2022 Trends for Finance and Accounting
Despite the uncertainty created by the global epidemic, clear trends are forming for the coming year as the world adjusts to a new normal.
The ups and downs of the last two years have presented accountants with not only challenges, but also possibilities.
The following are the most important ones that all accounting and finance professionals should be aware of.
Remote Workforce
In order to keep employees safe and healthy throughout the pandemic, we had to rethink how and where we worked. As a result, many knowledge workers have adapted to working remotely and prefer to split their time between home and the office following the pandemic. Remote employment appears to be here to stay in order to meet employee expectations. Businesses are moving toward finance and accounting systems that can be securely accessed by employees whether they are in the office or working remotely, and that are set to give real-time data that is fast and accurate, in response to the changing workplace landscape.
Risk of Fraud
As a result of the epidemic, fraud risks are changing. While organizations have become more conscious of the dangers of fraud perpetrated by outside parties, it is sometimes difficult to detect the threat from within. That's why it's critical to implement accounting best practices that not only prohibit employees or others from defrauding the company, but also provide a clear picture of its finances.
When suitable control structures are not built, the risk of fraud increases. With this in mind, many businesses are developing finance and accounting systems that automate activities and enforce standards that limit access to, review, and approval of payments to individuals with authority.
Data Security
Cyber criminals see the pandemic's disruption as an opportunity to improve their game and take advantage of a company's remote workforce's vulnerability. Because residential connections are less secure, employees who work from home are at a substantially higher risk than those who work in workplaces. As a result, cyber criminals can more readily acquire access to a company's network—and its financial information. That's why security techniques like multi-factor authentication, encryption, and security awareness training are being used to harden access to corporate data.
Optical Character Recognition (ORC)
Companies are increasingly relying on data-driven information such as financial forecasting, key performance indicators (KPIs), and cashflow analysis to make better business decisions, making it more important to save data in digital form. However, not all accounting tasks are paperless, and manually converting printed invoices to digital data takes time and exposes you to human mistake. Data entry is automated, more accurate, and less time-consuming when ORC is used.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are already changing the way businesses plan for the future, and the finance and accounting profession is embracing new technologies. While the full benefits of AI and machine learning may take years to manifest, firms that aspire to be industry leaders must invest in infrastructure that can take advantage of these technologies' promise. AI and ML will code, route, and evaluate information using automated procedures, and provide extra insight based on anticipated financial results based on market data trends.
Financial Guidance
Finance and accounting services that go beyond ensuring compliance and preserving records are expected by today's corporate leaders. They also seek proactive strategic guidance and assistance in order to make better company decisions. Companies must invest not only in cutting-edge technology that provides for more visibility into financial performance, but also in highly skilled finance and accounting staff as a result of this paradigm change. In 2022, the finance and accounting business will continue to prioritise technological developments, as seen by these trends. Accounting and financial experts will not be replaced by technology; rather, it will allow them to focus on data analysis, process development, and strategic initiatives.
