Top Firms Tie Tech Adoption to Client Retention

The accounting profession’s largest U.S. firms believe they are perceived by clients as technologically advanced, according to the preliminary results of a new study.

The study, commissioned by Fujitsu and SpeedTax, and conducted by research and consulting firm Bay Street Group, surveyed partners, senior executives and senior staff from top accounting firms. It found that 94 percent of the respondents said their firms are perceived by clients as technologically savvy when they adopt paperless and cloud-based technologies to speed up productivity.

In addition, the study found that 75 percent of the respondents believe their firms need to provide multiple document scanners to their staff and adopt new cloud-based systems. The full results and analysis of the survey will be released in January 2011.

Fujitsu and SpeedTax, a provider of cloud-based sales tax management technology, formed an alliance earlier this year to help CPAs and accountants understand the relationship between document management, Software as a Service, and sales tax compliance (see Fujitsu, SpeedTax Expand Accounting Outreach). 

“SpeedTax has spent the last three years educating the profession on SaaS-based sales tax services, and along with Fujitsu, how document management integrates to improve workflow,” said SpeedTax chief executive Anton Donde. “These preliminary findings appear to validate our activities. We look forward to continuing to work on education and thought leadership initiatives that further contribute to firm growth via client satisfaction and retention.”

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