How Businesses like BRiN and Panalitix May Change the Way Accounting is Done

To quote my old boss (and Greek philosopher Heraclitus), “The only thing that is constant is change.” Nowhere is this truer than in the world of technology, which provides accountants, tax professionals, individuals and businesses with new tools at their fingertips every day.

I recently came across two pieces of technology that serve as excellent examples of how the world of technology is changing in a way that will disrupt the way traditional accounting and tax preparation are done, and offer a glimpse at how accountants today will need to innovate their practices to become Firms of the Future.

 BRiN Business Advisor

BRiN claims that it’s the world’s first artificially intelligent business advisor. It is a free smartphone app that provides education and support for businesses at their fingertips, 24 hours a day. Automated tools like this are attempting to assume responsibility for the advisory role many accountants and tax professionals offer their clients. Can an automated tool provide the same quality and depth of advice to individuals and entrepreneurs that a trained professional can? One thing is for sure – the tools will try. As a result, it may be more important than ever for accountants to ensure they are dedicated to providing advice, insights and information to their clients that will help them transform their finances.

Panalitix Advisory Services

Fortunately, there are many pieces of software that are making it easier than ever for accountants to offer these important advisory services to their clients. One example is Panalitix , cloud software that can help you analyze and monitor your clients’ financial status on one real-time dashboard. If you use QuickBooks® Online Accountant, you may have heard of Panalitix already; it is offered in the QuickBooks apps store and offers a seamless data integration with QuickBooks. With solutions like this, you can more easily keep an eye on your clients’ financial performance and recommend business advisory solutions to them.

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What’s Next?

No doubt, the future of accounting will look different than the industry does today. Information and technology are not only becoming more integrated and automated, but also moving to mobile, the cloud and our clients’ fingertips. As a result, client advisory services are becoming even more important to differentiating your services from traditional firms that offer accounting and compliance services – and nothing more. As my former boss also often said, “You can either change or be left behind.” Disruptive technology like these may force tax professionals and accountants to make radical changes to the ways they run their practices and become Firms of the Future, or be left behind as firms of the past.

Editor’s note: Find out about Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax Online and how it can help you tax your tax preparation to the cloud.