Accountancy Industry Digital Plans: SMPs Should Know About

What is Digital Accounting and How Accountancy Industry Digital Plans Can Help Companies?

In today’s competitive digital world, every organization must change its manual accounting practices and adopt the digitalization of accounts. Customers today want to access their data anytime and from any place, and digitalization makes it very quick. You can create real-time reports of your transactions at any hour of the day. Accountancy Industry Digital Plans makes all this possible with computers and accounting software. You can enter data and process it easily and quickly. Digital accounting helps the accounting staff to respond rapidly to the customer’s needs.

Benefits of Digital Accounting

• Digitalization will help accountants in providing quick and timely bookkeeping services. From a single cloud space, they can quickly get access to all receipts.
• All tax returns can be made digitally making the process more efficient and more manageable.
• When all accounting processes are digitized, more valuable time can be spent on other useful methods, thus eliminating wastage of time and effort.
• One more benefit of digitalization is the saving of storage space needed for keeping and maintaining accounting records which would otherwise be very high in manual processes.
• There will also be a reduction in the costs of materials used for accounting as compared to manual methods. Digitalization also enables a better analysis of financial information and helps to make predictions based on them.

What Accountancy Industry Digital Plans (IDP) Have in Store for You?

The Accountancy industry digital plans in Singapore assist the Small and Medium-Sized Practices (SMPs) to be more competitive and attain higher productivity. Meanwhile, the IDP aims to digitally transform the SMPs, who form the majority of the accounting sector. It will help you to achieve the latest digital skills and knowhow. Also, you can use such technology to provide more valuable services to their clients.

The Accountancy Industry Digital Plans (IDP) supports the Accountancy sector. They launched a roadmap in 2018 to transform Singapore into a leading international centre for accounting. The roadmap focuses mainly on four goals; which are skills development and enhancement, increased productivity, encouraging innovation, and promoting internationalization. The Accountancy Industry Digital Plans is part of the SMEs Go Digital program, which makes going digital easy for SMPs.

The Go Digital program comprises of 3 steps.

Getting Digitally Ready

The first step will assist SMPs to prepare for digitalization. They provide digital accounting solutions or tools that will help in the process. These include:

• Audit management: A tool that will increase efficiency by enabling dashboard navigation and provide linked data for all digital documentation and allow collaboration in real-time for the teams.
• Cloud Accounting, along with e-invoicing: This tool will enable the users to access account information in real-time from any location. It will also allow the users to avail of e-invoicing.
• Data analytics for audit: With this tool, you can identify the areas of high risk, find out irregularities, and manage the risks.
• Management of documentation: Through this, you can digitize all your documents. You can also search these documents easily. These documents are secured, and access is also given to the users. This documentation process facilitates easy sharing by users to their network.
• Know your customer (KYC) and screening for money laundering: You can easily track the customers’ information, analyze their past transactions, and also predict possible customer risks.
• Management of practices: Tools to manage engagements, improve the allocation of staff so that costs reduce. It also helps in improving the delivery of service to clients and improve the overall performance of the business.
• Managing taxes: You can reduce errors and make tax management easier. You can begin by simply filling out templates automatically with features to add notes and comments. This also eases the process of reviewing.

Growing in the Digital Economy

The second stage lists the following solutions to help the SMPs to achieve growth.

• Data analytics: Tools that allow interactive exchanges with clients and provide information and insights to them quickly with the help of dashboards.
• E – payment: By using this tool, you can connect business smoothly. It also enhances productivity and brings down the cost.
• Seamless transactions through an integrated e – platform: Connecting the systems of all enterprises, government agencies, and SMPs through Application programming interfaces (APIs) so that there is no duplication of work and transactions are seamless.

Leaping Ahead

The third stage is to bring innovation in accountancy by using Artificial intelligence (AI) for:

• Audits: Enabling easy identification of potential risks by studying patterns of data and allowing the staff to make better decisions for the planning of an audit.
• Accounting: Artificial intelligence in accounting makes interaction with customers more relaxed by using tools like chatbots to answer their accounts related queries. AI improves efficiency and saves time which the staff can allot for other valuable work.

Role of Digitized Cybersecurity, Human Resource Management, and Robotic Process Management

1. Human resources management: It helps to automate expenses, claims, and timesheets and helps to increase accuracy and improve speed. It also simplifies the digitalization of appraisals and payrolls, improves efficiency, and reduces human-made errors.
2. Cybersecurity: You can protect the devices, data, and software from cyber attacks. These attacks come in the form of viruses or ransomware, which can damage your data. It can be used thus securing the critical data of clients. It also increases the faith of the clients and maintains goodwill.
3. Robotic process management (RPA): Automate the tasks that are repetitive such as bank reconciliation statements or processing of accounts receivables. Such tasks are wastage of time and effort. Through such tools, you can then utilize your staff in a better way. It gives them more time to focus on other essential tasks.

Training and Development of Digital Skills for Digital Readiness

In order to be digitally ready, the staff needs to undergo training in digital skills for all accounting roles and also require frequent upgrading of skills from time to time.

There are two types of courses available :

1. Tech Basics courses: These courses provide broad-based digital skills and awareness needed for the digital workplace along with vendor-specific training.
2. Tech Advanced courses: These are more advanced courses for providing training in agreement with the Skills Framework for accountancy and Skills framework for Information and Communication Technology.

How Can an SMP Center Help You?

An SMP centre supports the digital changeover of SMPs and helps them in understanding the Accountancy Industry Digital Plan. It will also assist SMPs to develop their digital capacities. It will consist of project management consultants who help the SMPs to adopt digital solutions in their existing business processes.

The centre will provide grants to SMPs to reduce the cost of adopting digital solutions. It will provide the necessary training for the staff to acquire digital skills and also provide grants to subsidize the same. The Accounting Technology and innovation centre will provide grants for developing new business models and innovative accounting technologies.

Overall, going digital is all about cutting-edge technology. However, people must also be aware that your business exists so that they can fully embrace innovation. Our team at Singapore Brand could provide you assistance in promoting your business brand across your target consumers. Contact us to know more.