I'm the guy accounting firms call to solve their practice technology challenges. I'm independent, don't accept vendor commissions, and get firms back on track.
This is an issue that firms still face today particularly where there are generational divides. The loyalty expressed by older partners is not shared by the younger ones. Whilst this news is a few years old, several recent engagements are the reason for this post. The results of actions such as this - and it is not contained to APS - across many of the 'legacy' vendors (MYOB, APS, HandiSoft) especially as the torch gets passed from older partners to younger ones. In the past few weeks, younger partners in firme have approached me to understand the 'what is possible?' in accounting tech. Where a previously rusted-on, 'loyal' client would rarely move, the newer generation doesn't see it that way. They want to know what is out there, what tools are being used and how they might incorporate them into their firm when the older partners retire and 'hand over the keys' - ideally to make the move before the partner goes. The days of the suite are long gone and getting what a firm wants is very different to having what the firm needs. When a firm engages me, I am not just replacing old systems with newer ones with the same processes - I try to understand how their ambitions can be matched with the best available technology to future-proof as much as possible. Don't have your eggs in one basket. Al
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4moHaving been deeply involved in the last generational shift to a "suite" from the MYOB perspective and a brief period at Reckon, I believe that accountants of all generations are inherently conservative and require substantial trust to transition their core systems to a new supplier or technology. The cloud is logical as it represents the migration of existing functions, as seen with Xero, but they have opted to focus on their core competencies as an app marketplace develops around them. Australian ownership becomes a concern only if decisions affecting Australia are made overseas, as with CHH/Thomson Reuters, because the software here is uniquely tailored for compliance, and payback can be challenging. The Australian accounting market is difficult, demanding, and distinctive, and it may be oversupplied due to the requirements placed on it, despite the surge of new entrants fragmenting the market over the past decade. In my view, Gen Z partners will inherit suite-based technology and will consider it a framework to interchange components based on their specific efficiencies or needs (like FYI), utilizing a cloud platform that may be supplier-neutral, such as AWS, to facilitate growth and control.