digital workflow use rising, but remote access remains a struggle.
by roman kepczyk
rosenberg map survey
as an outsourced technology partner to cpa firms, i primarily deal with it strategy and applications that improve accounting firm production.
more from the map survey: will staffing challenges change the definition of partner? | be a consultant or be left behind | survey: many firms in transition | technology playing center stage in cpa profession
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
the 2016 cpa firm management association it survey* pointed out that a surprising 23 percent of responding firms had transitioned to an outsourced cloud architecture. this trend points to internal it personnel being disintermediated as they have been unable to keep up with today’s required skill set for improving firm processes as well as technical skill needed to optimizing remote access, security and disaster recovery for the firm, which firms seem to struggle with constantly.
every year, the authors of the rosenberg map survey ask the industry’s top consultants to share their observations of what they are seeing at cpa firms. specifically, they are asked the following questions:
- what kind of year was 2016? what were the major trends you observed? what were the issues you saw firms struggling with the most?
- 2017 is half over. based on your experiences this year, what are you seeing? what are the major trends? what are firms struggling with and what are they working on as the year progresses?
with technology evolving at an increasingly faster pace, partners see that their internal personnel are often at the top of the pay grade and no longer have current technical skills to keep up with peers, so cloud provides a cost-effective alternative allowing the firm to outsource the it “plumbing” and allow the partners to focus on client accounting needs.
2017 is already stacking up to be a stellar year as many of our clients posted 4/15 debriefs and pointed out having “the best tax season ever.” we hear this is because they are finally garnering the benefits of using digital workflow tools (cpafma 2017 paperless benchmark survey** found 62 percent adoption) such as xcm, cch workstream, thomson firmflow and practice management projects, as well as optimizing the digital production tools that allow for front-end scanning of client source documents, automated bookmarking and data input into the tax program. for firms that struggle with digital tax production, it is most often because senior members have not been provided adequate training or they simply refuse to adopt digital tools, causing for additional procedures and time that only cut the margin on each return they touch.
one of the hard trends differentiating firm profitability is the transition to digital delivery of engagement letters, organizers, tax returns and invoices, rather than traditional manual/postal delivery. when firms calculate the labor and physical cost of printing, stuffing, stamping and sending to that of digital delivery via portals or secure email, there is significant savings in both personnel and materials. the 2017 cpafma paperless benchmark survey** found that 53 percent of responding firms primarily delivered tax returns in a digital format, giving those firms a distinct competitive advantage over traditional practices. we have found that these firms make a conscientious effort to educate their clients to use the digital tools so it becomes the primary way of working with the firm.
i see one of the main areas firms struggle with from an it perspective is implementing viable remote access, which allows their personnel to work from anyplace on any internet-enabled device. often, internal it personnel improperly implement solutions such as vdi or windows terminal server that provide reasonable access for simple applications such as microsoft office or practice management, but fail to function adequately for tax and audit applications in a multi-monitor environment, which is mission-critical to accountants. i believe this is one of the primary drivers for firms to consider moving to the cloud, which by default is designed to run optimally via remote access. this capability will become increasingly important as firm personnel want to be able to collaborate effectively and securely regardless of whether they are in the office, at a client site or at home.
* cpafma 2016 it survey compiled findings of 140 cpa firms, of which 90 percent were between 11-149 members and 49 percent were multi-office (available at cpafma.org).
** cpafma 2017 paperless benchmark survey compiled findings of 176 medium and larger cpa firms (available at cpafma.org).