After SMEs, also teurhanders: Digitization affects everyone
A study by TREUHAND|SUISSE and bexio shows that fiduciaries today spend too much time on administrative work. Work that will be automated in a few years. This means that other activities, such as advising SMEs, will be given more weight in the future.
Digitization - does it affect me too? Swiss fiduciaries say "yes" to this, as a study by the Swiss Association of Fiduciaries TREU-HAND|SUISSE and bexio, the leading provider of web-based business software, shows. More than 90 percent of finance professionals are convinced that the digital transformation will have a major impact on their industry by 2025. For the study, around 2100 members of the fiduciary association were surveyed online in fall 2016.
The study shows that today 60 percent of fiduciaries spend a large part of their working time on administrative work for their clients. A third even need more than half of their time, for example, to record documents or book business transactions.
Such simple administrative tasks will be eliminated in the future, as figures from Oxford University show: The professions of accountant and trustee will be 94 percent automated. This will affect almost 50,000 people in Switzerland alone.
These changes are not unexpected: Those surveyed by TREUHAND|SUISSE and bexio know that their everyday working lives will change in the next few years and therefore state that they will spend less time on administrative tasks in 2025.
This is also a consequence of the high time requirements of administrative work today: There is no time for other important work of fiduciaries, such as advising their clients: Today, for example, only just under 60 percent monitor their account balance on a quarterly basis or even less frequently. Yet staying liquid is essential for a healthy SME: 9 out of 10 bankruptcies are due to liquidity problems, according to figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Seco.
But how can financial professionals keep up with digitization? At bexio, we spoke with over 500 accountants and fiduciaries last year. Our conclusion: fiduciaries need to move with the times. The solution is digitization in three steps:
Venture into the digital terrain. Whether LinkedIn, XING, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram: Opt for certain of these social platforms and share there. Make sure that all your digital information is up-to-date (website and social media). Tip: Show digital presence!
Integrate digital processes into everyday work. In the past, a rather closed mindset prevailed: due to limited technical possibilities, accounting processes were increasingly manual and more complex. This has changed: Today, customers and clients have more control and influence. Processes are increasingly automated; repetitive, manual work is no longer necessary. Tip: Be open and always in contact with your business partners.
Improve constantly - everywhere, including digitally. Ask your customers and employees what they need, and listen carefully. As technology changes, so do their needs, for example in terms of sharing and transparency. Tip: Ask your customers. There are now various (free) online solutions for this.
And why all this? What does digitalization bring to finance professionals in SMEs? At bexio, we are convinced that only digital accountants will survive. The external finance professional is the small business owner's expert and sparring partner. And no longer the 'document typist' as in the past.
