Accountancy and IT to work more closely

Kevin McLoughlin says newer technologies, such as SaaS, are needed to help transform small business accounts

As organisations face up to the implications of flat growth during 2012, SMEs are once again looking to cut costs to the bone.

UK organisations are at a disadvantage against competitors in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, for example, where the relationship between businesses and accountants has been transformed over the past decade.

How can UK businesses make the right, timely decisions about costs or new business ventures when the only detailed insight they have into business operations is the annual accounts, which are typically provided some three months after the year has ended?

How can they exploit market trends in demand for specific products without having trusted information about profitability or about the implications on the overall cost base of scaling up production or expanding services to meet this demand?

There is a huge opportunity for accountants to step up to the mark and play a vital role in enabling a new level of business insight and understanding that could transform the performance of UK SMEs. And the channel is best placed to help them do so.

However, this will require a significant shift in attitude and culture. It will require accountants to adopt not only new technology based on software-as-a-service (SaaS) to get faster access to client information, but also a new way of working that minimises repetitive administrative processes. This can free up skilled individuals to share their expertise and knowledge with the marketplace.

This would give UK customers the level of business insight and decision-making confidence that companies across Europe have been exploiting for many years.

Kevin McLoughlin is UK manager of Twinfield