More powerful software, while making our jobs easier, has also brought with it a sense of insecurity: will our jobs become obsolete, or our skills redundant?
Of course, certain tasks will inevitably be replaced by automated systems. However, rather than having a negative impact on the accountancy industry, this should create more appealing opportunities.

For example, the advent of Making Tax Digital has compelled thousands of VAT-registered businesses to move onto an electronic bookkeeping package. This kind of software is easier than ever to use, and directly links into modules for preparing statutory financial statements. This means less time is spent posting invoices and preparing the year-end accounts. Levels of production will increase: more accounts, tax returns and VAT returns can be prepared, more quickly than ever.

In turn, this frees up time to provide value-added services to clients. Tax advice, budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning and many other activities can be offered instead. The human element of being a trusted financial advisor will be increasingly important.

Audit

Without question, technology is also having an impact on the statutory audit industry. Data analytics allows for vast ledgers to be quickly analysed, with unusual transactions being brought to the auditor’s attention and information exchange portals allowing for the speedy exchange of information. However, I can’t help feeling that at the heart of auditing will always lie human intuition, otherwise known as professional scepticism.

The demonstration of professional scepticism is crucial to a successful audit. Knowing what questions to ask, and when to ask them, to get to the root cause of an issue is not something that is going to be within the capabilities of software anytime soon, at least to the level of placing total reliance on it. Software can help the auditor decide where to focus their efforts; but experience, knowledge and a questioning approach are still key attributes required of auditors.