The Practice of Now 2020: Essential insights to support accountants and bookkeepers

Based on an independent survey of more than 3,000 accounting professionals worldwide, the Practice of Now 2020 report shines a light on the accountancy landscape of today – and tomorrow.

This year’s guide demonstrates how accountancy is on the brink of positive disruption as the third decade of the 21st century gets underway.

As such, it’s simply necessary reading for any accountant.

Incredible insight and expert input

The Practice of Now 2020 includes commentary from Sage expert voices including Chris Downing, former chartered accountant and now director for accountants and bookkeepers at Sage.

It also includes comment from Julia Wedgwood, former bookkeeper and now product manager for accountants at Sage.

Here’s a snippet of Downing’s insight:

“The most disruptive practices have got progressive people with ideas. They respect the existing accountancy model but are willing to experiment beyond the bounds of their comfort zone in order to deliver more services in a varied, more efficient manner that is exciting to clients.”

Nicky Larkin, managing director of Goringe Accountants, provides understanding from within the profession.

Meanwhile, new to the report for this year is a second independent qualitative survey among business owners and operators worldwide.

This provides incredible understanding of what they expect from the accounting professionals they use – and what can be done better.

Some of the key findings in The Practice of Now report

The report is packed full of fascinating and often surprising findings. Here’s just some:

• Moving beyond accounting: 79% of survey respondents are confident or very confident in providing business management and advisory services, such as marketing, cash flow, HR, people management, and growth modelling.
• Customer expectations: 82% of UK accountants agree that customer expectations have widened to include services such as advising on relevant finance and accounting technologies.
• Making Tax Digital (MTD) expansion: 72% of accountants listed MTD quarterly reporting as their first or second most important concern for 2020, despite certain aspects of it being postponed, due to coronavirus (COVID-19).
• Open banking: UK accountants listed this as the most important change that will impact the profession in the next 12 months.

Download now

This year’s Practice of Now report is mandatory reading for any accounting professional. It provides an unparalleled degree of insight into their industry – and shows how the profession is changing.

Put simply, the report is a gift to the accountant that wants to get ahead.