2024 is in full swing, and along with most things, the world of business accounting is evolving fast. Tech advancements, economic changes, regulatory changes, oh my! What’s a savvy entrepreneur and business owner to do but stay on top of all the trends?
After all, if you want to leverage financial opportunities and parlay them into real growth, you can’t be in the dark. However, not all trends are worth your time exploring, so keep reading as we dive into some of the ones we believe to be the most significant, along with their implications and a few actionable insights for your biz moving forward.
Digital and AI Tech is Here to Stay
Digital transformation in the world of accounting has been a thing for quite some time now, and digital and AI tech is continuing to be used more than ever to automate processes and give humans a little breathing room to focus on more strategic endeavors.
Whether it’s enhancing accuracy, automating repetitive tasks, or informing decisions with predictive analytics, the ability to automate and ramp up efficiency allows businesses to stay growth-minded instead of getting bogged down in the minutiae of accounting tasks.
If your business makes a point of mastering these systems so that you can use them effectively, you’ll have a better chance of remaining competitive. While there are many nay-sayers when it comes to utilizing AI technology, the reality is you can ignore it or shun it, but it will be to your detriment because nothing stops progress.
FP&A Roles Will Continue to Rise
If there’s anything you can count on, it’s that your business will face changes, and with those changes will come challenges. Opening up FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) roles to assist businesses in budgeting, forecasting, and strategic, data-driven business decisions will become increasingly vital in navigating a volatile and complex economic world. For businesses that want to keep their competitive edge and anticipate both opportunities and challenges, investing in FP&A professionals simply will not be optional, alongside investments into more advanced tools and methodologies to assist them in their jobs.
Strategic Outsourcing Used to Scale
Along with technology assistance, smart businesses are engaging in strategic outsourcing to improve overall efficiency and increase their access to specialized expertise while also lowering operational overhead. Again, the goal is more accuracy, efficiency, and compliance, which frees up the humanoids to put their time and attention on innovation and more growth-minded activities, improving that business’s ability to remain agile and scale without heavy internal resource investments.
More Robust Cybersecurity Will Be Prioritized
There’s no escaping digital tech, which means cyber-attacks are a very real and present threat to all businesses, especially businesses that may have access to sensitive data like finances. Since digital and cloud-based systems have become the norm rather than the exception, that exposure is even heavier. Data breaches are increasingly more common and can be extremely costly for businesses. To protect themselves, they’ll need to invest in additional training and more advanced protocols. Investments will also need to be made into cybersecurity measures that are robust, like multi-factor authentication (as annoying as it is) and regular security audits to keep trust with customers and stakeholders.
More Demand for Forensic Accountants
Along with cybersecurity threats come other, more white-collar crimes, like identity theft and employment fraud. This means that personnel skilled in sleuthing and detective work, who can review company files with a fine-toothed comb and expose financial crimes, are necessary, unfortunately. Good news for the accounting sleuths, though!
Staffing Solutions That Are Scaleable
A big asset to businesses in 2024 is their ability to scale quickly regarding staffing and business needs. In the accounting world, in particular, the need for skilled professionals can fluctuate depending on the financial cycle, strategic projects, and regulatory changes. Scalable staff simply means your business prioritizes keeping a mix of both permanent and flexible talent pools, with freelanced and outsourced services included in them, that allows your business to scale accounting up during peak times and scale down during less demanding times, offering businesses an agility they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Redefining Work Environments and Normalization of Remote Working
Speaking of agility, it’s also readily available in the accounting sector through the use of cloud storage solutions that allow for easy access to data anywhere, at any time. This means that remote working is also easier than ever, even in the world of finance. Not only does this trend offer more flexibility and adaptability than traditional work environments, but it also offers a strategic advantage, allowing your business to access a wider pool of talent and enhance your team’s job satisfaction.
Wellness Initiatives in the Workplace
Since we’re on the topic of job satisfaction, another trend that’s gaining momentum is workplace wellness initiatives designed to acknowledge and value the holistic health needs of its team members. Whether catering to needs for childcare or making accommodations for disabilities and chronic illnesses, a focus on wellness means that your team is healthier happier, and ultimately more productive.
Enhanced Customer Experiences and Personalization
This is a trend that’s happening all across the board, not just in accounting. Personalization and hyper-personalization are only going to be more in demand for businesses and brands that want to target and tailor their customer’s experience and interactions with them. Leveraging the use of technology in accounting, in particular, means you can offer more personalized recommendations and strategies to your clients that will increase loyalty and satisfaction.
Community Building Will Grow
Along with enhancing the customer experience is the trend of building strong online communities and establishing connections with your local communities. You can gain a fierce competitive advantage when you win over the locals, and this is true regardless of what sector of business you operate in. Personalizing customer interactions, offering tailored financial help, building relationships, and providing top-tier service all serve to help you build a business that’s in it to win it, with customers who are engaged and loyal.
Use of Blockchain for Increased Security and Transparency
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of blockchain technology by now. Mostly used by big banks, it’s continuing to evolve as a transformative force in the financial world, offering the kind of security and transparency customers want that is currently unparalleled. Blockchain use ensures accuracy in record-keeping and enhances trust, which is a big leap forward in the way sensitive financial data is handled, using cryptographic security to make transaction records unalterable.
Reliance on Data Forecasting and Tools to Help Do It
In a move toward more strategic and predictive roles, accountants are relying more and more on data forecasting and the tools that help them do it. When the world economy is uncertain, accurately forecasting financial trends is an invaluable skill that allows businesses to predict things like cash flow, future biz expenses, and future earnings, giving them the ability to make informed, smart business decisions.
Value-Based Pricing Structures
Value-based pricing is a trend that reflects a more client-centered approach in pricing strategies, cultivating client relationships and building customer loyalty by setting prices based on what the customer perceives the service is worth.
Leverage of Digital Ecosystems with Third-Party Platform Integration
Another big deal happening these days is the integration of third-party platforms, like Shopify and Uber Eats, into business operations. Platforms like these help facilitate transactions and allow customers to make purchases via apps, which means a streamlining is happening that offers more efficiency and accuracy in bookkeeping and accounting that we haven’t seen before.
Ultimately, most of these trends just underline the huge shift that’s happening in businesses everywhere, not just with accounting practices. More efficiency, more security, more agility… these are all business practices that will be invaluable in 2024, no matter your industry. Embrace the trends, ride the digital wave that’s quickly turning into a tsunami of epic proportions, and keep your business informed and successful by leveraging the opportunities these trends will present this year and far into the future.
