA firms with an efficient communication platform that younger employees and clients will demand. Some firms will reject social media and tout that fact to clients. Others will leverage it as a marketing tool that can drive new business. * Employers are encouraged to embrace the trend of employees' wanting to use their personal devices (smartphones, tablets) for work tasks. The upside is a potential win-win scenario in which employees get to use the devices they want and employers shed costs because employees pay for the devices and, in many cases, the data plans. The downside is the employers will need to implement policies and controls that mitigate the legal and technological risks associated with allowing personal employee devices to access, or even house, confidential client or customer data. ********** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With the accounting profession undergoing perhaps its biggest technological sea change since the introduction of the personal computer three decades ago, CPAs are faced with a slew of questions. To help provide answers, the JofA asked a distinguished group of experts to identify the key technology trends that CPAs should keep top of mind over the next decade or SO. The experts who participated are: * Sarah Ostendorp Bezugly, CPA/CITE owner and managing partner of Oak Capital Accounting Group PLLC and a member of the AICPA Business Intelligence Task Force. * L. Gary Boomer, CPA/CITE CEO of Boomer Consulting Inc. and past chair of the AICPA IT Executive Committee. * Jim Bourke, CPA/CITP/CFE partner in charge of internal technology at accounting firm WithumSmith+Brown and chair of the AICPA TECH+ conference from 2012 through 2014. * David Cieslak, CPA/CITE CGMA, principal with computer consulting firm Arxis Technology, former chair of the AICPA IT Executive Committee and a noted technology speaker known as Inspector Gadget. * J. Carlton Collins, owner of ASA Research and writer of the JofA's Technology Q&A column as well as the 125 Technology Quick Tips article in this issue (page 130). * Randy Johnston, executive vice president of Network Management Group Inc. …
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