UK Focus
Open Integration from Wolters Kluwer powers new ways of working for advisors and their clients U
nderstanding an industry in change
The world of bookkeeping is an area where technology has continued to evolve. From advisors simply promoting a single on-premise solution to their clients, to the introduction of collaborative cloud solutions such as those offered by Xero. SME’s now have greater choice than ever before, and advisors are now in a strong position to offer more value-added services. As usual, with opportunities, come challenges for the accounting practice. Employees are required to be more flexible. They need to adapt to changing solutions more quickly whilst simultaneously being able to swiftly move from one solution to another to deal with individual SME requirements. Within the accounting practice, individuals will require advanced training on more than one solution to ensure they can continue to be seen as the ‘expert’ to their SME’s. Also, it’s possible that the flow of 64 / Issue 15
work from the SME to the advisor may call for some ‘work arounds’ to support multiple solutions. Accounting practices will have to manage relationships with multiple software suppliers, ensuring each solution meets with the needs of their practice and their clients. At Wolters Kluwer, we understand that, as bookkeeping solutions become more intuitive and as more and more millennials start to use these solutions (both SME and practice users), roles and responsibilities are changing. Through collaborative bookkeeping, we are seeing scenarios where some SME’s are content to keep track of their income and expenditure, while continuing to rely on their advisor for review and accuracy checks. As a result, the advisor will have to learn and adapt to new solutions that are available. With the introduction of Making Tax Digital, we will see even greater change as the advisor and SME relationship evolves. More touch points between the advisor and the SME will be required for the purposes of quarterly reporting,
@wolterskluweruk
Wendy Rowe is the UK Product Director at Wolters Kluwer, Tax & Accounting. Formerly a chartered tax adviser working at Ernst & Young, Wendy has also held senior roles at Data Sciences and Financial Data Systems. She has over 20 years’ experience within the tax and accountancy software industry. Wendy’s focus is on how a business strategy and product vision can evolve through its customers and people. She translates customer needs into a software approach that solves pain points and provides new opportunities. She prides herself on her ability to anticipate the challenges that today’s accountants will face tomorrow. Wendy has an MBA in Strategy from Henley Management College, holds a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) qualification and is a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT).
ensuring they have all the data they need to be able to submit accurate numbers to HMRC. Although the changing industry landscape presents some challenges, it will also create many opportunities for advisors and SME’s. SME’s now have real choice when deciding which bookkeeping solution best meets both their functional and cost requirements to run their businesses. Wendy Rowe said “Collaborative bookkeeping and changes in legislation, such as Making Tax Digital, will ensure that advisors and SME’s have much closer working relationships as they will interact more regularly using cloud technology.” However, as practices will need to support multiple solutions and have more touch points with clients, there is the risk that advisors become less efficient. This could impact overall profitability of the practice, which could, in turn, affect the fees that they charge.
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