AI for Accounting and Finance Blog

Companies are all different. Even if your firm specializes in a particular vertical market, it can still take a considerable amount of time for one of your accountants or bookkeepers to learn the general ledger and the cost classifications for dozens of different clients.

What does the future look like for CPA firms and bookkeeping firms that provide outsourced accounting services?

Smaller accounting firms tend to be more forward-leaning than larger accounting firms. Smaller, more nimble accounting firms are adding AI to their businesses now -- which means they can easily outsmart the larger accounting firms if they’re going to be slow at adopting AI into their accounting services.

When thinking about the competitive landscape, what does your accounting firm need to do today to make sure it remains relevant in the future?

• Industry: Accounting
• HQ: Kaysville, Utah (Salt Lake City metropolitan area)
• Employees: 30
• Accounting / Finance Systems: Bill.com and Intuit QuickBooks Online

Software and technology companies frequently talk about their product roadmap. But this isn’t something we typically hear from accounting firms. However, AI and machine learning impact the types of services an accounting firm can offer.

• Industry: Accounting
• HQ: San Francisco, California
• Employees: 100 - 150
• Accounting / Finance Systems: Bill.com, Expensify, and NetSuite (Countsy is NetSuite’s 2019 BPO Partner of the Year)

In addition to addressing your redundant tasks, your customer communications requirements, and future changes in technology, the AI (artificial intelligence) platform that you select needs to be able to process and understand your clients' documents.

A huge part of your success in automating outsourced accounting has to do with the mix of clients. These are the kinds of clients that you work with. Will your accounting practice change the mix of clients it has?

When you're thinking about how to select the right AI platform, you should first clarify why you're investing in AI. For most accounting, CPA, or outsourced bookkeeping firms, the goal is to find an AI-based accounting platform that will genuinely work for you. It should streamline time-consuming, mundane tasks.