The survey also showed that technology adoption amongst medium, small and micro (MSM) AEs lagged significantly behind that of leading firms and larger AEs in the market*. The annual survey of AEs comprises accounting firms, accounting partnerships and accounting corporations.
The main reasons for not adopting new technology were perceived high costs, seeing no need to change current processes, and lacking knowledge to choose appropriate software. Although MSM AEs provide audit and accounting services, only 50% use on-premise accounting software, 15% use cloud-based accounting software and 34% use audit software.
The results of the survey were released in conjunction with the inaugural Accounting & Finance Show Asia 2018, which brought the latest accountancy practices, technology and solutions, presented by experts, advisors and consultants to MSMs as well as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Sharon Roessen, MD, Terrapinn, the event organiser, said she was surprised by the enthusiasm for the concept of such a show in Asia. The genesis for the show had come from an event acquired in the US, she shared during the Accounting & Finance Show Asia 2018 in Singapore.
"Everyone said you really need a show like this in Singapore. That gave us the confidence to launch it here," she said. "It's the best launch that we've done."
Roessen explained that banks, software companies and payments service providers are all coming together to help largely paper-based finance departments digitalise. The Singapore government is also supporting digitalisation. Terrapinn worked with the Singapore Accountancy Commission, which wanted to highlight the Industry Transformation Map (ITM) for Professional Services, while the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) wanted to showcase the Nationwide E-Invoicing Framework, for the event.
Roessen said: “Accountancy is a key subsector of the Professional Services Industry Transformation Map launched by the Singapore government in January 2018 to develop Singapore into a globally-leading professional services industry driven by innovation and partnerships."
"There are 600 accounting practices in Singapore, and 217,900 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and all of them have to do accounts," she added, disclosing that while Terrapinn had assumed that the audience would be largely local, quite a few attendees had actually flown in to visit the show.
A key message at the show was that low-cost, scalable and mobile technology solutions for accounting processes are available to companies of all sizes. "They think it's cost-prohibitive and it's not," Roessen said of the technologies on show. "Instead of being the book keeper, you can be the business advisor."One of the highlights during the show was Maybank’s showcase of its PayNow-ready invoices for SME business owners. Maybank and Financio, a cloud-based automated accounting software by Asian Business Software Solutions (ABSS), partnered to offer Maybank customers a one-of-a-kind PayNow-ready invoice that has a unique and dynamic PayNow QR code. Unlike the conventional QR code, which simply allows a buyer to pay a seller, the dynamic QR code embeds the company’s UEN, payer name, invoice number and payment amount in each invoice to allow the invoices to be tracked by Maybank and immediately reflected in the corporate bank account.
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| Cloud adoption was a key theme at Accounting & Finance Asia. |
The conference programme consists of six theatres and 150 presentations from local finance experts across two days.
Details:
The Accounting & Finance Show SG 2018 ran from 16 to 17 October 2018 in Singapore. The event hosted 2,788 attendees from 30 different countries.
Next year, the Accounting & Finance Show Asia 2019 will be held 8 to 9 October 2019 in Singapore, hosting an estimated 4,000 attendees. The Accounting & Finance Show PH in the Philippines will be held 25 to 26 June 2019, while the Accounting & Finance Show HK in Hong Kong will run from 11 to 12 September 2019. Both shows are expected to host 2,000 attendees.
Read the TechTrade Asia show-related blog posts:
The trend towards cloud-based accounting
Xero's success with cloud-based accounting
Fintech company Xriba's Asia expansion strategy
How Maybank is helping SMEs go digital
View pictures of the show on Facebook
*https://www.sac.gov.sg/sites/sac2017/files/AEcensus2017.pdf (page 44)
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