ET caught up with Nick Williams, Head of Business Development, Intuit at QBConnect in London. He talks about the challenges faced by Accountants. He comments: “Number one GDPR round the corner in May and then Making Tax Digital as we are in the run up to that in 13 months.”

He also talks about whether Accountants are actually ready for the changes ahead and what they need to do still. Is it too late for accountants, we ask him?  “it’s not too late”, but accountants do need to pull their fingers out that is clear.

He actually sees Making Tax Digital as a great opportunity not just for QuickBooks but also for Accountants. Those firms that place themselves in a position of readiness should be able to pick up a new client base he believes. Williams talks about how Artificial Intelligence is changing the workplace for accounting firms. How firms can only attract new generations such as millennials if they can offer work that in no longer mundane.

The promise that AI offers is the ability for accountants to finally become the expert business adviser they have always wanted to be. Automation and AI should help bring about this change,. It is something that QuickBooks is investing heavily on its solutions to deliver. An example of this is QuickBook Online Accountant (QBOA), demonstrated on stage as QBConnect. It is constantly improved by the development team at Intuit.

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