How the F#@$! is more of this field NOT automated!?

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #2898540
    animalwithin
    Participant

    I work in my dad’s accounting firm and while the business makes a lot of money, I’m consistently shocked as to how much of this field is not automated.

    I spend most of my time bookkeeping: sifting through receipts and bank statements to create financial statements, hand calculating sales tax figures for quarterly sales tax returns, plugging in numbers into payroll software to create checks (I hate all of this).

    Either my dad’s firm is behind the times (very possible) or shockingly much of this industry remains unautomated. Can any of this be outsourced? Is there a way to incorporate tech so that we don’t have to do so much manual/repetitive/mundane work?

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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    Replies
  • #2898570
    jeff
    Keymaster

    You will be as automated and systematized as the clients who drop bags of papers off at your office to be gone through.

    It's a manual process – it's just a matter of who does it.

    Your average restaurant or mechanic shop doesn't want to mess with it – that's why they pay you (in their mind).

    AUD - 79
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    FAR - 76
    REG - 92
    Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
    NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71
    #2898573
    Silent
    Participant

    I will second what Jeff said. It's much cheaper for restaurant, mom/pop store to drop off their papers off at your office and all they have to do is pay for your service. Their time worth so much more compare to what it will cost them. Sure they can set up a quickbook to download bank statements from the bank, they can enter the invoices etc but again it will cost them money.

    #2898597
    vbmer
    Participant

    Yes, it is absolutely automatable. I actually lead identifying automation opportunities and developing solutions for various practices within the firm. We can take a box of hand-written paperwork and automatically enter the data into where it needs to go. The only menial task leftover is scanning the documents, which a Staff or Intern does. We can read documents and determine if a certain approver signed them or not. Menial entry-level duties, at least at the Big 4, are being eliminated fast, which is great, because while there will be fewer entry-level accounting positions in the future, they will be spending time doing “real” work, rather than low-value, repetitive tasks.

    AUD - 79
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    REG - 80
    Manager, Big 4 Corporate Finance, CPA (WA)
    #2898639
    animalwithin
    Participant

    I understand how it's largely a manual process. What I don't understand is how has the act of manually inputting the data not been automated?

    Are there not technology systems that exist that can at least take paper information from receipts, invoices, and checks and digitize it so that one doesn't have to sift through all the paperwork? Or is that largely dependent upon the clients and whether or not they digitize everything or use paper for everything?

    #2898702
    turo9992000
    Participant

    @VBMER what software do you reccomend?

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    #2898783
    CPAHOPE
    Participant

    Dont worry man, we will get there during artificial intelligence era. It will stunk for low skilled workers as many will be replaced by robots and automated machines. It will be costly however. Since you do increase operating leverage, you will be highly dependent on generating more sales than ever before as your fixed cost will be higher. In other words, there will be more pressure to increase sales

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    FAR 80

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    "Theres no limit unless you allow it"

    *expired

    #2898873
    vbmer
    Participant

    @Turo, we mostly use proprietary solutions developed by internal service line tech teams or innovators within various practices.

    As far as software, I like Alteryx, ABBYY, SSIS, and Python, which covers a large portion of business applications. On the RPA side, which I'm not involved in other than occasional go to market collaboration, they use all of the main RPA platforms – Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath.

    AUD - 79
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    Manager, Big 4 Corporate Finance, CPA (WA)
    #2899776
    animalwithin
    Participant

    @CPAHOPE, hopefully that comes soon. I'm all for spending more time on higher-order tasks for humans in general.

    @Vbmer, so what you're saying is that it's possible to take boxes and stacks of receipts, invoices, etc. and sort/categorize the information found in them? Or does the material have to be digital first before it can be sorted out?

    #2899782
    FutureCPA
    Participant

    @vbmer, you totally get it. you have now become my favorite user. *Runs to see all Vbmer post”

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    Giving up is not an option.

    The question is not whether I will be a CPA or not, the question is when will I become a CPA.

    I need to pass before busy season.

    #2899863
    vbmer
    Participant

    @animalwithin, a human will still have to scan physical paper documents. Once it's in digital form, though, the data can be extracted and loaded into various systems. The difficulty depends on things like document quality and the similarity of the input documents, and the more difficult it is, the more expensive it will be to automate. Things like typed tax forms, receipts, or financial statements are usually on the lower end of complexity.

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    Manager, Big 4 Corporate Finance, CPA (WA)
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