TECHNOLOGY ENABLING ACCOUNTANTS TO BROADEN THEIR SERVICES


For today’s accountants, technology plays a crucial role, whether it’s in terms of systems to support them or to help them as business advisors to clients


ACCA, CPA or CAI qualifications. “No matter which accounting body you study with, technology will hit you pretty much immediately as it is taught in early foundation levels of each qualification. One of the exams you need to pass is in information technology and it permeates the whole education process,” explains Peter O’Rourke, head of channel and cor- porate sales in Sage Ireland. “After you’ve qualified, continuous pro- fessional development (CPD) require- ments include maintaining a current knowledge of technology.” While today’s students will be indoctri- nated in technology, existing accountants, both in practice and industry, have to familiarise themselves with all available technologies. “From an IT point of view, accountants’ clients are asking them all the time about what technology they should be using, whether it’s a network, ERP, cloud solu- tions and so on. There is a multitude of questions accountants need to be able to advise on with clients. “Particularly with SMEs, clients rely on accountants more now to be broad gener-


T


echnology has become an inte- gral part of any accountant’s training now and is something that will be second nature to this generation of students, whether they are doing CIMA,


when looking after client data and filing tax returns. “2010 was an interesting time for accountants as there was a whole range of technical and compliance things they needed to get their heads around,” says O’Rourke. He cites XPRL, a compulsory technical filing requirement when filing accounts with Revenue, which is going live on 1 April in the UK and is on the way here. “Sage solutions take the pain and stress of dealing with such developments away. “Things have become very technical and automated. Sage is the only company to provide a full suite of products to support accountants. For example, when the boom times ended, one of the big spikes in infor- mation requirements was in relation to HR issues, such as redundancy and three- day weeks. A huge number of businesses went to accountants for advice. Sage pro- vides online HR services where they can get the current legislative advice.” O’Rourke says there are 2,400 account-


Peter O’Rourke, head of channel and corporate sales in Sage Ireland


al advisors, and technology enables them to do this.” For accountants in practice there are


very complex requirements in terms of managing data nowadays, for example


ancy practices in Ireland and 90pc are using at least one Sage product. Most businesses (82pc) in Ireland have 10 or fewer employees and rely on outside accountants. “The top 1pc of businesses are multinationals or large national busi- nesses. For those companies in the middle, they will often decide to rely on their financial controller rather than outsourc-


// From an IT


point of view, accountants’ clients are asking them all the time about what technology they should be using


ing to an accountant. Such financial con- trollers can be more isolated than account- ants in practice, required to know every- thing about technology to ascertain what the best investments are,” he explains. “In many cases, they have become the


key decision makers in this area and this means being on top of not just the vendor but the types of technology the company should be looking at.”


MORE THAN NUMBER CRUNCHERS


GONE are the days when a company accountant is focused on paper ledgers. Today’s accountant is under more pressure to produce accurate, timely and relevant reports on all areas of the business. Management decisions rely on these reports and they have become more and more important as busi- nesses explore ways to survive and grow. Pegasus Software supplies account- ing and business software to over 20,000 small and medium-sized busi- nesses. With 30 years’ experience, its software has grown from Pegasus Single User, Pegasus Senior, Opera, Opera II, to its flagship solution Opera 3. Pegasus Opera 3 enables a business and its employees a rapid, dynamic and effective sharing of information across the organisation. It also pro- vides the businesses with an edge over its competitors and helps them to maximise their profit as well as min- imising costs. It offers a one-system solution, with fully integrated finance, CRM, manu- facturing, construction, and service and helpdesk systems. It also has long-standing nominal links to all major Irish payroll packages. This ensures that there is no double entry and optimum visability across the organisation. Offering unbeatable inter-depart- mental integration and knowledge sharing, Opera 3 can give everyone in


the company a unified view of the business. Pegasus has designed it to ensure


it's easy to learn and use. Even your mobile workforce can be constantly in the loop via web browser applications, PDAs and other remote tools such as TomTom Business Solutions. Opera 3’s flexibility in its applica- tions, features, customisation, config- uration and set-up options allows you to build the specific solution you need to suit your business. It means you can buy what you need, when you need it, and expand the solution as your business grows.


Carmelisa Dunne, business development manager – Pegasus Software, Ireland


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