Accountancy and bookkeeping firms are in a bind. Clients are demanding more strategic guidance and advice at a time when the accounting profession is facing a growing talent squeeze as fewer graduates pursue a career in the industry. This is piling pressure on accounting and bookkeeping professionals who are already overstretched, making it harder to provide the value-added advisory work that clients are increasingly looking for as they navigate frequent regulatory change and heightened economic uncertainty.
Faced with these mounting pressures, some firms have turned to outsourcing and offshoring to free up capacity. Others increasingly recognise they can keep the work in-house by investing in tech and AI to manage resources more effectively.
“This is where AI can come in. If you use the tools that you have available, that can create capacity and save time, which may alleviate some of those pressures,” says Paul Lodder, vice-president of accounting and product strategy at Dext.
By using AI, accountancy and bookkeeping firms can streamline processes and reduce manual work. Not only does that free up accounting professionals to focus on higher-value work, but it can also help improve accuracy by reducing the risk of human error.
“I could have an invoice and sit there typing it into my accounting software, and I could have a whole pile of invoices and sit there all day – but I can’t do that 24 hours a day, because I get tired and distracted, and that’s when mistakes can creep in,” Lodder says.
With an AI-powered system like Dext, for example, accountants can upload invoices and have the AI extract all the necessary information – such as supplier name, invoice amount, line items and categories.
“This is where AI is having a huge positive impact,” Lodder says. “We’re in a world where it’s more important than ever before to have accurate, up-to-date numbers that will allow the accountant or bookkeeper to work with their client to make informed decisions and make the right decisions.”
By creating that extra capacity, accountants and bookkeepers can spend more time with their clients. This might include goal-setting sessions, impact assessments or scenario planning around tariff changes and overseas expansion. It can also mean supporting business owners with exit strategies and retirement plans.
“Every business has its goals – the key for the accountant and bookkeeper is having the conversation to understand what those goals are, and then exploring how they can help the business achieve those goals,” says Lodder.
Those time savings from using AI don’t need to just be spent on business development or other client matters, they can also be used to give back personal time to accounting professionals by not having to work such long hours, improving their mental health and wellbeing.
“I don’t mind how people use their time,” says Lodder. “Time has a value; sometimes you can quantify that time by billing an extra 50% a year because of all of the time you’ve created and being able to take on more clients, but others may use that time to have every Friday off, which can be just as valuable and as important.”
While the potential benefits are clear, accountants and bookkeepers need to trust AI to get the most out of the technology – and that is sometimes the biggest challenge, says Lodder.
There’s still a tendency to use AI but then double-check everything, which means you start to lose the benefits and value it offers
“There’s still a tendency to use AI but then double-check everything, which means you start to lose the benefits and value it offers,” says Lodder. “That trust takes time to build, but when you fully embrace a tool like Dext, that’s when you’ll unlock its maximum potential capacity, and that can then start to alleviate those pressures and challenges in the industry.”
As AI advances, it may soon be able to provide more predictive insights and proactive advice that can support accountants and businesses alike. One example is around cash flow forecasting – an area that causes many businesses to fail because they didn’t realise they were running out of cash.
“Imagine a world where the software actually tells you 30 days in advance of a potential cash flow squeeze,” says Lodder. “It might flag that you’re getting close to your overdraft facility, because it’s looked at all of the data and the patterns and the frequency of when customers generally pay, and it’s looked at other outgoings. That kind of predictive analytics would be an absolute game changer.”
As AI becomes more widespread and deeply integrated into workflows, the role of accountants and bookkeepers will shift – enabling them to offer forward-looking advice rather than just reviewing what’s already happened.
“AI will replace accountants and bookkeepers, but only if they’re not embracing AI and technology,” says Lodder. “If you embrace AI, it will create more time. It also allows you to have more regular interactions with your clients, and AI can’t replace those conversations. The industry will always be about relationships. AI helps with that.”
For Lodder, if accountants aren’t embracing AI tools, it could have an impact on their business and client relationships, particularly if their competitors are already automating processes and being able to spend more time with their clients.
“I see it as a huge opportunity rather than a threat,” says Lodder. “We’re moving away from accountants and bookkeepers being seen historically as the number crunchers providing your set of accounts or your taxes, and instead providing more advisory and support to help businesses get to where they want to get to.”
To find out more, visit dext.com/uk/partner
Accountancy and bookkeeping firms are in a bind. Clients are demanding more strategic guidance and advice at a time when the accounting profession is facing a growing talent squeeze as fewer graduates pursue a career in the industry. This is piling pressure on accounting and bookkeeping professionals who are already overstretched, making it harder to provide the value-added advisory work that clients are increasingly looking for as they navigate frequent regulatory change and heightened economic uncertainty.
Faced with these mounting pressures, some firms have turned to outsourcing and offshoring to free up capacity. Others increasingly recognise they can keep the work in-house by investing in tech and AI to manage resources more effectively.
“This is where AI can come in. If you use the tools that you have available, that can create capacity and save time, which may alleviate some of those pressures,” says Paul Lodder, vice-president of accounting and product strategy at Dext.
