Accountants risk losing clients with 'naive' thinking

Managing director and co-founder of ezyCollect, Arjun Singh, says accountants have failed to implement new systems because they are either “too time poor” to do it or are “old-school” accountants who do not see the need for change.

“A lot of [accountants] feel like their own clients are comfortable where they are and they’re so secure in their clients not using [new technology] that they feel, ‘why change if [the clients] don’t want to change?’,” Mr Singh said.

“These are people who have been servicing these clients and getting lots of revenue, and they’re not looking for big growth, they’re happy where they are, they’ve already had their growth are they’re doing well, so the need for change means more work for them.”

Mr Singh said while firms that have not adopted new technology might be maintaining their revenue now, client demands will change over the next few years and firms will lose clients if they do not have the proper systems in place.

“The problem is it’s a bit naive in their thinking because over time their clients will want [newer systems], because if you don’t innovate then you’re going to die, that’s a key thing,” he said.

“But probably the biggest thing is ... accountants are so busy they don’t have the time to implement new technology, so they’re too busy working in their business, not on their business.”

Mr Singh said firms should first consider moving to the cloud if they haven’t already and using services that eliminate receipts.

“You go to the [old-school] offices and they’ve got papers all over the boardroom, they’re running around madly, they’re very busy, but they’re not actually very profitable.

“The question is ‘why are you not adopting technology? Because if you don’t you’ll be irrelevant in the next couple of years.”