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since computers are reliable, isnt a modern accountant just a tax code knower?

doctor_eval 4y ago
I think there’s some truth to this but there’s also the need to set up books well and to implement important practices like reconciliation. For example the way accounts are grouped together can be important, eg to be able to see COGS and EBITDA. Mostly what I see is that an in house accountant does the books and an external accountant does the tax. But that might not be the case in all jurisdictions. All of that said, I’ve seen a lot of P&Ls and balance sheets over the years and most of them are so overcomplicated that it’s difficult to understand the business fundamentals. I’m not sure if that’s because accountants make things complicated, but I suspect it’s because accountants aren’t asked to be involved when they should be.
jimnotgym 4y ago
I'm an accountant, I run a finance team at an sme. I don't know much about tax at all. I certainly don't know 'tax code(s)' My accounts are fairly large, span 4 companies and several companies. My primary role is to keep the company solvant, and score keep for the shareholders and management team. My tax reporting is infrequent, outsourced to specialists, and not my primary concern. I look at the cash flow forecast every day. I look at tax once a year.
- WastingMyTime89 4y ago
  You don’t deal with salaries or collected VAT at all? That sounds unusual to me but I’m European. My parents own a moderately sized SME which involves multiple branches and a holding. While monitoring cash flow and dealing with invoices and payables take the lion share of their accounting, taxes related activities still take a significant amount of times.
simonjgreen 4y ago
This massively diminishes the value of the decision making process of the accountant and bookkeeper. I'm not aware of any SMB finance software that will, for example: - Know whether to post a transaction as COGS, OpEx, or CapEx. - Be able to decide if a transaction should be journals across a 24 month period or taken in a single hit. - Judge the length of depreciation for a particular piece of plant - Attribute unclear bank receipts to due invoices for reconciliation. That's just a handful of examples. The software ENABLES the finance team to make their decisions and provides them intelligence, but they still do a huge amount of the decision making. The decisions bookkeepers and accountants are taken are largely individual business specific, and based on the accounting principles of that business. Frankly if the decisions are taken well and the software is good, then the tax element can become one of the easiest components where the computer CAN just get on with it, along with the tax specialists

I think there’s some truth to this but there’s also the need to set up books well and to implement important practices like reconciliation. For example the way accounts are grouped together can be important, eg to be able to see COGS and EBITDA. Mostly what I see is that an in house accountant does the books and an external accountant does the tax. But that might not be the case in all jurisdictions. All of that said, I’ve seen a lot of P&Ls and balance sheets over the years and most of them are so overcomplicated that it’s difficult to understand the business fundamentals. I’m not sure if that’s because accountants make things complicated, but I suspect it’s because accountants aren’t asked to be involved when they should be.

jimnotgym 4y ago

I'm an accountant, I run a finance team at an sme. I don't know much about tax at all. I certainly don't know 'tax code(s)' My accounts are fairly large, span 4 companies and several companies. My primary role is to keep the company solvant, and score keep for the shareholders and management team. My tax reporting is infrequent, outsourced to specialists, and not my primary concern. I look at the cash flow forecast every day. I look at tax once a year.

WastingMyTime89 4y ago
You don’t deal with salaries or collected VAT at all? That sounds unusual to me but I’m European. My parents own a moderately sized SME which involves multiple branches and a holding. While monitoring cash flow and dealing with invoices and payables take the lion share of their accounting, taxes related activities still take a significant amount of times.

simonjgreen 4y ago

This massively diminishes the value of the decision making process of the accountant and bookkeeper. I'm not aware of any SMB finance software that will, for example: - Know whether to post a transaction as COGS, OpEx, or CapEx. - Be able to decide if a transaction should be journals across a 24 month period or taken in a single hit. - Judge the length of depreciation for a particular piece of plant - Attribute unclear bank receipts to due invoices for reconciliation. That's just a handful of examples. The software ENABLES the finance team to make their decisions and provides them intelligence, but they still do a huge amount of the decision making. The decisions bookkeepers and accountants are taken are largely individual business specific, and based on the accounting principles of that business. Frankly if the decisions are taken well and the software is good, then the tax element can become one of the easiest components where the computer CAN just get on with it, along with the tax specialists