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Technology, the disrupter or an enabler for the Bookkeeper?

TECHNOLOGY, the disruptor or an enabler!!!

The technology around us keeps evolving at a rapid pace, in past from computers we moved to smart phones and in very near future we need to embrace connected homes, driverless vehicles and perhaps in not so distant future we might see Robots and AI (Artificial Intelligences) enabled machines helping us in our daily activities.

As the technology gets evolved, the way businesses are conducted is getting changed with e-commerce, mobile wallets, automation of many processes (like drones to deliver goods, no need for a cashier, as we pay by smart phones and bank transfers, etc.,). It goes without saying the how the bookkeeping profession was functioning is also changed.

Here I want to share my views on how bookkeeping profession is getting evolved and what bookkeepers has to do to stay relevant in these changing times and how they can add value to their clients.

With more and more small and medium businesses migrating to cloud accounting packages like XERO, MYOB Online, SAASU, etc., it is very evident that we can’t provide bookkeeping services still in a traditional model.

Gone are the days bookkeepers spending time on collecting bank statements, bills/invoices from clients and arranging it, before start processing it.

Now the technology has made some of the laborious, time consuming activities done by bookkeeper redundant. The bank feeds are automatically updated in the accounting system; expenses bills are scanned by clients with their phone and stored in cloud, Invoices are created through other cloud apps and synced with accounting packages directly.

All these technological advancements have made data collecting and data entry activities redundant which used to be part of the job of a bookkeeper.

I have heard instances, where small businesses, earlier taking the service of bookkeepers have started maintaining their books on their own after moving to a cloud accounting packages. If a bookkeeper is not evolving to the changes, he/ she might face the risk of losing the job or client.

Hence bookkeepers need to be proactive in their service offerings. Also the change in business processes has lead to new opportunities as well.