Tech firm notes SME demand for 'real-time' accounting

Speaking to Public Accountant, strategic alliances director for APAC at Thomson Reuters Hydar Al Ammar said SMEs want greater clarity around how their business is operating.

In particular, he said SMEs now need real-time information and data, and that accountants need to be across it for their clients.

“Accountants should ask, ‘What is the position of my client right now?’, not ‘What was it six months ago?’ or ‘What was it a year ago?’,” Mr Al Ammar said.

“What is it now? How does that impact certain decisions being made by that business? Technology definitely plays a role in that. What are the technologies that clients are using that give real-time insights around what their financial position is?”

Mr Al Ammar said that aiding this trend along are the increasing number of workflow collaboration tools in the marketplace, where the accountant, the client and third parties can exchange information in a seamless manner so everyone has the same view.

Further, he noted that people are now understanding the risks associated with hosting on the cloud, and that addressing those risks comes down to the measures that firms have in place to protect their data and ensuring it remains private.

“Obviously staying within Australia is always important, and that's where it becomes a decision around the risk appetite of the individual firm,” Mr Al Ammar said.

“But I'm seeing less hesitation for cloud-based technology than, say, a couple of years ago where it was more of a question of what does this mean for me. If I host on the cloud now it's almost like a cloud-first mentality.”

Last week, chair of Walker Wayland and Power Tynan chief executive, Paul Hilton, told Public Accountant that the accounting industry is moving more towards a culture of collaboration than it has been in the past.

He also believed agility is becoming more important in the accounting world and is something smaller firms should be using more to their advantage.

“When you’re competing against the big four, they’re a lot harder to move. Agility is really important, so if a firm’s team is on board and they have a good mindset, the onus is on those practices could do really well if they want to. It’s a lot easier to move, say, 10 people than 10,000,” Mr Hilton said.