According to a recent Intuit QuickBooks survey of accountants, 92% have experienced hiring challenges in the past year, which comes as talent application numbers reached concerningly low levels in 2022.
The research*, however, also reveals technology as a solution to solving the skills shortage in the accounting sector – as well as opening up avenues for more meaningful work.
Many accountants we surveyed (86%) believe that having financial technologies in place will allow more opportunities for engaging work. In turn, this can help attract younger talent. And, over three quarters say technology frees up time to focus on being a better business partner to clients.
Alongside wider advancing technologies, AI will also play a crucial role in the next five years. AI is already revolutionising the way we interact with technology, with new generative AI tools such as ChatGPT producing incredibly sophisticated human-like responses to prompts.
According to the UK government, it is estimated that AI contributed £3.7 billion to the UK economy last year, demonstrating its wide-ranging use and growing popularity among enterprises.
Opportunities for upskilling and development
While better tech improves service offerings and streamlines operations, it also has many other benefits. Encouragingly for the employment landscape, tech creates more opportunities for upskilling and new growth paths – ultimately encouraging employees to stay motivated in their careers.
A third of those surveyed (33%) noted a direct positive impact on talent retention and acquisition from new technology investments, and 30% have already seen this tech result in happier and more engaged staff.
When it comes to retaining talent, aside from salary and working flexibility, our research shows that the most effective tools are opportunities to advance professionally (36%) and regular training and skills development (33%).
Businesses should prioritise adopting technology that can remove the burden of admin from day-to-day tasks, as more budding accountants are looking for interesting, engaging work rather than work laden with small tasks that could instead be automated.
Building better business partners
Accountants have always been so much more than number-crunchers, and as well as automating simpler routine tasks, tech can provide real-time insights that deepen accountants’ understanding of their client’s business and help provide better advice (48% surveyed agree). As a result, the role of the accountant can continue to be elevated to that of strategic business partner – which can be seen as more attractive to prospective hires.
In the next five years, AI will also play a crucial role in accountants’ ability to be an effective strategic business partner to their clients – with almost nine in ten (86%) agreeing. Reasons for this are varied, but namely, accountants can see that AI saves time through automation, creating more time to spend offering broader business advice.
Ultimately using AI and other innovative technologies means that accountants can build more personal relationships with their clients – spending more time side-by-side, problem solving and focusing on growth.
Get Connected, QuickBooks’ events for accounting and bookkeeping professionals, give accountants the opportunity to network and discover how technology can bolster their practice. Join us in Birmingham June 6 or in Manchester on June 14 to learn from our experts and power your practice.
*All stats are from independent research conducted by Pollfish on behalf of Intuit QuickBooks, with a representative sample of 2,000 UK accounting professionals sourced through Intuit’s database of existing customers. Survey conducted in January 2023 apart from this stat which is taken from independent research conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Intuit QuickBooks, with a sample of 503 accountants aged 18+, conducted in April 2023.