Automation is a word that crops up regularly in conversations today about the future of accountancy and indeed most other professions. As our relationship with technology becomes more complex and increasingly dependent, more and more processes that used to require human involvement are being carried out by computers in the blink of an eye and often without us even noticing.

Companies like Zapier and IFTTT, for example, have developed web applications that integrate a whole range of tasks from all parts of a business, and these include accounting tasks. Zapier alone supports over 400 applications, 25 of which are focussed directly on accounting, invoicing or billing. As a result, workflows are streamlined, processes are significantly sped up, and tedious, menial and repetitive tasks are virtually eliminated. This becomes particularly effective when combined with cloud software, which allows processes to be managed remotely from anywhere in the world.

At first glance, and certainly from a user point of view, this is a largely positive phenomenon. After all, speed and efficiency are two of the most significant measures by which the quality of a service is judged.

The downside of automation, and the reason why some individuals view this particular aspect of the profession’s evolution with concern, is the impact it can have on jobs. The impacts are most keenly felt on the junior end of the professional spectrum, as those tasks and processes that used to form a key part of a trainee accountant’s learning curve are now very often done by computer.

While these concerns are of course valid, the situation is what it is and most experts agree that the profession will continue to move in this direction. It should therefore be viewed as something of a wake-up call to those in the accountancy profession.

Think of it this way. It is unlikely that someone who is happy to sit and carry out the same menial task for days on end will have much of a future in the profession. Anyone with ambition however, combined with a genuine interest in improving how things are done and the end service that the client receives, could have a very bright future indeed.