In an age where technology is advancing at an incredible rate, and we are living in a world striving to keep up with each new evolution, how do we, as humans, fare against our technological competition? How do we achieve the global expectations of delivering more, in faster timeframes, with increased efficiency and accuracy? And how do we do this while still providing a holistic, high quality, client-focused service that reflects our genuine desire for authentic relationships?

With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), for example machine learning, this could potentially eliminate data entry and processing entirely, enabling us to focus on the areas of our profession that add value and relevance to our clients.

Take bookkeeping, for example, and think about some of the more time-consuming and repetitive tasks that require a high degree of accuracy, but are often less appealing. Many of these functions have increased in efficiency through automation in bookkeeping systems such as Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, etc. Technology has enabled us to deliver accurate, timely results through process automation in a fraction of the time we would be able to do it manually. By gaining access to a live ledger we can look forward and improve our insights, therefore allowing us to do what technology can’t do - provide our professional advice using our interpretation based on cumulative knowledge and our years of experience.

As professionals, one of our essential qualities is integrity (and ethics). This is what our clients trust we will demonstrate in all aspects of our service and what we will apply in our decision-making. As much as technology and the introduction of AI into accounting can deliver integrity in its data processing, it has a harder time applying this to decision-making. As human beings, we make decisions based on the information that we are presented with, combined with the knowledge and experience we have built up over our lifetimes. We also rely on our ability to use our intuition when the facts are telling us one thing, but our gut (combination of experience, knowledge, hindsight, unconscious input) is telling us another. We can interpret our clients’ behaviour and use this in conjunction with data and information to decide when to investigate further and what the best decision is.

This is where our clients will trust our integrity and ethics over a purely data-driven decision.

What AI technology will afford us is time to focus more on what drives our business - relationships. A purely human interaction that adds the highest value to your business. It is the human connection that enables us to steer our communication and interactions to add value.

We understand that businesses are more than just the numbers, we want to spend time understanding your business, your people, your concerns, your issues, the good things that you are doing. In effect we want to become a partner in your business to help you achieve your life and business goals as you normally can’t achieve one without the other. We are more than just the numbers, they just show the outcome of everything you are doing and we can help you plan your business and help you achieve your goals.

We have been working closely with a company called Bstar to come up with a SME business report so that we can assist and better understand the needs of small business. Whilst we are a small business ourselves this report highlights areas that a number of small businesses feel they need advice and assistance with and aren’t sure if we can assist in that area. We are here to say we can! Over the coming months we will be in touch with you all, but for anyone who wants a preview or is interested in having a look, please give us a call and we can send you a copy and run through it with you.