A new survey of accountancy professionals from fintech firm Moss has revealed imminent digital transformation in the sector industry.

More than half of respondents (57%) said that they predict accountancy will soon become completely cloud-based or automated.

It is believed that this will come as the sector embraces greater levels of innovation moving forward after the impact of pandemic.

Almost three quarters of respondents (74%) agreed that digital technology will be the most critical tool for future proofing their business or organisation, with 30% believing that spend management will become completely automated in the next five to 10 years.

The shift in thought, researchers said, can be considered a legacy of the pandemic, which forced industries and professions across the board to re-examine their use of digital tools and technologies to facilitate remote working.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, more than half (56%) of questioned professionals agreed that motivating clients to digitise their processes and reduce their costs is the most pressing need for their practice.

Financial management skills and streamlining company spend has become a vital part of the finance function. Around 32% of respondents said that maintaining data accuracy throughout the spend management process was their biggest challenge.

Almost half (45%) of accounting professionals said that banking and financial services is the sector that could most benefit from improved and more efficient spend management systems.

In an example of this trend, 46% said they have very recently started adopting next-gen technology such as AI, ML cloud computing and 5G.

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Mike Panzeri, general manager at Moss UK, commented on the research: “The Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit have understandably had a significant impact on the accountancy profession, but this hasn’t impacted our business growth. We’re still in a state of hypergrowth despite the rocky circumstances.

“Our research actually highlights the massive opportunity for innovative SMEs around the world to take advantage of the untapped powerhouse of digitised spend management.

“In fact, findings like these are the very reason Moss is so excited to launch in the UK as evidently, there is a very real demand for this type of solution.”

The research is welcome news after data collected earlier this year indicated that the accountancy sector in Scotland is being hobbled by a lack of tech specialists.

According to findings from the seventh Annual Salary Guide, the sector has been struggling to recruit accountants with high-level expertise in blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Modern accountancy is now becoming reliant on advances in the automation of financial planning and analysis using these technologies. However, a lack of high-level expertise has pushed businesses to consider applicants with the right skills set outside of financial services.

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