Around this time, every year, I spot trends among my small business clients. Of course, there are those who are always late to the tax party. This year I'm seeing something a little different and I think it's being driven by the SAS (service as software) trend in accounting.
Bookkeeping is automatic!
I get it, bank downloads, data just falling into place. I see the TV ads and all of the new bookkeeping cloud-based software. It looks awesomely easy, and really, compared to what was only a few years ago, it is. What it is not, is bookkeeping.
If it were as easy at that, we'd all still be using Excel workbooks to track our financial data. But we don't, and the reason is that it's really hard to find mistakes. So now we have wonderfully user friendly accounting software out there at a great price. However, if you don't know where the "pieces" go, you've got a bowl of number soup.
Will accounting ever be completely automated? Probably not. Why? Because sometimes when you go to the pub, you've there to have a beer alone and sometimes you're taking out a client. You're the only one who knows (or perhaps your assistant). Those are the details that create an accurate picture of your company from an accounting perspective. Without it, it's digital goulash.
