The first known printed use of the word “bookkeeper” in English dates
back to 1555, according to Merriam-Webster. Obviously, the way in which
bookkeepers work has changed significantly over the years, but what’s
even more important is that the evolution is far from over. Technology
is breathing new life into the profession and transforming the role
bookkeepers can play for the future of small businesses.
“‘The
definition ... is continuously changing,” said Cindy Schroeder, owner
of Bright Bookkeeping in Winter Garden, Florida. “I think there’s still
going to be a lot of changes in the next five to 10 years, and maybe in
five years when we have this conversation, it will be absolutely nothing
like it is right now. But I think as long as there’s small businesses
out there, they are always going to need someone to help them understand
the numbers and figure out if their business is successful.”
The
need among small-business owners was underscored in the 2017 “SMB
Emerging Trends in Accounting” report by B2B network provider Viewpost.
According to the survey of 5,000 U.S. small and midsized business
decision-makers, many small businesses do not have a clear picture of
their bottom line and continue to rely on spreadsheets, manual data
entry and the postal service. Furthermore, 18 percent of SMBs do not use
accounting software.
However, times are changing. Armed with a
forward-thinking mindset, a new approach to doing business and
innovative technology, a new wave of bookkeepers is emerging. Their
mission: to change the game for small businesses.
“The new wave of
bookkeepers will help keep current firms on pace with technology. Cloud
technologies, automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning,
etc., all help to create processes that streamline firm workflows, boost
accuracy, and give valuable time back to bookkeepers to concentrate on
their clients,” said Ariege Misherghi, accountant product leader for the
accountant segment in the small business and self employed group at
Intuit.
Bookkeeping gets high-tech
Technology is
bringing about significant change for the bookkeeper of the future.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain technologies
are poised to transform how bookkeepers work and serve their clients.
Understanding what these technologies mean for the profession and the
opportunities they can bring is essential.
One example is
botkeeper, a company that is looking to help businesses save time and
money by automating bookkeeping tasks through a blend of dedicated
machine learning, artificial intelligence and human assistance.
“I
think all too often the average bookkeeper today … spends all of their
time just trying to keep up with the day to day and get all of the data
in,” said botkeeper’s CEO, Enrico Palmerino. “And then as soon as the
data is in they are moving onto the next month and trying to get all the
data in for the next month. They’re not spending much time, the most
important time, reviewing and looking at that data to make sense of it.”
With botkeeper, companies secure a dedicated bookkeeper —
referred to as a “botkeeper” — that provides accounting services
virtually. Botkeepers represent a combination of technology and human
assistance that can securely access a business’ financial information
(e.g., bank records, credit card data and accounting software) to make
entries, track and schedule revenue and deferred expenses, account for
payroll, reconcile bank accounts, send invoices, and more. And it’s
available around the clock.
The company currently serves more than
500 clients ranging from startups, to tech companies, to dental
practices, and retailers, and Palmerino said it recently launched a
partner program for CPAs through which CPA firms can white-label
botkeeper to offer bookkeeping services to their clients.
“We have
a bunch of CPA firms that use [the program], and we actually have a
bunch of what used to be competitive bookkeeping companies also using
it. So, they’ve decided, instead of hiring in-house accountants, to
white-label botkeeper and provide that to their clients instead,” said
Palmerino.
Also looking to work with accounting professionals is
newcomer PeaCounts, a bookkeeping solution that is built on the NetSuite
platform and leverages artificial intelligence and blockchain
technology.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is have the
accounting professionals be included in this and receive a stream of
income from this type of product and service, rather than just being
displaced by it and getting nothing out of it,” said co-founder Crystal
Stranger.
Here’s how it works: Users access real-time information
via a dashboard and mobile app, and adding a business receipt is as easy
as using a mobile phone to scan the receipt. Artificial intelligence
helps users manage daily bank reconciliations and identify transactions
as they are entered. Behind the scenes, PeaCounts secures client data
via blockchain and utilizes a “blockchain of identity” concept where
only users will have access to the data registered to them in the
directory.
Stranger, an Enrolled Agent, became impassioned by the
idea of such a product after seeing so many entrepreneurs struggle with
the record-keeping parts of their business. As the owner of a tax
office, she experienced this firsthand with her clients when they would
come in at tax time with a shoebox full of receipts and have no idea
what they made or spent during the year. Together with accounting
software developer Shashank Shukla, she founded Viact Systems and began
developing PeaCounts.
Meanwhile, Intuit is working to help firms
transition to the cloud and better serve clients through enhanced
workflow and automation tools that leverage machine learning, AI and
voice commands to eliminate data entry on the front end of all
accounting systems.
“Technology advancements not only provide for
more accurate data and end results, but they give bookkeepers back
valuable time by making processes more efficient. With more time back in
their days, bookkeepers can focus on acting as strategic advisors to
their clients as opposed to just number crunchers,” Misherghi said.
The enabler
For a growing number of
bookkeepers, the advancements in technology and greater automation mean
more time and resources can be dedicated to expanding their business —
whether it be through offering higher-margin advisory services or
bringing on more clientele.
“The bookkeeper of the future actually
has a much more connected role, a much more advisory role as part of
what they’re doing. With things that we are doing around machine
learning and artificial intelligence, we want to give the time back to
the bookkeepers,” said Herman Man, vice president of product and
partnerships at Xero.
Said David Emmerman, a partner at Long
Island, New York-based firm Emmerman, Boyle and Associates, “The less
touch points on data, the more profitable we are and also potentially
the less cost that we have to charge our clients. If you think about AI
and machine learning in respect to OCR on source documents, if you can
leverage the AI and ML that’s out there to [for instance] read a check
better with a higher level of accuracy, no matter how messy your
handwriting, you’re going to create more of that opportunity time for
that bookkeeper right off the bat.”
Added Emmerman, “If you have
the ability to take some technology, put it in place and save yourself,
let’s say, 30 percent of [your] time, now you can add some clients.
You’re not necessarily taking clients away. Or you can look at the five
clients that you have and you can say, ‘Well, I’ve saved 30 percent of
my time, so what else can I do for these clients that they’ve been
asking for?’”
The firm offers fully outsourced bookkeeping and
virtual CFO services to its clients and leverages such technology as
Xero, Hubdoc and Expensify.
Adding value
“Put
yourself out there,” said Cindy Squires, CEO of cloud-based Mile High
Bookkeeping Services in Parker, Colorado. “What you need to do as a
bookkeeper is start to prepare yourself for what’s going to be happening
in the future. Stay at the forefront of implementation. Be among the
first people to learn about and test all of the new technologies.”
Mile
High Bookkeeping Services uses QuickBooks Online, and apps that
integrate with QBO, to offer its clients such services as bookkeeping,
payroll, accounts payable/receivable, and financial statement
preparation.
“At the end of the day, we are business advisors. We
are able to take that information and we can add value to the client
based on what we can see from [their data] because that’s what we’re
trained to do,” Squires added.
Echoing the sentiment is Schroeder
of Bright Bookkeeping. Leveraging QuickBooks Online and a handful of
apps that integrate with the cloud software, Schroeder offers clients
full remote bookkeeping and accounting services. The technology has
enabled the firm to boost its clientele, broaden its scope of services,
and eliminate unprofitable travel to and from clients — all while
enjoying greater flexibility and enhanced work/life balance. “That’s the
biggest [benefit from technology] — that freedom that you can offer
these types of services remotely and it’s more efficient and it gives
you an audit trail,” said Schroeder. “And it allows us to offer more
advisory services because the other stuff isn’t taking as long.”
Jennifer
Warawa, executive vice president of partners, accountants and alliances
at Sage, acknowledged that, for some, a barrier to entry into more
advisory services may be a lack of confidence. For those professionals, a
collaborative partnership may be an ideal solution. “There are a lot of
bookkeepers that are made to be able to offer advisory services. I
think the biggest challenge that we see in the bookkeeping market is
confidence,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the fact that maybe they don’t do
taxes or they don’t have their CPA designation, and so we’ve seen those
bookkeepers maybe partner with a CPA.”
Emmerman agreed and said,
“Since we’re using all cloud-based technology, there’s no inhibitors
anymore to creating this collaborative environment across firms. So,
those folks that are doing advisory services, they might not want to be
doing any of the bookkeeping. Therefore, there’s excellent opportunity
to drive growth on both sides.”
Industry sources note that
significant changes are on the horizon, but believe that staying
flexible and viewing technology as an enabler will be key for the
bookkeeper of the future.
“You have to be willing to jump on the
train or you’re going to have to get out of the way, because the clients
are forcing us to move in that direction,” said Karine Woodman, founder
and CEO of 24hr Bookkeeper in Hibbing, Minnesota. “In my
opinion, I think it’s great. Why wouldn’t you want to use technology and
automation to make your job easier and make the client experience
better?”
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