Moreover, organizations need to simultaneously develop their digital capabilities to support remote work. In fact, amidst the move away from brick and mortar, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and other digital technologies in the bookkeeping and accounting services has already advanced five years within a couple of years of the pandemic. 

The Need for Outsourced Accounting Services

Today, as organizations struggle to stay afloat, outsourcing mundane, day-to-day tasks to sustain and grow the organization becomes crucial. One such function is accounting and bookkeeping. Indeed, managing the organization’s finances through careful bookkeeping requires ample time to complete paperwork, collect dues, and make pending payments. In fact, the global finance and accounting outsourcing market is estimated to reach $US51.5 billion by 2027.

Outsourcing bookkeeping services can help small businesses focus on activities that add business value and save costs and investment in setting up the technological infrastructure, hiring full-time employees, and training the staff in-house. Additionally, organizations can take advantage of the latest tech advancements in the field.

Click here to assess the potential impact of our Client Accounting Services.

Outsourced Services for Bookkeeping Management

With the advent of bookkeeping and accounting service providers, organizations can outsource one of the most repetitive, time-consuming, yet vital business activities – bookkeeping. 

Outsourcing bookkeeping management to a future-focused bookkeeping service can help eliminate the risk of operational inefficiencies caused by high employee turnover and overhead costs. In addition, by outsourcing bookkeeping services, business owners can increase financial data visibility and free up valuable time that can be spent on the following tasks –

• Employee expense processing
• Order to cash management
• Balancing of ledgers
• Handling of e-payments
• Invoice  processing and payments
• Bookkeeping software setup
• Subscription/renewals management

6 Advantages Client Bookkeeping Services Can Offer

Outsourcing bookkeeping services are especially beneficial for small businesses that want access to a team of highly trained professionals and the latest bookkeeping technology while keeping costs low and data secure.

1) Lower costs

Hiring a full-time employee requires business owners to spend on monthly salaries, benefits, and overheads like paid holidays, health insurance, child support, training, office space, IT systems, fringe tax, etc. Moreover, as the business grows, hiring and providing training and benefits for an in-house team of bookkeeping professionals proves expensive. 

Outsourcing bookkeeping services nullifies these costs. It provides professional bookkeeping and accounting expertise at a fixed hourly rate or an all-in-one fee structure that is lower than the costs of hiring an in-house team.

2) Helps you stay organized

Amidst the everyday hustle of juggling multiple business tasks, business owners may often see their organization fall behind on one of the most crucial business requirements: ensuring up-to-date and accurate financial records. Outsourced bookkeeping services help you stay organized by keeping your records up-to-date and eliminating errors, oversights, and omissions in financial documents. 

Moreover, the business can easily access comprehensive reports that improve operations’ transparency and enable strategic decision-making.

3) Improves compliance with latest accounting requirements

Bookkeeping and accounting come with several rules, regulations, and compliance requirements. Non-adherence to such requirements can lead to hefty fines and penalties – not to mention reputational damage.

An outsourced bookkeeping service provider offers you a team of accounting professionals who are abreast with the latest standards and regulations to keep your records up-to-date to avoid any run-ins with the law.

4) Enjoy the latest technologies at lower costs

Outsourced service providers offer specialized bookkeeping services to multiple clients and allow companies to keep up with the latest technologies, accounting software, and solutions.  

If companies were to spend on the latest software individually, they would have to invest a lot more money in acquiring the newest software and ensuring it remains upgraded always.

5) Access bookkeeping data on-the-go

In today’s highly digitized and remote business environment, executives are now distributed. This means data accessibility beyond the traditional “physical office spaces” is the needs of the hour.

Outsourced bookkeeping solutions, by virtue of their offshore operations, allow organizations to access their business’ bookkeeping data virtually on-demand, regardless of their location.

6) Flexible hours of service

An in-house bookkeeping team generally follows a 9-5, 40-hour workweek. If urgent matters need to be attended to beyond this timeframe, or an employee goes on leave, work may get pushed back to a later date.

Outsourcing accounting companies cater to businesses in different time zones and offer extended operating hours and 24X7 services to meet urgent demands.

Sentient Solutions – Future-focused outsourced bookkeeping services for your needs!

At Sentient, we provide scalable Client Accounting Services for businesses of all sizes. 

To improve accuracy, speed, quality, and transparency in accounting activities, we leverage a highly-qualified workforce blending onshore and offshore resources, including Chartered Accountants (CAs), MBAs, and CPAs. 

Moreover, with 25+ years of experience in the industry, we use accounting technologies powered by AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA) to perform mundane, time-consuming bookkeeping tasks, eliminate the risk of errors, and drive efficiencies.
To know more about the technologies and services at Sentient, please feel free to schedule a personalized consultation with our experts.

This naturally creates immense opportunity costs that could be invested in revenue-generating elements of the organization instead. Understandably, organizations often face a dilemma: whether to hire full-time in-house accountants or opt to outsource certain, or all, accounting and bookkeeping activities.

To help business owners decide what’s best for their company, we have conducted an in-depth analysis and enlisted some factors to consider below.

Why opt for Outsourced Accounting Services?

1) The Cost Factor

Hiring a full-time employee is a substantial expense as business owners must pay a fixed monthly salary and benefits like paid holidays, health insurance, sick leaves, and many others. For instance, the median salary for a full-time accountant in the US in 2020 was $73,560. 

On the other hand, accounting outsourcing is usually charged a fixed rate based on man-hours, no. of reports, or an all-in-one fee structure. This is especially conducive for SMEs, which may not have the capability and the requirement to justify hiring a full-time CPA.

2) The Training Factor

Hiring a full-time in-house team of accountants is a major investment that requires business owners to spend a lot of time and effort evaluating and choosing candidates who are the best fit for the job. Additionally, the new staff must be trained well to fully adjust to and learn the company’s operations and accounting systems and processes. Often, businesses prefer candidates that have “XYZ” years of experience and require minimal training to do their job. 

On the contrary, Finance and accounting outsourcing companies already have the right technologies and human capital in place, eliminating the need to hire and train new talent entirely. 

3) The Expertise Factor

While some organizations may have CPAs with the latest certifications and up-to-date knowledge, most often, not everyone within the in-house accounting teams may be updated with the changes in the accounting and taxation rules, regulations, and software.

Accounting outsourcing companies, on the other hand, offer a team of accounting and bookkeeping experts who are well-versed with the latest industry norms and standards, leading to higher quality and greater outcomes.

4) The Time Factor

While an in-house accounting team generally follows a 9-5, 40-hour workweek, efficiency may suffer when there are urgent matters that need to be attended beyond this timeframe. In addition, key members within the team may go on leave, thus pushing back work to a later date.

However, outsourced accounting companies cater to businesses across different time zones and offer extended operating hours and 24/7 services to meet urgent demands.

Why opt for In-House Accounting?

1) The Niche Requirements Factor

For organizations that operate in highly-specialized industries with unique accounting or bookkeeping requirements, finding an outsourced accounting services company that fully understands your needs would be difficult. In such a situation, it could make sense to hire a bookkeeper to manage in-house.

However, as client accounting services become more and more sophisticated, outsourced accounting companies with expertise in specific industries and processes have emerged. These help organizations to not spread themselves too thin by investing in outsourced accounting services.

2) The DIY Factor

Many organizations prefer to keep their financial information confidential. This is understandable, as it provides a greater control over day-to-day finances. 

However, it ignores a key factor. As organizations grow the demands on the accounting and finance teams will grow as well. For instance, a 1-person invoice management is simple in case of a few clientele. However, that 1 person can be overwhelmed when having to manage the invoice of multiple projects across multiple states, time zones, and regulatory requirements.

Are you looking for reliable Accounting Services? 

Then, Sentient Solutions’ Client Accounting Services (CAS) is the answer!  

At Sentient, we provide scalable accounting services (bookkeeping, audit, and tax operations) for businesses of all sizes. 

We leverage qualified workforce blending onshore and offshore resources, including Chartered Accountants (CAs), MBAs, and CPAs, to improve accuracy, speed, and transparency in accounting activities.

With 25+ years of experience in the industry, we use accounting technologies powered by AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA), along with our highly qualified team of accounting experts to ensure 100% accuracy, transparency, and quality.

To know more about the technologies and services at Sentient, please feel free to schedule a personalized consultation with our experts.

For instance, AI can take up the manual data-entry work to help accountants focus on providing value-driven services that delight clients, boost profits, and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Click here to learn more about the potential of AI in accounting.

Let’s explore further.

How can CPA firms profit from digitization?

A recent research by Members of the Maryland Association of CPAs, Inc. has shown 45% of accounting professionals would like to automate repetitive, time-consuming accounting tasks such as data entry and number-crunching. Additionally, 54% of accountants could provide faster service thanks to technology, and 43% felt that technology improved their client service and satisfaction. 

Equipping your CPAs with modern technologies like AI and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) allows them to create a robust, centralized accounting function that builds more agile and resilient business operations. Moreover, such technologies eliminate data silos and remove manual, time-consuming tasks from the picture, thus enabling accountants to serve more clients with fewer resources (time and money), bringing business profits for CPA firms.

Moreover, accounting firms that present their employees with the opportunity to engage in more meaningful work, attract and retain talent that serves clients better and add to the profits. Additionally, today’s CPAs want on-the-go access to information and expect to stay connected even when not in the office. Hence, equipping them with such security technologies can help work across devices and connections.

In the Journal of Accountancy, CPA Steven Kurinsky has stated, “We should embrace the technology that will help do our data-entry roles so we can focus our time on higher-level work. A bot could replace our need to act as bookkeepers, but our clients will continue to seek our advice for business strategy, tax strategy, and business operations.”

So, how does digitization help top accounting firms streamline client operations and earn more profits? 

1. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and cloud technology enable centralized data management, streamlining the flow of documents and information and allowing all employees to access data on a unified platform without emailing back and forth. This eliminates errors and reduces data silos. Moreover, automation takes up all time-consuming tasks like number punching, three-way matching, assignment of responsibility, etc. A wholesome and intuitive datasphere simplifies capturing, sharing, and analyzing data sets, reduces costs, improves data accuracy, and allows accountants to focus on strategic tasks that warrant ingenuity.

2. 80% of the data generated worldwide is unstructured and needs to be rendered into manageable forms. AI-enabled accounting technology uses machine learning to surface trends and patterns to make sense of unstructured accounting information. Moreover, AI can put accounting information at everybody’s fingertips and surface the most relevant search results, so people spend less time finding data and more time serving clients. 

3. Actionable insights generated by AI help CPA firms provide additional value-added services to clients, including strategic problem-solving and consulting future cash-flow forecasting and adaptive thinking. Moreover, accounting technology supports CPA firms in creating growth-centric business management plans for clients. Providing such services-as-a-product leads to higher client satisfaction levels and brings business profits for CPA firms.

4. Cloud accounting technology has its benefits. Saving information to the cloud improves data security and continuity and enhances information access, thus reducing operational costs and increasing profits.

5. In the case of a significant event such as the pandemic, CPAs need access to information more quickly than ever, such as political, economic, and government data. In such a scenario, AI-driven systems create a unified platform for accountants to access all information, find trends, and build reports to help clients battle uncertainties.

6. Augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies provide more effective ways to explore, analyze, and share data and collaborate with other departments to build more integrated operations. Moreover, distributed ledger technologies powered by blockchain are helpful for process development, records management, auditing, and much more.

How can Sentient Solutions bring more Profits to your Firm?

Due to rapid digitization, CPA firms have expanded their services beyond basic accounting (bookkeeping, payroll, etc.) to incorporate more strategic services with technologies like AI, RPA, advanced analytics, cloud, and much more. 

At Sentient, we help CPA firms improve scale, reduce operating costs, and earn more profits with accounting technologies powered by AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA). We leverage our highly qualified workforce into a blend of onshore and offshore resources, which include Chartered Accountants (CAs), MBAs, and CPAs, to improve accuracy, speed, and transparency in accounting activities.

Our technologies for accounting bring business profits for CPA firms by driving significant improvements in client satisfaction as high as 50% or more cost savings.

To know more about our technologies and services, including staffing, tax, reporting back-office, or compliance, please feel free to schedule a personalized consultation with our experts.  

By providing meaningful and valuable advisory and consulting, they helped communities, particularly small businesses, to better forecast cash flow requirements and access government-backed relief measures, including the CARES Act, Paycheck Protection Program, etc. In short, CPAs helped the business community tide through the crisis, thus moving from essential to indispensable service providers.

For accounting firms themselves, as remote work set in, the unprecedented move from brick-and-mortar to digital necessitated a rethink and a review of their operating model through a technological lens. This led to the deployment of the latest accounting technology and workspace redesign to maintain productivity. 

This blog discusses how accounting technology can benefit CPA firms in the post-pandemic environment.

Accounting Technology for CPA Firms

In his recent address at the 2021 ENGAGE Conference, Tom Hood, Executive Vice President of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), said, “2020 is the new 2025. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), the cloud, and other technologies advanced five years during the pandemic.”

In the face of the pandemic, one thing is clear: firms must leverage technology-driven accounting processes to create agile, future-proof ways of working and create a centralized IT function that can steer the business in the right direction in the face of uncertainties.

The emergence of technology for accountants has enabled them to respond to pandemic-induced challenges efficiently, generate data-driven insights to provide valuable futuristic services, and delight clients to create more business for the firm.

Here are some of the ways emerging accounting technologies can benefit CPA firms in the post-pandemic environment – 

– Centralizing data management, mainly through automation (Robotic Process Automation (RPA)) and accounting technology in the cloud, eliminates data silos, errors, and time-consuming tasks (for example, number punching, data entry, three-way matching, assignment of responsibility, etc.). Automation, thus, creates a robust and intuitive datasphere that allows CPAs to easily capture, share, and analyze data sets. This, in turn, improves efficiency, reduces costs, and will enable accountants to focus on strategic tasks that require ingenuity and collective brainstorming.

– 80% of the data generated worldwide is unstructured and stored in various formats across multiple legacy systems. Such data needs to be rendered into manageable forms to allow accountants to uncover its maximum potential and make informed decisions. AI-powered accounting technology crawls through the treasure trove of accounting data and leverages machine learning to surface trends and patterns in accounting information. The system gathers and presents meaningful insights from the myriad of structured and unstructured data stored in legacy and backend systems to help accountants make sense of the “hows” and “whys.” 

– The high-quality data and actionable insights generated by AI enable today’s accountants to indulge in complex problem-solving, future forecasting, and adaptive thinking. Moreover, accounting technology supports CPA firms to create an integrated environment that allows accountants to leverage valuable financial data, drive innovation, build resiliency, and develop growth-centric business management plans. Additionally, accountants can monetize such knowledge to develop more value-driven, futuristic accounting services and offer services-as-a-product.

– In the case of a significant event, such as the pandemic, CPAs need access to data more quickly than ever. In such a scenario, the business world cannot draw estimated figures based on the past year. Rather than spending time going out and finding the correct data, automated accounting technology can bring the relevant knowledge to the accountants’ fingertips. Whether the firm is dealing with structured or unstructured data, AI-driven systems can create a cohesive space for accountants to access all information, find trends, and make sense of the available data to build reports.

– Apart from AI, the use of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies can provide new ways to analyze, explore, and share data and help accountants collaborate with finance, strategic planning, and other departments to build integrated, agile, and more efficient accounting operations. Moreover, distributed ledger technologies powered by blockchain are helpful for process development, records management, auditing, and much more.

How Sentient Solutions can help

The scope of work for CPA firms has expanded beyond basic accounting (bookkeeping, payroll, etc.) to a more strategic role, incorporating emerging accounting technologies like AI, RPA, cloud, advanced analytics, and much more. 

At Sentient, we help CPA firms improve scale and reduce operating costs with accounting technologies powered by AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA). We leverage our 25+ years of experience in accounting-tech, along with a highly qualified and efficient workforce comprising a blend of onshore and offshore resources, including Chartered Accountants (CAs) MBAs, and CPAs to improve accuracy, quality, and transparency in accounting activities.

Our technologies for accounting drive significant improvements in client satisfaction and enable margin growth as high as 50% or greater cost savings.
To know more about our services, including staffing, reporting, tax, back-office, or compliance support, please feel free to schedule a consultation with our experts. 

However, what is the best way to leverage the potential of AI? 

Here are a few ideas from various aspects of accounting.

The Scope of AI

1) Invoice Processing

Conventionally, invoice processing is time-consuming and labor-intensive with accountants having to go through each email individually, download invoices, validate them, extract data manually, and ultimately, process the payments.

The use of AI in accounting services such as payment processing allows CPA firms to handle larger volumes, eliminate human error, maintain vendor relationships, and improve the efficiency of invoice processing. 

2) Supplier Onboarding

AI-powered accounting systems are capable of evaluating suppliers by examining their tax details or credit scores. Using AI, supplier information can be automatically keyed, eliminating the need for human involvement. Additionally, the use of AI in accounting systems allows for query portals to be set up to obtain the necessary information. 

Leveraging AI in the CPA firm’s onboarding process will simplify reaching new target demographics while increasing revenue and helping the firm maintain relevance.

3) Procurement

Filing an organization’s procurement and purchasing methods requires maintaining vast records on isolated systems, which often leads to data duplication and miscommunications. AI is capable of processing unstructured data by employing APIs that allow the entire procurement process to be automated.     

Research by Gartner shows that AI technologies will add enormous value if the optimal platform is provided. This means application leaders in procurement need to encourage superior adoption of fundamental procurement solutions.         

4) Audits

AI in auditing allows for automatic analysis of complete datasets, eliminating human involvement. The definition of reasonable assurance is evolving with the use of AI in auditing and accounting. AI can run through the complete ledger and recognize irregularities based on risk, rather than precepts.

Files that are accessed can be traced using digital trackers. This allows auditors to work intelligently by investigating digital files. AI in auditing processes allows CPAs to employ their skill and judgment in analyzing extensive sets of data and documents, improving the accuracy of results and reports. In addition, AI in accounting and auditing helps record every financial transaction, increasing productivity, and helping companies meet their goals.

5) Monthly/Quarterly Cash Flows

AI provides businesses with financial management tools to swiftly and effortlessly reconcile the company’s activity, examine their past cash-flow activity, and future cash requirements. 

Moreover, AI-based accounting tools expedite processing while making financial processes reliable and secure. These include the collection and integration of data from multiple sources to make non-siloed monthly/quarterly cash flows rapidly.

6) Expense Management

Revising and finalizing expenses to ensure compliance is exhausting. Integrating AI into accounting speeds up the process eliminating human involvement. This allows for an entirely automated, digitized expense management system that is faster and more accurate. 

Deploying AI automates the analysis of receipts and audit costs while notifying in case of non-compliance.

7) AI Chatbots

Simple, routine queries, such as outstanding expense reports, account balance details, credit bills, etc., can be handled by AI chatbots. Additionally, employees can submit reports and receipts directly to the bots. 

This significantly reduces the volume of inquiries with AI handling tier-1 level support and filtering only the important queries to the help desk. 

The Road Ahead

With rapidly evolving customer expectations, the technology available to accountants is progressing. Businesses and customers across industries are increasingly relying on their CPAs. 

At Sentient Solutions, we use AI to help CPAs transition from traditional roles to professionals who offer nuanced financial reports with expert analysis. The use of AI in accounting reduces time, resources, and money consumed by rote tasks, providing CPAs more time to work on financial analysis and tailoring reports based on clients’ requirements.

While AI in accounting industry offers tremendous benefits, humans will always be required in understanding clients’ present needs, future plans, and draft reports to help them reach their goals. We are here to help accountants and CPA firms scale up and lower their operating costs through process automation, AI, and scalable services. 

How to decide if Client Accounting Services (CAS) is right for you?

There is no one-size-fits-all accounting solution. Accounting needs vary based on the business size, present requirements, and future plans. 

CAS is suitable for:

What aspects of accounting can you outsource?

1) Managing Accounts Payables and Accounting Receivables

Aligning accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) ensures that your business receives and makes timely payments. This is an integral function of accounting that companies can outsource accounting services. Having an expert look at all the details allows for the payment process to be smooth.

CAS allows for up-to-date records to be maintained providing transparency of funds. This includes: 

• Invoice generation, expense reports 
• Order management and customer payments
• Forecasting and reporting of funds 
• Vendor queries and processing 

2) Bookkeeping

Cloud-based accounting and digitization have streamlined bookkeeping to a large extent. At Sentient, we ensure our accounting professionals are capable of handling large volumes of data. With relevant certifications and up-to-date information, your business’s accounting is in safe hands. This includes:

• Expense records and ledgers
• Currency and entity consolidation
• Latest software setup for accounting and bookkeeping 
• Subscriptions and renewal management 

3) Generating reports

All financial documents for cash inflow and outflow need expert supervision. By leveraging our Client Accounting Services, you have a reliable team of certified accountants looking into all the details. This ensures data-backed analysis and reports, which will help in developing financial strategies and budgeting services. 

4) Controller Services

The team of certified professionals at Sentient will provide a comprehensive outline of the financial health of your business. These will generate transparency offering a clear picture to all stakeholders. Additionally, our team provides support during audits by providing detailed financial reports and KPI reporting reducing overhead costs.

5) Cost Accounting

When outsourcing your accounting process to our team, we work closely with your business’s R&D and manufacturing divisions. The professionals comprehensively analyze the manufacturing and supply chain to ensure it is cost-efficient and budgeted accordingly. By doing this, the actual cost of the product (along with its manufacturing) or the service is understood and analyzed. 

6) Forensic accounting

Our teams are skilled at running through large volumes of data to identify fraudulent or inaccurate transactions. When handling sensitive, confidential data, we ensure data security through breach-proof security. 

7) Tax filing and reporting

Having a team of certified professional accountants ensures taxes are accurately filed on time. As professionals well versed in current regulations, we will ensure your tax returns and declarations are filed on time while maintaining compliance. 

8) Payroll processing

With the development in technology, we have the latest and most efficient payroll software. Leveraging accounting automation at this juncture allows for a hands-free routine that ensures error-free and efficient functioning. 

The benefits of CAS

1) Cost-effective

The cost of CAS is much less than hiring a full-time employee. Companies fail to consider the time spent in looking for professional accountants. Time equals effort and money, both of which can be now spent on mission-critical tasks. With business owners looking to cut down on labor costs, taxes, office supplies, and benefits for full-time or part-time employees. 

When companies outsource accounting services, they only pay for what is needed.

Click here to know more.

2) Saves time

As businesses grow and expand, the management and key personnel spend time on administrative tasks such as bookkeeping and accounting. 

CAS gives time and resources back to the company bringing focus on devising business strategies. This will drive higher revenue and better relationships with customers.

3) Access to expertise

CAS allows companies to hire professionals with the specialized knowledge, certifications, and skillsets required at an affordable price. These professionals need to keep upgrading their skills and qualifications to stay competitive.

In addition, it streamlines the process as only the best and the most effective practices are employed, ensuring faster progress. 

4) Scale-up 

CAS providers are capable of scaling up the services based on need without any lag. For instance, if the tasks require more than one personnel, the service provider will provide the additional workforce. This eliminates the need for a stringent recruitment process.

With flexible charges, based on need, the hours can be scaled-up or scaled-down without interruption.

5) Automation technologies

Accounting automation software saves time, reduces risks, and minimizes human errors. Automation offers real-time reports that assist in detecting potential problems and mitigating them early. Additionally, it reduces the likelihood of in-house fraud.

As an SME trying to cut down on costs, CAS allows access to the latest technologies and processes. These simplify compliance and improve efficiency. 

Sentient Solutions for Accounting

Today’s digital landscape necessitates maintaining relevance. At Sentient Solutions, we are aware of what will have the most significant impact on the company. Our goal is to save your time, effort, and money by supplying information that drives business growth through informed decisions. 

Business intelligence drives critical decisions and is a game-changer. We level the playing field through access to competent personnel and advanced technology. 

Reach out to us to get future-ready. 

Automation of accounting process gained immense traction in the last year, and CPA firms are rapidly implementing them. Audits, financial reports, payable accounts, etc., can now be automated, freeing up time focused on strategy and financial advising. 

As we are seeing, things will not be completely going back to how they were before the pandemic. The advent of cloud computing has revolutionized work life all through the pandemic. Technology has made it possible to work even without being in the workspace. Similarly, there is a tremendous advancement in the automation of rote, labor-intensive tasks.

Multiple companies have started to include the usage of automation technology, such as Autobots, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). In fact, even the big four accounting firms have implemented automation in their accounting processes.

Digital transformation is changing the future of accounting and finance automation, jobs available, and responsibilities. Automation of accounting process is here to stay.

Digital Transformation

Emerging technologies allow accounting processes to be automated, streamlined, and more efficient. Therefore, it is necessary to be up-to-date with the current technology, irrespective of employees’ role in the accounting department. 

Cloud accounting

Cloud computing has changed data transfer and the future of automation of accounting processes. With the facility to work with data in multiple capacities, cloud-based accounting has revolutionized how companies function. 

The pandemic saw a massive rise in responsibility and increased working from home for CPA firms. Cloud accounting software makes it possible for all the information to be accessible at any place while having all the latest data.

The continuous updating of information provides unprecedented visibility over the process and the results. With the information available any time, anywhere, differential access makes it possible for accurate analysis and valuable insights to be made on the go.

Robotic Process Automation 

Accounting involves many mundane and repetitive tasks that CPA firms can easily automate through Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Considered similar to Macros in excel, RPA can be used across multiple accounting systems, unlike macros that are only linked to excel. RPA can increase the efficiency of the accounting team by reducing the processing time, minimizing data entry errors, cost reduction, etc.

Financial departments of companies tend to use multiple software as all tasks cannot be accomplished using a single software. This is highly time-consuming and labor-intensive, requiring enormous data duplication. CPA firms can create software robots to follow specific rules or action sequences. RPA can be utilized in such cases, where data can be transferred across software following the assigned set of rules. This not only frees time but ensures data accuracy and cost-efficiency. 

Click here to read more on how RPA is transforming accounting.

Blockchain technology

CPA firms have begun implementing blockchain technology. Instead of maintaining separate registers, companies can create a joint account to enter their transactions.  This joint account is used to keep track of transactions’ receipts, creating an interlocking system for account records. Every entry made and moved is sealed cryptographically – making it tamper-proof.  This can be considered to be notarized but electronically. 

This form of accounting makes it easier for auditors to verify a large portion of the financial data. This frees up a lot of the auditors’ time that can be spent in other areas.

The integrity of these electronic files can be maintained by blockchain technology through their individual digital fingerprints. This digital fingerprint is then written into the blockchain along with a timestamp every time a transaction is made. These documents can be stored as any other data files without any issue as the integrity of these files is already sealed. 

The Road Ahead 

At Sentient Solutions, we see the transformation of accounting from laborious financial management to a nuanced understanding of current trends and economic growth. In the current landscape, automation of the accounting process reduces the time consumed by tasks such as payroll, taxes, filing, and maintaining the ledger. 

We are here to help accountants and CPA firms scale up and lower their operating costs through Robotic process automation in accounting, AI, and scalable services. It is important to understand accountants cannot be replaced by the current technology. However, with the help of technology, it is possible to reach new heights, introduce novel ideas, and be future-ready.

For instance, cloud-based accounting has drastically reduced the manual workload of accountants. The automation of the accounting process is seamless as real-time data is available 24*7. This allows CPA firms to focus on high-impact, mission-critical tasks, including financial analysis. 

There are also multiple programs providing interfacing of data, i.e., data from various systems can be shared. This provides the accountants an abundance of data allowing for the insights to be more meaningful. This will prompt accountants to become proficient in building strategies and taking on an advisory role.

With a wide range of applications, robotic process automation is no longer simply science fiction. Although financial firms have begun incorporating digitization into various aspects, journal entry remains for the most part manual. 

With technology evolving to meet changing complexities, time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks can be replaced by Robotic Process Automation (“RPA”). It is usually deployed in segments where operators have to perform high volumes of repetitive, rule-based tasks without the requirement of any decision making.

Disadvantages of Manual Journal Entries

• Workflow bottlenecks
• Increased risk of human error
• Limited real-time visibility
• Lack of standardized protocols
• Wasted time and labor
• Increased risk of fraud

What is RPA?

RPA works as a software bot capable of being programmed to do the functions of a human operator such as using computer programs. This improves overall performance and efficiency by a significant degree. RPA in concert with human operators improves the quality and efficacy of end-to-end operations.  

How does RPA work?

In most cases, automation replaces human operators. However, Robotic Process Automation does not work by reducing the workforce. Rather, it contributes to an improvement in efficiency and performance by streamlining operational workflows. RPA influences data entry in the following ways:

1. Increased accuracy and confidence in the integrity of the balance sheet through differential access, allocation of tasks, standardized workflows, and improved visibility.
2. Reduces the likelihood of fraud through increased measures for cybersecurity for accounting firms , such as greater access controls and improved transparency.
3. Accelerates data collation when vast amounts of data from disparate sources need to be compiled into a single format.
4. Works in concert with personnel through the data entry process resulting in the elimination of human error, maintenance of data quality, and consistency.
5. Aids in linking external systems as third-party systems are usually connected through digital means.
6. Saves money by reducing the need for paperwork, printing, and storage.
7. Time-consuming, labor-intensive tasks are now processed faster allowing accounting personnel to focus on details such as strategy and analysis.
8. RPA is of immense value in data cleansing, data extraction, data enrichment, data deduplication, and data mining. Specialized agencies that undertake data entry for firms, actively employ RPA for the entire data processing cycle.
9. Streamlining the end-to-end data processing lifecycle from entry to report generation through access to real-time and historical information.
10. Automates various segments of the workflow process, improves accuracy, and enables the practice of Continuous Accounting.

Why Sentient Solutions for Accounting?

Sentient Solutions helps CPA firms digitally transform in the world of Modern Finance with improved efficiency and accuracy. We streamline your entire journal entry process by applying automation where it counts. As an agile, adaptable company, we can fit into your clients’ business processes regardless of which systems they use or their maturity level as a business.

Our system frees up more time for accountants, allowing for better analysis, review, and strategy to drive your clients’ businesses forward. We combine expertise with accounting technology, offering high-quality back-office solutions in India, and mastery of robotic process automation technology (RPA). 

We ensure all our personnel possesses critical thinking skills, extensive experience, and technical proficiency.