Accountancy firms warned not to cut back on digital skills training

Accountancy firms must not cut back on digital skills training despite the tougher economic backdrop, according to Sam Blanks, marketing manager at tech firm Silverfin.

“Knee jerk reactions like this will only widen the skills gap and put us at a disadvantage when we need to be upping our digital game,” she says.

Blanks believes many firms are already struggling to plug these gaps as digitisation and artificial intelligence continues to revolutionise the industry.

“Some companies are putting plasters over them by using contractors, agencies or freelancers on a temporary basis.

“Others are outsourcing to specialist providers.”

Blanks’ comments come as reports suggest employees possess an increasing appetite  for upskilling to futureproof themselves against the mounting reliance on technology.

A global study by PwC found that 40% of workers improved their digital capabilities during the pandemic, while 77% were willing to learn new skills.

It also revealed that 60% of respondents were worried automation was putting jobs at risk, with 39% believing their role would be obsolete within five years.

Unfounded fears

 Russell Gammon, chief solutions officer at Tax Systems, insists widespread fears that digitisation will lead to a wave of redundancies was overdone.

“The biggest misconception is that AI will magically do away with hundreds of jobs but it’s actually about helping people make the right decisions and do their jobs better,” he says.

However, he warns that digitisation is a threat to accountancy firms that fail to act as they risk falling behind rivals.

“If you’re taking 20 hours to do a compliance process that takes a rival firm five hours then you can’t compete on price,” he says. “You’ll either have to lose money or your price will be too high.”

Gammon believes cost considerations means that artificial intelligence (AI) is still several years away from becoming commonplace, even though technology is already enabling people to do more interesting jobs.

“It’s not about replacing humans, it’s providing lots of information for them to make decisions and quicker,” he says.

“We’ve also seen a lot of roles being created in the world of digital change.”

Silverfin’s Blanks has also noticed new positions being introduced within forward-thinking organisations that recognise the need to lure tech-savvy recruits.

“We are seeing a wider spectrum of roles within firms, from coding and data analysis to project management and heads of transformation,” she says.

More firms are running in-house training schemes to develop the abilities required, notes Blanks, while some are even looking to plug gaps through mergers and acquisitions.

“M&A used to be about buying customers, growth through acquisition, now it’s also about acquiring new skills and new capabilities.”

However, competition to attract digitally skilled individuals is fierce, according to research carried out on behalf of the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Firms were recruiting for 178,000 to 234,000 roles requiring hard data skills, with just under half of business having struggled to fill such positions, the report found.

“The supply of graduates with specialist data skills from universities is limited,” according to the report. .

“While many companies undertake to train their own workers internally, half of all workers surveyed reported they had not received any data skills training within the last two years despite considerable interest in undertaking training.”

Develop training programmes

 Becky Shields, head of the data analytics and AI team at Moore Kingston Smith, has been building up her firm’s capabilities in this area since arriving in 2014.

One of her first moves was to partner with a data science school, she says.

“It helped us develop a specific programme that is largely online, but we can overlay it with some actual audit analytics or internal transformation projects.”

Shields also says that developing skills with real life examples has been a major benefit, noting that many candidates can become “very valuable” within roughly 10 weeks.

However, she is aware of the need to keep on top of the tech-led developments to ensure the form has the required in-house skills, as well as the right outsource partners.

The ‘broad definition’ of AI

According to Phil Broadbery, head of PKF Digital, AI may sound “complicated, expensive and scary” but this doesn’t need to be the case. In fact, it has a broad definition.

For instance, a main focus for his firm has been helping clients make full use of their existing Microsoft Office365 subscriptions as they are rarely utilised.

“It surprises many when they see just how much capability they already have,” he says. “They already have access to tools for building workflows, apps and analytics with built-in options for AI capabilities.”

This also means PKF can support clients in a variety of automation projects around HR, finance and specific departmental operations.

“That’s just the starting point,” he adds. “As we build automation and analytical solutions for clients, we can then look at incorporating additional AI capabilities, whether that be to extract key data automatically, classify information according to patterns, or help with predictions.”

Broadbery believes that maintaining a competitive advantage requires firms to streamline their service provision and improve the entire client experience.

“We identify the bottlenecks and either automate or re-design that process with the help of new tools, rather than getting hung up on specific terms,” he notes.

 Beyond digital

 David Whitson-Black, head of talent development at Azets, agrees that a client-focused approach is essential, but believes the skills required today go beyond purely digital.

He says the firm has been working with training providers to ensure students receive the right training, including problem-solving and the ability to understand clients needs.

“Becoming better business advisors is more prevalent now as machine learning does a lot of the work for you,” he says. “It means we can spend more time looking at the client’s business.”

While Whitson-Black acknowledges the increasing need for people to be digitally aware, he insists the often overlooked human element remains a vital component.

“We have to evolve the training we give people so that everyone can have the opportunity to learn and change the ways in which they do things,” he says.

Regular career development reviews are an important part of this approach.

“We constantly touch on development needs, based on both what’s happening in the business and to them,” he says. “We look at their strengths and challenges, then create plans based on them.”

Looking to the future, Whitson-Black believes it’s important for trainee accountants to see how this traditional industry is embracing technological developments.

“Our students are the leaders of the future,” he adds. “It’s important they understand the skill requirements and what they’ll need to have a successful career.”