What are all businesses—accounting firms included—trying to achieve on a daily basis?

We hear about accounting firm growth strategies all the time, but when it comes to putting a plan into action, many firms are lost on how to get started. 

In the height of summer, Inovautus Consulting ran a survey asking CPAs and accounting firms about how the pandemic affected their business. The results were a bit surprising: many firms had grim prospects for growth moving forward, and a majority of respondents to the survey actually anticipated having lower revenue.

What’s causing the slump? 

These days, to say that change can be hard would most certainly be an understatement. After what accounting firms have learned so far this year, we know that change is hard, especially when it’s forced upon you overnight.

Here’s some exciting news for automation nerds like us: automated bookkeeping services are rapidly gaining in popularity! We know—it’s pretty cool. In fact, according to Sage’s Practice of Now 2020 report, 73% of surveyed accounting professionals are confident when it comes to providing tech recommendations like AI and automation.

We are thrilled to announce that Botkeeper has successfully completed an audit established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to certify its SOC 2 Type I compliance for our automated bookkeeping platform! This audit will enable us continue to help Accounting Professionals grow their firms, improve margins, and deliver better service to their clients by augmenting manual and tedious bookkeeping work, in a safe and secure environment. Our clients can get their bookkeeping needs met knowing they're backed by the highest quality standards in the space. 

Technology advancements over the past five years have changed the business landscape completely—and the evolution isn't slowing down anytime soon. This is especially true in the accounting space, where we’ve seen a large pop in the progression of technology over the last two to three years. With artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation being used to take on traditionally laborious work, today’s accounting professionals and business owners now have the ability to complete far more tasks in a much shorter period of time.

Not everyone who’s familiar with Jody Padar knows why she’s nicknamed the Radical CPA. In addition to being considered a bit progressive with her online presence (check out her Twitter and LinkedIn pages), she’s passionate about leveraging quality technology to create a better accounting firm.

Accounting today is not the same as it was ten years ago. And while many accountants have been in the industry long enough to be aware of the changes, not as many have stepped in to help inform other professionals. That’s not the case for Mark Koziel, who runs the AICPA Engage conference every year.

During that conference, Radical CPA Jody Padar talked to Koziel about the transformation of the accounting industry.