The unexpected attack and sudden spread of the novel COVID-19 scattered the global business. It blocked the routes to accounting qualification, training, and accounting courses and significantly decreased the active opportunities for fresh accountants. The situation becomes more intense and worse for businesses relying on traditional practices and refusing technology in the industry.
However, various businesses have already adopted innovative measures such as cloud accounting to protect their company from unpredicted mayhem. Further, now most industries and other sectors have significantly modified their practices and have gone digital. New accounting qualification in the UK has included software and cloud accounting in their systems. These adaptations in business are expected to modify accounting careers in future.
The present article will highlight the five ways in which accounting careers are going to transform in future.
1. New Trajectories Into An Accounting Qualification
The previous trajectories of accountancy courses and accountants' career paths are changing with the availability of a wider range of opportunities to explore. The new pathways into accounting careers will require accountants to uptake new roles in industries such as outsourcing director, data analyst, and finance business partner.
These are not temporary job roles to help companies deal with the COVID-19 crisis but are expected to expand in future. Companies seeking employees for these emerging positions will look for recognised accounting qualifications such as AAT.
AAT Accounting Qualification
AAT courses are well-recognised qualifications among employers and recruiters, and around 80% of employers prefer AAT qualifications. Individuals with qualifications and experience in AAT demonstrate both theoretical and practical accounting skills required to perform various functions in the finance department.
AAT is popular among all economic sectors across various types of businesses, from SMEs to public sectors. The global pandemic has further increased the significance of AAT courses where employers prefer young individuals with accounting qualifications. It shows that new trajectories of future accounting will turn towards AAT.
Converging and smart skill sets
With the changing demands of business owners and shifting dynamics of accounting services, the job roles of accounting professionals are also changing. The manual data entry and processing of information is a practice of the past. Thus, now the skills of accountants do not include enhanced mathematics skills but increased technological awareness. It means that future accounting qualifications and careers will require a new skill set.
The chief operating officer of a major data analytical company Donne Burrows says that it has become vital for accountants to increase their grasp on technology. Accountants must adopt digital tools and services to apply to their profession for data analytics and processing.
Technology is the most crucial business tool, issue, solution, and skill in changing accounting qualifications in the UK. Without knowledge of technology and digitalisation, no professional can survive in the upcoming digital market.
Another vital skill that accountants will need in future accounting practice is analytical skills. Future accounting practice will require a detail-oriented and meticulous eye for accounts to scrutinise financial records to ensure up-to-date and accurate information.
Bob Prather, general manager for accounting and finance at Lucas Group company, says that the best accountants are those who can identify the accuracy of data just by looking at it. Thus, it becomes an important accounting skill for the future.
Industry experts also include adaptability in future accounting skill sets as accounting qualifications and careers continuously evolve. Accountants must always be prepared for unexpected changes in protocols and working standards. They need to keep their practice aligned with technology, dynamic, and flexible.
Bryant posits that accountants deal with different clients and projects daily. Thus, to improve their interactions and work delivery, accountants must be adaptable.
2. The Digitalisation Of Future Accounting Qualifications
Faster than in the past, businesses are transforming their practices to align them with digital technology. Organisations have put processes in place to monitor ways to generate more revenues, new channels into future businesses, and digital products. However, adjusting your business strategies and leveraging technology to facilitate your business practices is a pressing challenge.
Cloud Computing Technology
Accountants will need to increase sophisticated smart business technology to improve their traditional practices and working methods. Smart software services will facilitate the trend towards outsourcing services for overseas or inter-city outsourcing. Smart technology will also increase the effective use of social media tools to improve disclosure, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and access to wider communities.
Data analysis and forecasting tools
The security and efficacy of accounting futures are based upon the effective use of data analytics, costing, forecasting, and planning tools and software. Data analysis and visualisation tools are most impactful in today's business as financial operations are becoming more analytical. Here technology will have an important role to push the finance department to move away from unreceptive practices to become more analytical and proactive.
As the market demands more tech-savvy and analytical accountants, many institutions have introduced official certification adding in accountancy courses. An example of such a system is Data Analytics, and Visualisation Fundamentals Certificate offered by IMA. The program is designed to produce accountants well-suited for future accounting careers. The course will equip accountants and finance professionals with the strong problem-solving, critical thinking, and technological skills required to succeed in business.
Artificial Intelligence in accounting
Business organisations and industries agree that Artificial Intelligence has the potential to impact accounting and finance practices. Accounting and finance firms have already integrated technology into their practices and seek to include artificial IntelligenceIntelligence and robotic process automation. It will allow them to automate most of their tedious and repetitive tasks to provide more time to accountants for strategic planning to increase the value and worth of business.
Accounting firms can use artificial IntelligenceIntelligence to analyse their data, and information capturing, analyse lease contracts, invoices payment, payroll management, and other financial processes. It will earn more time for financial accountants to make decisions for business improvement rather than just paying salaries and wages.
Accounting software
This is another way to digitalisation that allows the emergence and standardisation of multiple data sources in various formats, harmonising the data. Harmonisation involves collecting structured, unstructured, and half-structured data within a single system.
Artificial Intelligence requires a large amount of data to work, and accountants must review the outputs of these technologies. Here accounting software comes into the business and helps you to improve your work efficiency. Accounting software includes Xero, Sage 50, Advanced Excel, and QuickBooks.
Most companies utilise accounting software and cloud-based accounting solutions, and the rest seek to adopt it shortly. You can choose accounting software based on your business type, size, and needs and integrate your financial data into it. Software accounting qualification in the UK is the best choice for fresh accountants to improve their CVs and increase their employability.
Automation and technology
The most exciting feature of the digitalisation of accounting is the automation of repetitive business processes, showcasing the development in the accounting world. The methods that are being and will automate through technology in accounting are listed below.
- Approval workflow
- Bank reconciliation
- Journal entries
- Inter-company consolidation
- Revenue recognition
- Lease accounting
- Depreciation
Despite the increasing use of technology in various accounting functions, still, there is a lack of understanding of the technology and resources to implement them. More advanced training of accountants will help improve the digitalisation of accounting as it needs time and the utmost requirement of the business to survive in the future.
3. Education Vs Accounting Qualification Training
COVID-19 has significantly reduced employment opportunities globally and in the UK as well. Therefore Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, posited that the government wants to equip people with skills to help them create new and better job opportunities in the UK. Government seeks to transform the foundations of skill systems to offer everyone a chance to train and retain employees.
The plan behind the target is to make the availability of part-time jobs easier and make higher education student loans flexible.
AAT chief executive Mark Farrar stated that the UK PM is committed to upskilling and retaining employees at every stage of life and background. These measures are of vital importance in the success of the future business. Improving the accounting qualification training can help accounting professionals to enhance their skills.
Accounting qualification training programs in the UK play an important role in fulfilling the upskilling needs of employees and employers. Individuals with advanced and developed accounting skill sets will have better prospects and opportunities in the market. Customised accounting qualification training is another progressive step towards future accounting as it will allow trainers to offer skills that employers and businesses demand.
4. Social Media Use In Accounting Qualification Training In the Future
Social media is a valuable platform for marketing and engaging with the wider social network. It allows you to interact with potential clients or employers. It is a tool that will continuously evolve and will offer accountants a platform for valuable marketing and sales to connect to firms and potential clients instantly.
The effective way to utilise social media is to have an active presence with meaningful content. Setting up a content calendar and determining the content distribution timing will make distribution easy and efficient.
- Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) is another way to utilise social media for business benefit effectively. The article clicks, retweets, shares, site visitors, and downloads are impactful metrics to quantify social media impact.
Utilising social media platforms for marketing your accounting firm services and products as a marketing tactic has numerous benefits.
- It offers a brand awareness boost.
- It builds a community through engagement.
- It increases website traffic.
- It decreases marketing costs.
- It improves client experiences.
- It provides thought leadership in the accounting space.
- It increases client trust.
- It allows you to keep your firm top of mind.
- It helps you to attract new talents.
- It improves your relationship building and highlights new niches.
- It helps in establishing thought leadership.
5. Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) in accounting qualifications
It is predicted that there will be new state legislation for these three areas as they significantly relate to financial disclosure for public companies. ESG will be in companies focus, and these disclosures will include climate-associated financial risks and emission of greenhouse gases in your industries.
It will also include the impact of your supply chain on social and corporate governance aspects. Major investors are now more focused on increasing diversity that will impact the finance and accounting profession and department. It will require effective accounting qualification training in these perspectives to get results.
Conclusion
Accounting is an ever-evolving field with numerous changes in its practices and methods. The secure future of accountants and accountancy lies in the immediate adoption of innovative technologies and processes to gain an edge over competitors. For a business to progress in future, technology and social media can play a vital role.
Moreover, accountants need to understand the importance of accounting qualification training in new technology and adopt new trajectories. Therefore, they must train themselves from reputable institutions to make their future accounting career and market.
FAQs
Q.1. Is Accounting a good career choice for the future?
Accounting is one of those professions that have emerged as a life saviour after the global pandemic. Therefore, it is an excellent career choice for undergraduate students in future. UK accounting is seeing an upsurge in demand for accountants who are already most paid in the state.
Q.2. How is technology impacting the future of accountancy?
The utilisation of technology in accounting has resulted in major changes in accountants' roles. The computerisation of most repetitive and tedious tasks has lowered the work burden and paper expenses. Moreover, data storage, retrieval, and processing are much easier than before, and accounting software has taken the load of most financial tasks.
Q.3. Will accounting be automated in the future, eliminating the role of accountants?
Indeed, future accounting will heavily rely on artificial IntelligenceIntelligence and technology that will automate most accounting tasks. However, it will not eliminate the accountant's role as human Intelligence will be required to interpret the data and draw meaningful inferences.
Q.4. What will be the role of Artificial Intelligence impacting the accounting profession?
Integrating artificial technology with robotic process automation will facilitate accountants to save their time and spend it performing high-impact and high-value tasks. Utilising Artificial Intelligence in accounting operations will significantly increase your output quality by decreasing human errors.