A new study reveals that while accounting firms know technology, processes and operating practices are tantamount to success, most firms aren’t keeping up with the rapid pace of change.
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new survey of 400 firms by CCH shows that an alarming 80% of tax practitioners and 68% of audit practitioners report their firms are failing to properly leverage current technologies.
The good news is that the study showed firms are leveraging “foundational technologies”: i.e., scanning and document management, and over the next three years, 60% of audit firms and 44% of tax practices said they would rely on cloud applications.
Among larger firms (those with over 50 professionals), cloud adoption is higher with 80% of audit firms and 74% of larger tax concerns using core software-as-a-service applications in each niche.
While the study found the majority of firms have documented processes in place, less than 75% follow them consistently, while 83% of audit firms and 61% of tax firms reported that their current process needs to be reassessed or improved.
With regard to staffing, nearly 60% of tax and audit firms reported that they have the right people performing the right work, but that 37% of auditors and 21% of tax firms have staff performing work for which they were overqualified.