Welcome to AccelPro Audit, where we provide expert interviews and coaching to accelerate your professional development. Today we’re featuring a conversation about digital transformation in the accounting and audit space. Our guest is Ben Richmond, Country Manager, United States at Xero, one of the leading providers of cloud-based accounting software.
The work of auditors and accountants used to be mostly done with a whole lot of Excel. Now thousands of apps and platforms are emerging promising to move that work to the cloud and automate much of it. What opportunities does that present for auditors? What challenges and pitfalls? Does that mean every auditor needs to be a tech whiz now? And what about all the hype around AI and machine learning?
Richmond offers a step-by-step pathway from where firms are now, to a fully digital future and talks about how new tech tools can open us new revenue-generating opportunities, ease staff shortages and improve relationships with clients. Realizing these benefits, he cautions, requires openness to innovation, attention to security concerns and a renewed focus on empathy and soft skills, in addition to tech competence.
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