As client expectations evolve and the demand for fractional CFO services grows, firms are rethinking their role from compliance to strategy. In this Accountancy Age Live recap, leaders from Xeinadin and Modulr share how technology, trust, and modern payments are reshaping the future of accountancy.
Client expectations are changing. There’s a rising demand for fractional CFO services, and accountants are being asked to guide decisions, not just report on history. This creates both a challenge and an opportunity. How can firms bridge the gap from operational delivery to strategic influence?
This was the central question of our recent Accountancy Age live session, ‘The Future of Accountancy: Turning Innovation into Competitive Advantage.’ We were joined by Pete Anderson, COO of Xeinadin, and Joe Lines, Product Lead from Modulr, to explore this topic. For those who couldn’t join us, here is a debrief of the core themes we addressed.
We began with payments, a function often seen as a back-end task. Joe Lines argued that forward-thinking firms now treat payments as a core part of their offering. It becomes a clear sign of a modern practice and deepens the client relationship. Pete Anderson provided a powerful analogy: a person hiring an excavator wants the hole, not the machine. Clients want the end result, their people paid accurately and on time. He warned that offering payroll without the payment component is delivering an “incomplete service.”
From there, we explored how to scale trust as firms digitise. Pete Anderson emphasised that the “personal touch” must remain central. He noted that people buy into change when they trust the person leading it and advised finding internal “champions” to ensure new technology lands successfully. Joe Lines added that in payments, trust is absolute. He recommended firms look for four pillars in a partner: proven credentials, collaborative technology, expert human support, and strong security.
Our final theme was the advisory opportunity. Pete Anderson pointed out that clients, accustomed to real-time data from their personal apps, now expect the same from their accountants. This expectation is driving the demand for fractional CFO insights. The relationship itself is evolving from a “do it for me” model to a collaborative “do it with me” partnership. Joe Lines explained how technology underpins this shift, stating simply that “stale data leads to bad advice.” Modern, integrated systems are essential for providing the clean, real-time data that strategic work requires.
The entire conversation affirmed that the most successful firms will be those that use technology to enhance their human connections. We also fielded some excellent questions from the audience, which are available to watch in the full replay.
