Riding the wave of the latest killer apps

I started my career in accounting just when the the last big ‘killer app’ arrived. 

The spreadsheet. 

We can’t live without them now and Excel has become the ubiquitous market leader as part of the Microsoft Office suite. 

Before the spreadsheet arrived ‘number crunching’ was a big part of accountants’ lives. Checking column and row totals in their clients’ manual records. Cross-casting on their own large analysis sheets. Lots of time spent checking and adding up lots of numbers. This time spent added no value at all to their clients but was a necessary part of work to ensure accuracy.

The spreadsheet changed all that and perhaps more importantly it allowed for rapid analysis and ‘what if?’ modelling. As a management accountant this was my bread and butter. Spreadsheets enabled me to prepare budgets, forecasts, investment appraisals and complete ad hoc analysis, rapidly and accurately.

It’s a tool we still use and can’t do without. It changed the way accountants work and enabled them to provide more value, rather than removing the need for accountants altogether. Undoubtedly some clerical jobs were lost but accountants continued to thrive.

There are new killer apps now transforming the accounting sector in the form of scanning software and cloud accounting software with links to  banking transactions.. 

Accountants ignore these at their peril. 

They have changed and are changing the landscape in 3 major ways:

• Removing the need to key in invoices and receipts into an accounting package
• Increasing the speed with which accounts can be processed and made available
• Access anywhere, any time

These are transformative changes on the scale of those we saw with the spreadsheet. As with the spreadsheet I don’t think these changes will bring about the demise of accountants. They will however limit the careers and prosperity of accountants and accountancy firms who do not embrace the change and adapt to new ways of working.

There is an opportunity to deliver greater value to clients through more timely reporting and analysis and providing more proactive advice and support..

There is a huge benefit for clients and accountants alike if we ride the wave together with these latest killer apps.

www.base52.co.uk