Change is coming - get used to it

US accountant Jason M. Blumer loves the way “game-changing cloud technology” is affecting the process of accounting and recently posted the following thoughts on Xero’s plans to expand into his territory.

Accounting is changing so rapidly it’s hard to keep up. But technology is just an enabler to bigger philosophical changes as to how accounting data is processed.

In the US we are used to processing accounting expenditures in our accounting software by typing into something that looks like a big electronic check (as in QuickBooks). But it took some entrepreneurs and designers at Xero (not accountants) to challenge us in our predisposition to processing accounting data.

How should we process accounting data in the future? Well, I can assure you that it will not be the way we do it now. With Cloud tools, we are able to help clients move into a world of managing “data flows” as opposed to doing accounting. They are snapping pictures of their receipts, scanning and emailing documents into systems, paying people electronically and managing “always on” perpetual bank reconciliations.

And the best part is that all of this “data flow” automatically populates accounting systems better than accountants can do it. Bottom Line: we don’t need accountants to do accounting.

Technology is getting smarter, so it means the accountant’s job must change. It will HAVE to change. Since innovative cloud providers are building products that are challenging our beliefs on how to process accounting data, and are specifically challenging the paper-based system of businesses, we are going to see our views on accounting change.

The new breed of accountants will have to become experts in how computer systems talk to each other and how best to make them work together. Throw in the secure online cloud systems we are all moving to, and we now get to do all of this anywhere, anytime, and for anyone.

Paper is killing our clients’ business processes, and now we can eliminate it for them. We are becoming the cloud solution providers, doing it all over the world and consulting on efficiency within business processes.

You’ll find Xero processes things differently. It’s not what we’re used to. But I like it because these systems are finally being built collaboratively with other systems in mind. The right systems are challenging the old out-dated way of doing things and proposing new ways to do it. Some won’t like it. But they can kiss my butt. I’m gonna hang with those who like it, because I’ve got a lot to learn.

Jason M. Blumer CPA.CITP, CFE is managing shareholder of Blumer & Associates, CPAs, PC and is a member of the AccountingWEB.com Bloggers Crew. He wears flip flops and jeans, says “dude” a lot, and often works in coffee shops with headphones blaring the latest Bloomberg podcasts. He founded the THRIVEal +CPA Network to help the new generation of accountants enhance and change the profession based on the tenets of Community, Collaboration, Technology and Innovation.