Real-time solution can find a balance for freelancers and sole traders
Did you know that clients can now open a bank account that automatically summarises income and expenditures, and is mooted to be Making Tax Digital ready, with automatic downloads to the client’s digital account with HMRC?
Are we about to witness the transfer of compliance activity, normally the job of accountants and bookkeepers, into hybrid banking solutions?
Coconut is a challenger software group offering this service to freelancers and the self-employed. It's basically a real-time banking app that estimates income tax owing.
More and more routine analysis work is being automated, either by an accountant’s own software or third-party solutions. So there's a case for selling advice rather than providing processing skills.
Specialist skills
No doubt these changes will take time to unwind but, in the meantime, it's a good idea to develop of specialist skills where “automation” cannot contribute, at least not soon.
As an example, consider the requirement for all businesses to be GDPR compliant on or before 25 May 2018. If you take the time to review your practice systems that cover the management and security of personal data, why not offer these acquired skills to your clients?
Like all endangered species, the future for the accountancy profession depends on its ability to adapt to changing environments. We will probably need to abandon activity offering minimal returns and concentrate on specialist advice. After all, a coconut has limited usefulness if its main purpose is to act as a glorified adding machine.
Informanagement is on stand 846 at Accountex
