Survey Shows Accounting Teams Embrace Technology to Solve Hiring Challenges

Accounting technology maker FloQast, Inc., has released its 2018 survey “Cloud Technology Advances the Accounting Profession.” The survey of more than 500 accounting and finance professionals exposed the challenges of hiring and retaining accounting talent while staying on top of ever-converging technologies used to modernize accounting tools. The survey also uncovered top strategies to address these problems including the adoption of modern technology to enable staff to be more efficient and flexible in remote work locations. It additionally revealed that accounting teams who adopt cloud technology are more apt to change the way they evaluate and hire, see increased job satisfaction and are less likely to be stressed by work.

Sponsored by FloQast and conducted by Dimensional Research in May 2018, the survey sought to identify the impact of technology and cloud applications within the accounting vertical.

“Accounting was among the first departments to rely on technology to perform their jobs embracing spreadsheets,” said Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst of Dimensional Research. “We’re seeing today that technology continues to change the accounting profession, requiring new skills and impacting the way teams hire and retain talent. We’re also seeing a new generation of “Cloud Accountants” that are taking advantage of new technologies and are all the happier for it.”

Key finding in the report include:

Technology Skills Aren’t Just Nice But Crucial to Success– The vast majority of respondents feel that tech skills are much more important than ten years ago and that new technology is having a positive impact on the profession.
Challenges in Technology Adoption to Stay Competitive – 85 percent are facing increased challenges in hiring and retaining talent, and technology adoption is a key strategy in attracting and retaining talent.
Cloud Application Adoption Produces Happier Teams – Teams adopting cloud accounting technology report increased job satisfaction, are more likely to view technology as good for one’s career, and are less likely to be stressed from work.

“It’s no longer just a number crunching game. As software becomes more complex and integrated into the foundations of the traditional accounting infrastructure, the skills needed to efficiently work in the accounting department have to lean into technology,” said Mike Whitmire, CPA, co-founder and CEO of FloQast. “The silver lining is that cloud computing and other emerging technologies help accountants and finance professionals become more accurate and efficient at their jobs, easing the burden.”

The shifting cultural attitudes towards technology are also crucial in the criteria for recruiting and retaining accounting talent. 97 percent of total respondents already savvy in cloud technology feel it has been good for their career. 86 percent of Millennial executives are optimistic about automation technology, while only 60 percent of Baby Boomers think it will positively impact their jobs. Surprisingly, some traditional skills have not gone away and are just as important today as they were previously. Almost 4 in 5 accountants (79 percent) say that Excel skills are more important now than ten years ago.

That said, almost all respondents that influence the hiring and recruitment process have already begun changing the way they evaluate new hires with more emphasis on information technology skills (49 percent) and system thinking (50 percent).

The full report is at www.floqast.com/cloud-accounting-survey.