From Numbers to Strategy: The New Role of CPAs is Strategic Advisory
Cloud accounting and generative AI tools are accelerating the automation trends in the accounting landscape.
The role of a certified public accountant (CPA) has been associated with taxation and number-crunching traditionally.
The dynamic business environment of today demands more from CPAs through their specialized skills, technology adoption, and above all, strategic thinking.
Core Activities of a CPA
The core activities of a CPA have been number-crunching, tax filing, regulatory compliance, accounting, reporting, and auditing for businesses.
It has been the traditional role of CPAs to provide these services to their clients for decades. The advent of cloud accounting has accelerated the trends and created newer challenges for CPAs.
Businesses still demand these core services from accountants. Accounting software cannot perform independently as yet and they do need handlers with specialized accounting knowledge.
The traditional role of accountants has been to perform:
● General accounting activities
● Cash handling
● Revenue management
● Invoicing, bank reconciliation, and disbursements
● Auditing
● Tax filing and reporting
● Financial planning and reporting
A Look at the New Role of CPAs
Over the years, the role of a CPA has evolved greatly with the advent of cloud accounting and new business trends globally.
Businesses now expect CPAs to be more flexible and adaptable in their skill sets.
Utilizing Technology Developments
Small businesses in particular want CPAs to be vigilant in utilizing technology developments as it is a costly venture for them.
Even though arranging the latest cloud accounting and enterprise resource management technology is challenging for most businesses, they expect accounting firms to harness them to their best advantage.
Data Transformation
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, numbers do not provide sufficient information.
The new challenge for accounting firms is to turn these numbers into vital information through data transformation.
Specialized Knowledge
CPAs and accounting firms leaning toward niches are offering better services to their clients nowadays.
Accountants with specialized knowledge of their profession and chosen industry are thriving well. It showcases their expertise in an industry to help their clients more effectively.
Soft Skills
Leveraging technology and adapting data trends is not enough to serve clients with complex accounting and advisory needs.
CPAs need to explain data to their clients to make informed decisions. Soft skills like communication and relationship building become vital in this aspect.
Better communication and interpersonal skills also bridge the gap between automation and human advisory services.
CPAs as Strategic Advisors
The dynamic and rapidly changing business environment demands accountants to be strategic thinkers.
Clients expect better advisory services from CPAs than they did a few years ago. They want accountants to take leadership roles and be involved in strategic thinking.
Manual and repetitive accounting tasks are being undertaken by accounting software and the evolving generative AI technology these days.
Thus, accountants don’t need to be bogged down by these tedious tasks anymore. The expectations have evolved from numbers to data visualization, data exploration, and predictive data modeling.
In short, the future CPAs will take more of an advisory role with better insights and useful information for their clients.