Robert Bean, Managing Partner

The short answer is yes, if set up correctly in consultation with the experts and tailored to meet your individual needs.

With businesses increasingly recognising the value of cloud-based accounting and a bespoke solution, AI is likely to take on a larger role at the forefront of accountancy and business operations – if properly understood and implemented.

The rapid pace of innovation in this space cannot be ignored, but developing effective services and strategies is still a continually developing process for both clients and firms alike.

How is AI being used in business and finance?

One in six UK businesses have adopted at least one piece of AI technology into their business structure, with a further 12 per cent either piloting or planning to adopt AI in the near future.

Of these pioneers, Government statistics find that nine per cent of UK companies have adopted AI for data management and analysis purposes, followed text generation and machine and process learning as the most popular uses of AI.

By sector, it’s no surprise that the legal, IT and finance industries are leading the charge, as professionals heavily reliant on large volumes of data, document templates and repetitive processes.

Nevertheless, a recent poll conducted by MyWorkpapers showed that adoption is still slow, with 28 per cent of accounting leaders surveyed saying that hadn’t even tried to use basic AI platforms, like ChatGPT.

Despite this, what we can see is that AI is being used as a tool to boost efficiency and free up more time for its operators to spend additional time on complex tasks.

The rise of cloud accounting

Offering a diverse range of benefits, cloud accounting is growing in popularity, but many firms are not optimising its efficiency – or seeking expert support with its implementation.

Beyond introducing a straightforward cloud-based system, cloud accounting experts can review your operations and identify where efficiencies can be introduced using an app stack.

This system of apps is a double-edged sword for the uninitiated.

Set up correctly, they can take your business operations, financial compliance and administration to a new level of efficiency.

With thousands of apps on the market, however, it’s easy to introduce a solution that doesn’t work for your business.

Cloud accountancy experts can offer independent, objective guidance on which app solutions will meet your needs and work seamlessly together as a system – as well as how AI can play a pivotal role.

Disrupting the traditional app stack

Increasingly popular and widely available, apps that use AI to support cloud accounting and business operations are changing the way we work.

Returning to how AI is currently being used, it’s clear that AI has significant potential in the fields of automation and process analysis.

AI integrations can automate and perform simple, repetitive tasks that may take up valuable time, with highly scalable solutions that can be rolled out swiftly across an organisation. In the world of accounting, these tasks include filing, sending and receiving invoices, collating data and outlining future plans based on past data and models.

Taking a step beyond that, certain AI integrations can also analyse data from business processes to identify new pathways that could simplify labour-intensive tasks, saving time and costs.

The future of AI in accounting

It’s clear that AI has a significant role to play in shaping the accounting sector.

With growing abilities to learn from data sets, spot patterns and react to issues that arise, AI is an incredibly useful tool that can be used to automate repetitive tasks and save time for work that cannot be automated.

However, business owners should also consider that each app stack and AI setup is unique to its user. Each business structure, product, service, team member and existing setup is different, so not all apps or AI integrations in the cloud will work for every business.

For this reason, it’s vital to engage fully with the experts, who can advise you on building an app stack that meets your business needs. This is also your prime opportunity to learn more about using AI in your cloud system and how to avoid the pitfalls associated with it.

Our experts can provide guidance on what app integrations will work well for you and where your business could benefit from AI and automation.

For more information on how we can support you, please get in touch with a member of our team.