many say yes, but the facts say no.
by donny c. shimamoto
most accountants may feel as though they’re keeping up with the rapid changes in technology, but many may be fooling themselves.
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a survey of more than 600 cpas just confirms the dichotomy i’ve seen many times. people say they are ready. but upon closer investigation, they haven’t taken the actions to ensure adoption of the new technologies and the business practices needed for transformation.
readiness to navigate accounting technology changes
the survey was conducted among attendees at a town hall meeting of the ohio society of cpas. given that there were more than 600 responses, this is a pretty significant sample and indicates a higher level of readiness than i have seen in most states. full disclosure: i’m collaborating with the oscpa to bring more transformative programs to members.
oscpa president and ceo scott wiley opened with a great explanation of the impact of emerging technologies and how cpas need to embrace the coming changes both in their work practices as well as for their organizations.
then he asked, “when it comes to accounting technology, how well is your team prepared to navigate the environment?”
about 61 percent claimed a high level of readiness, saying their staff was well versed, a strategy was in action or they were fully involved. sadly, about a third said they were just getting started.
high readiness but low adoption
few accountants have actually adopted some of the key technologies. in fact, almost a third said they haven’t adopted cloud computing, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, or cryptocurrency. just over half indicated that they have adopted cloud accounting, but only 8 percent have adopted rpa and only 6 percent ai.
these are fairly low numbers and, especially with rpa and ai, indicate that these would only be the “leading-edge” adopters who are using these technologies.
cryptocurrency had only 0.2 percent adoption (one person). however, this is not surprising given the tax implications of transacting in cryptocurrency. i personally don’t think we’ll see high cryptocurrency adoption until we see the u.s. treasury support a digital dollar that is truly treated as currency.
the road to transformation
the town hall poll maps the path that cpas should consider to help their teams be ready to help increase the adoption of technology in the profession.
first, understand what differentiates accounting technology from “traditional it” – most of this will be in the form of business application and mitigating their associated it-related risks (i.e., need for better it general controls).
second, start training your teams on the technologies and techniques needed to leverage accounting technologies.
once your team is well versed in accounting technologies and understands the changes they will bring to accounting processes, develop a strategy for incorporating these technologies and business process changes into the way your department provides its services – whether to clients (public accounting) or to other management colleagues (finance).
lastly, ensure that you have a continuous improvement process in place to ensure that your team and organization stay abreast of new innovations and their implications.
cpa evolution will require more accounting technology readiness by 2024
the aicpa and nasba have released a new model accounting curriculum where much of what was previously considered the domain of an it specialist or certified it professional (citp) will now be part of the base accounting curriculum.
the citp is a credential that represents a deeper knowledge of information management and technology assurance, combined with the business acumen of a cpa. the citp will remain a specialty credential because it requires five years of experience and additional training, but the path toward citp will be much more prevalent in the information systems and controls path within the cpa evolution curriculum model – the path that is essentially the new audit-focused path.
the curriculum recommended by cpa evolution will also be incorporated into a revised cpa exam starting in 2024. this means that accounting graduates (i.e., entry-level accounting staff) will have a much stronger technology skill base than many current practitioners.
2 responses to “ready for tech transformation?”
donny shimamoto
thanks for raising the balancing consideration of cybersecurity risks, yes it is important. however, with good vendor due diligence as part of of your vendor selection and contract renewal process, cybersecurity and privacy risks can be mitigated. in fact, most reputable vendors do a much better job securing down their infrastructure than most firms could do on their own.
les orr
thank you for this interesting post.
i imagine that you have contemplated it, but i did not see your discussion of the security issues related to “the cloud.” i hope that some readers are aware that when they load client information outside their own organization it isn’t confidential any more.