
Many people, certainly of a certain age, will think of Jethro Tull as a progressive rock band in the late 1960s and early 70s.
Jethro was in fact an English agriculturist involved in the British Agricultural Revolution of the 18th century. His most famous invention was the seed drill in 1700, a horse-drawn contraption that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. He later developed a horse-drawn hoe.
He was at the forefront of the gradual transformation of the traditional agricultural system that began in Britain in the 18th century and sparked the first real technological change in the UK that saw automation begin to replace mass labour.
Newton and the age of Enlightenment
Even earlier, Sir Isaac Newton, an English mathematician and physicist was a key figure in the philosophical revolution known as the Enlightenment. it is his formulation of the three laws of motion—the basic principles of modern physics and the effects of gravity – for which he is most famous.
Arguably, he was a driving force behind the next leap forward, the Industrial Revolution which straddled the 18th and 19th centuries and transformed economies that had been based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry and the factory system. New machines, new power sources, and new ways of organizing work made existing industries more productive and efficient.
Innovation continued with mass production and transport which culminated in the mid-1960s with space travel and the age of computers.
Birth of the internet a leap forward
Then the next leap forward happened in the 1980s the birth of the internet followed by research at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989-90 which resulted in the World Wide Web.
The internet and cloud technology now rules and the accounting industry is rapidly evolving with automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence now entrenched in the finance world through cloud-based technology.
It is shaping the future of accounting by automating many tasks and pushing the profession toward more advisory and strategic support roles.
This means ever-changing roles and opportunities for accountants as with the challenges of new roles taking them in different directions.
The ever-evolving role of accountancy
As advanced systems handle repetitive work, these professionals will deal with more of the analysis, becoming the crucial link between data and clients. Technology will continue to impact the role of the accountant and the demand for accountants in the future.
Having said that many of the traditional roles like compliance still have to be completed and are quite often offshored.
GI offers a wide service here and in addition is at the cutting edge of cloud accountancy, whether advising on the most appropriate apps, tailoring them to specific needs or providing training and support.
Outsourcing provides an outstanding solution for accountants.
It can fill in the gaps and help you transform unprofitable clients into profitable ones while delivering the highest quality of work, to deadline, every time.
Contact our UK-based team of account managers today to find out how we can help your firm.