What Does An Accountant Do Today

Accounting hasn’t changed for hundreds of years, but the role of accountants has. Instead of being replaced by technology, accountants are more valuable than ever. 

Knowing how accountants can fully contribute their skills in today’s modern work environment not only unleashes their potential but also increases their value to your organization. Let’s look at how technology and data have changed and revitalized the accountant’s role.

What Does an Accountant Do Today? 

Today, the accountant is the curator of your financial data. This role is growing to be more tech-savvy in how they gather and analyze data to help you lead and grow your business. Cloud-based accounting technology is the key component of this shift. The three innovations heavily influencing cloud accounting today are: the Cloud, APIs, and automation. 

The Cloud

Instead of downloading and managing accounting solutions internally, remote servers run by the software provider let you use the solution whenever, wherever you want. This means that accountants can now be totally remote-based just as easily as onsite. Cloud accounting has made it possible for financial professionals to have real-time data to analyze and help you make the best decisions possible for your business at all times.

APIs

Without application programming interface (API), integration and IT flexibility would be impossible. This is what allows different software to communicate and share data between solutions. Because of this, APIs are a critical component of cloud architecture and cloud accounting. One of the leading benefits of cloud-based technology is that you can link your other business applications on the Cloud to the accounting system. Nobody wants to spend hours and money manually entering accounting details and then re-checking them. To prevent this and secure streamlined accounting, resilient API is a must. 

Automation

Click a button and a task, or several tasks at once, are completed immediately. Automation is making accounting faster, more reliable, and less dependent on manual data entry than ever before. For accounting, this means less tedious bookkeeping and more data analysis by accountants to help you grow.

As manual entries and accounting processes get faster and less-demanding, accountants are freed to serve more as guides or consultants rather than just crunching numbers. Therefore, the accountant’s value has increased. With their shrewd financial insight, businesses gain clearer, faster information needed to achieve the greatest return-on-investment for your business. Accountants are not at the mercy of modern technology, but rather have greater tools to take their role to the peak of its ability. 

Accountants Today Rely On Data-Informed Accounting

Data is decisive, now more than ever, in such a fast-paced IT environment. In addition to overseeing transactions and consolidations, monitoring accounting data is important for maintaining your company’s financial health. Accountants are shifting to be more data-driven than before.

Transactions handling and general ledger accounting remain important functions. But now, greater focus is on more strategic tasks like cash flow reporting and project accounting. Everything in business has a financial dimension. Harnessing the latest technology, accountants can more clearly understand these dimensions to inform more accurate ways to consolidate revenue and manage expenses. They can more easily pinpoint what’s working for your company to increase revenue opportunities. Data doesn’t lie!

Accountant-Centric Accounting Software

When you look into accounting solutions, really consider how it will let your accountants collect, visualize, and analyze financial data. Your system should help them do their job without skipping a beat. Here are a few key considerations when looking for the best accounting system for accountants to utilize.

• Does the system provide an audit trail function to track specific information?
• Is the accounting platform easy to use and adaptable to business needs?
• How efficient are accounting processes?
• What’s the level of automation?
• How flexible and robust are the reporting features?

Give your financial experts the system that helps them do their job to the peak of their ability and your company will immediately benefit. Improved workflow, expense management, and decision-making are just a few proven results.