The Top 6 Skills for Finance CPAs in the Digital Era

By Dr. Liran Edelist

The rise of emerging technologies has impacted the accounting field in a myriad of ways. According to Gartner’s Predicts 2022 report,1 a majority of organizations will choose integrated financial management tools as their preferred solution towards process automation within the next two years. By the same time, 30% of planning applications will be made based on their advanced Extended Planning & Analysis (xP&A) capabilities and the same percentage of organizations will be using AI in combination with their financial management solutions by 2024 as well.

Manual, repetitive tasks being replaced by automated processes is definitely not new, but the impact of this on the accounting field leveraged through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is still relatively new. In many cases, the business planning most commonly conducted by finance has morphed into xP&A projects with cross-departmental collaboration as the centerpiece of modern planning, budgeting and forecasting. As a result, CPAs now have the ability to expand their skill set and embrace new value creation opportunities. Embracing automation, collaboration, and understanding the innovation that cloud planning solutions can offer are just a few of the top skills for CPAs to add to their modern toolkit. These new skills enable a faster and more accurate path to better business performance, do not require CPAs to obtain advanced IT knowledge and will enhance the way accountants operate within the business.

SKILL #1: AUTOMATING PROCESSES FOR THE RIGHT REASONS

In the digital transformation journey, there are various levels of maturity that indicate where an organization is on that path. The first level is based on usage of manual processes, which can often be error prone as various spreadsheet iterations get sent back and forth via email. The second level occurs when some of these processes become automated, which then supports increased collaboration.

Automation for automation’s sake is not the goal, but rather a strategic maneuver to ensure higher transparency and added value across the entire organization. The key to smart data management is cross-departmental access for real-time insights and shorter intervals for greater agility in your planning and forecasting.

The value of this skill is identifying which tasks can be automated, which cannot, and which should not be.

SKILL #2: EMBRACING INCREASED COLLABORATION

While the Office of Finance has historically been the warehouse of all financial data, the days of this data sitting in silos are limited. This has been replaced by enterprise-wide efforts to increase collaboration that improves strategic decision-making. Collaboration is not just a trendy buzzword, but rather a component to value creation as Finance partners more closely with HR, sales, operations, and more to offer a comprehensive view of business performance. Embracing collaboration is vital to increased business agility.

The value of embracing collaboration is deepening the ability to work across departments that supports more holistic planning.

SKILL #3: ADOPTING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELY

In a recent PwC report,2 86% of those surveyed no longer viewed AI as a foreign technology, but as mainstream. With the adoption of AI and other advanced tools such as Machine Learning (ML), higher revenue growth is projected compared to those companies who stick to manual processes. Adopting tools such as AI and ML does not replace the capabilities of human hands, but rather augment their power and free up resources.

The value of effectively adopting advanced technology is harnessing the value creation opportunities it holds for the organization.

SKILL #4: MAXIMIZING OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION

According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent “Future of Jobs” report,3 98% of the Financial Services industry will have adopted cloud computing while 90% will have introduced AI by 2025. The same report claims that humans and machines will spend nearly the same amount of time on workplace tasks by that same year. Closely examining how Finance can better embrace innovation will help you outperform the competition.

The value of understanding how innovation in the Finance space benefits the entire organization will give you the leading edge.

SKILL #5: UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE-ADD FOR ACCOUNTING IN THE CLOUD

Whether your organization uses public, private or hybrid cloud models, mobility and ease of use have made cloud computing essential for modern business and a valuable resource for CPAs. In a recent Gartner survey,4 51% of respondents claimed to focus on investing in cloud computing solutions. Cloud security is a top priority for organizations in tightly regulated industries so understanding cloud capabilities is key.

The value here is knowing how to utilize readily available cloud-based solutions with industry-leading data security.

SKILL #6: UNIFYING DATA STUCK IN ACCOUNTING SILOS

More data is produced now than at any point in recorded history. And as mentioned, it often ends up stuck in department silos. Unifying data stuck in silos is vital for CPAs to be able to truly embrace what the digital era offers. Achieving this requires a self-service, modern solution that provides a single source of truth in real-time so you know your budgets are accurate, every time, which spreadsheets simply cannot provide.

The value of unifying accounting data lies within achieving a more comprehensive, holistic view of business performance than ever before.

THE CASE OF IFCO

IFCO is the world’s leading supplier of reusable packaging solutions for fresh products, serving customers in more than 50 countries. The company desired a self-service approach to system support through simple software handling. Within a few days, their tech team was able to implement a modern solution to address its data volume issue and to engage in faster, simpler daily reporting. Because IFCO has a customized approach to its customers’ supply chains, its service-oriented business model requires a great deal of logistics knowledge. The company sought to automate, collaborate and adopt a business solution to promote both data unification and a cloud-based approach.

The easy-to-control digital solution has saved the internal team the cost of external consulting due to its individualized approach. The company has developed several applications for individual departments and regions that run integrated with more consistent data and reporting structures. As a larger application, a contract management module for around 50 users in the US was developed and rolled out within five months. The module helps account managers plan upcoming projects, supports contract creation through an integrated release workflow and provides an overview of the status of all contracts. The clearly visualized reports make the need for action with expiring contracts immediately visible so that the key account managers can plan their customer meetings more strategically. The system-controlled approval workflow replaces the previous e-mail traffic in contract processing and new contracts are generated directly from the business solution. The biggest benefit, however, is the initial data collection, which previously had to be handled with a thousand or more Excel sheets, which was an accountant’s nightmare. Now, account managers enter their upcoming customer projects directly into the Web-based application, where all data is immediately available centrally. The powerful platform saves considerable costs and time and ensures significantly higher data quality by avoiding transmission errors.

The demands on the accounting industry have changed considerably in recent years. As technology evolves, so must CPAs. Embracing these skills will enable CPAs to free up valuable time and resources and empower them to be more strategic business partners.

Notes:

1. John Van Decker, Robert Anderson and Greg Leiter, "Predicts 2022: The Office of Finance Is Consolidating Applications to the ERP Suite," Gartner, November 12, 2021, https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-28NKWLGL&ct=220107&st=sb.
2. Scott Likens, Michael Shehab and Anand Rao, "PWC AI Predictions 2021,"  https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/ai-analytics/ai-predictions.html.
3. Katharine Rooney, "5 Themes Shaping the Future of Work," World Economic Forum, August 24, 2021, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/future-of-work-technology-pandemic-wellbeing/.
4. "Emerging Technologies: Cloud Computing Technology Spending — 2021 Survey Trends," Gartner, September 30, 2021, https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4006375.

This article appears in the summer 2022 issue of the Washington CPA magazine. Read more here.