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As the adoption rate of fintech in Australia continues to rise, accounting firms should be aware of the opportunities they have and remain nimble in responding to client demands in relation to technology, according to a big four firm.
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Big 4 firm finds fintech demand on the up with clients
29 June 2017
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This week, EY released its latest EY FinTech Adoption Index, revealing that 37 per cent of digitally active Australians now use fintech, compared to 13 per cent in 2015.
This places Australia fifth out of 20 markets surveyed globally, following behind China at 69 per cent, India at 52 per cent, the UK at 42 per cent and Brazil at 40 per cent.
Rowan Macdonald, managing partner of EY's financial services business in Oceania, told Accountants Daily that as the adoption rate of fintech continues to rise, firms can’t fall behind.
“What it represents is a trend for consumers to want to handle more or most of their affairs online and through digital means, reduce the amount of paper etc,” Mr Macdonald said.
“I know the accounting professions modernised a lot of its practices in recent years, but I think that will be a continuing trend as well, there will be a need to conduct some of that interaction between accountants and their clients through digital means.”
According to Mr Macdonald some accounting software is already integrating with fintech products and giving accountants access to clients’ source data, which will soon become an expectation of the client.
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“We're definitely seeing demand from clients to modernise and digitise our practices and it’s inevitable that it'll work its way through to the B2C part of the economy,” he said.
“As non-business consumers use more wealth management and payment portals, there's going to be demand for accountants to be able to access that source material, rather than paper documents or other records of transactions. So I think that’s one area where things will continue to evolve.”
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