THE DIGITAL ACCOUNTANCY FORUM AND AWARDS – A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

Digital Accountancy Forum Programme

Wednesday 30th September

08:00
– 08:50

                                        Explore
the virtual platform and network

08:50
– 09:00

Chair’s opening remarks

SESSION ONE: Transforming People And
Processes Through Technology in the Age of Covid-19

09:00
– 09:20

Session reserved
for Deloitte

09:20
– 09:40

Discussing The Changing Shape
Of The Accounting Technology Landscape To Service The Changing Needs And
Expectations Of Clients

·        
Exploring how accountants can use cloud technology
in the most efficient way to keep up with technology as it evolves

·        
Showcasing how technology can help to truly enable
transformative change for your client’s business and the role you play in
advising them

·        
Exploring how accountants and bookkeepers can help businesses
expand and differentiate to be more successful in growing their business

·        
Understanding how to strike a balance between compliance and
advisory to better service the client

Senior
representative, XERO

09:40
– 10:00

Understanding
How To Best Adopt Blockchain In Order To Transform Existing Processes

• Discussing the potential for blockchain to enhance the accounting
  profession by reducing the costs of maintaining and reconciling ledgers and
  providing certainty over the ownership of assets

• Exploring how technology vendors and the Big Four are integrating
  blockchain in order to gain a competitive advantage
• Determining the implications of blockchain for auditors in order
  to understand new challenges and opportunities for audit and assurance
• Discussing the need for the role and skill sets of CPA auditors to
  adapt in order to keep up with new blockchain-based techniques and
  procedures

10:00
– 10:20

Exploring The
Need To Leverage Current Cloud Based Technologies In Order To Future Proof Firms

•        
Understanding how to harness cloud based technology to provide a more
efficient and cost-effective service to the client

•        
Discussing how to best educate clients in order to ensure that they
are turning to digital accounting

•        
Examining how to reduce the dependency on
IT to minimize related costs

•        
Reviewing transactional data to understand
how to use AI driven risk based Audit Data Analytics  

10:20 – 10:50

Panel: Discussing The Move Into Digital Accountancy
To Ensure Survival

·        
Understanding the latest developments in digital
accountancy in order to highlight future opportunities for growth

·        
Highlighting how the accountancy skill base can
grow in order to complement advances in technology

·        
Exploring how accounting technology can be
efficiently utilised to increase your client base

Senior
representative, XERO

10:50 – 11:00

Morning
refreshments and networking

SESSION
TWO:  Reaching The Point Of Digital Transformation

11:00 – 11:20

Case Study: Utilizing Artificial Intelligence In The
Accounting Practice To Remain Competitive

·        
Discussing EisnerAmper’s collaboration with IBM to make processes more
effective and more efficient

• Understanding
  how to incorporate Watson protocols within both audit and non-audit
  services to bring
  Artificial Intelligence into the accounting practice

·        
Focusing on the application
of Natural Language Processing within AI in the review of contracts to help
the firm analyse their growing library of documentation

·        
Providing fresh insights and learning into the use
of AI during a third year of development with IBM Watson in order to
understand progress

Jay Weinstein,
Managing Partner, EisnerAmper NY, Allinial
Global (EU)

11:20
– 11:40

Helping Accounting Businesses Uncover Valuable Insights
Within Their Financials To Remain Profitable

Kevin Lord, Practice Digital Enablement Manager, FreeAgent

11:40
– 12:00

Discussing How Technology Businesses Can
Improve Efficiencies In Order To Serve The Modern Accountancy Practice

·        
Explaining how mid-tier and independent
firms can use new technologies in
order to transform their current organisation and to get ahead of clients

·        
Providing a
practical example of how Symphony has improved a firm’s performance in order
to understand how to take firms on the journey from a semi manual environment
to the point of digital transformation

·        
Exploring the need for fully integrated systems
in order to provide full visibility across the accountancy practice and
greater systematic automation to key compliance processes and repetitive tasks

·        
Discussing the use of APIs in order to
understand how they can help us to link various technologies into a coherent
ecosystem

Brian Coventry, CEO, Symphony
Professional

12:00
– 12:20

Reviewing The
Increasing Reliance On Technology In Order To Understand How It Can Threaten
A Business’ Cyber Security

·        
Discussing how cyber-attacks can happen in order to increase awareness
on how to best deal with them 

• Providing
  guidance on how to best remain compliant with GDPR regulations in order
  to avoid heavy penalties and substantial legal action from clients who have
  had their information compromised
• Exploring
  how mid-tier and independent firms can efficiently analyse their own
  standard of cyber security in order to secure clients’ confidential data
  and valuable financial information
• Assessing
  the need for accountancy firms to educate themselves and their clients
  on cyber security in order to better prepare them against the threat of
  cyber-crime

Session reserved for ACCA

12:20 – 12:40

Panel:
Exploring How To Harness Digital Technology To Better Serve The Needs Of Clients

·        
Understanding the opportunities of technologies
like Artificial Intelligence and blockchain to streamline accounting
processes

·        
Discussing the best strategies to overcome
potential barriers in achieving successful implementation

·        
Exploring the challenges in cyber security to
protect accountancy firms

Jay
Weinstein, Managing Partner, EisnerAmper NY, Allinial
Global (EU)

Jonathan
Padgett, National Sales Manager, FreeAgent

Brian
Coventry, CEO, Symphony Professional

12:40
– 13:00

Lunch
& Networking

SESSION THREE: Continuing The Digital
Transformation

13:00
– 13:20

Understanding How
To Remain Compliant With Making Tax Digital In Order To Prepare For 2021

• Analysing
  the impact of accountancy software on independent firms to aid with
  Making Tax Digital
• Exploring
  how to find the best Making Tax Digital software in order to ensure that
  your business’s VAT affairs are 100% compliant with the new legislation
• Assessing
  the need for accounting firms to move clients to a digital accounting
  platform of their own
  choosing to avoid clients bypassing the accountant
• Discussing the need to train accountants on
  up to date tax changes in order to keep up with changing accounting
  requirements

13:20
– 13:40

Discussing How To Transform Efficiency Into
Profit To Help Your Practice Grow

·        
Exploring how AI-powered OCR technology and
human verification can turn documents into digital data faster than any other
solution to improve levels of accuracy

·        
Identifying inefficiencies in your existing
workflows to enhance internal processes

·        
Discussing how to accelerate processes to
transform the client journey

·        
Exploring how accountants can do more in
order to understand how small businesses can save time on their finances and
focus on growth.

Senior
representative, Receipt
Bank (EU)

13:40
– 14:00

Understanding
How Accountancy Firms Can Outsource Services In Order To Save Time

·        
Highlighting
the core motivations behind outsourcing in order to understand long term
benefits

·        
Exploring how
firms can use outsourcing to upgrade and improve your current financial
accounting processes

·        
Pinpointing
the right time to consider outsourcing in order to get ahead of your
competitors

·        
Discussing
how outsourcing can be a viable option for accountants to prepare for the
future

14:00 –
14:20

Panel: Discussing How To Keep Up With Digital
Transformation To Attract A Wider Range Of Clientele

·        
Exploring how accountancy firms can continue to
prepare for Making Tax Digital to help clients navigate this legislative
change

·        
Understanding how to improve efficiency and
accuracy in accounting practices in order to increase profits

·        
Highlighting the opportunities within outsourcing
accounting services to achieve operational efficiency

Senior representative, Receipt Bank (EU)

14:20
– 14:30

Mid-Afternoon Refreshments

SESSION FOUR: The
Future Of Accountancy: Where Is The Profession Heading Towards?

14:30
– 14:50

Discussing
How Globalisation Will Impact The Future of Accounting To Open Up New
Opportunities

• Exploring the impact of technological innovation in order to
  understand how it has made the financial district a global market
• Understanding the impact of globalization on accounting education to identify the
  implications for the industry and policymaking

·        
Exploring how
to create a more unified set of standards to reduce the gap between Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the International Reporting
Standards (IFRS)

·        
Pinpointing
the key reporting differences involved when working to provide funding for a
capital-seeking company in another country

14:50
– 15:10

The
Future Of Accounting Education To Respond To And Harness Technology

• Highlighting
  how technology is impacting the accounting profession and the impact on
  the attractiveness to graduates
• Exploring
  the need for professional bodies to continually evolve accounting
  qualifications in order to keep pace with technological change
• Considering
  the impact of business model and strategic decision on the accountant
  skill set, and variation between Big Four, mid-tier and independent
  firms
• Discussing
  Inflo’s work to embed emerging technologies accounting qualifications
  and broader education to teach the new skills of future accounts

Mark
Edmondson, CEO, Inflo

15:10
– 15:30

Predicting The
Future Of The Accounting Industry In Order To Understand Emerging Trends

·        
Discussing how
accountancy in practice is moving away from compliance and more towards a consultancy/advisory
nature in order to provide a more client-centric service

·        
Assessing the impact of ‘AI’ and
‘Machine Learning’ in order to understand it’s role in shaping a more
automated future for the accountancy practice

·        
Recognising the wider implications of
Brexit on the future of accountancy in order to understand how to best
prepare to leave the EU

·        
Examining the viability of accounting
software on mobile phone applications in order to maximise efficiencies

·        
Exploring whether digital accountancy is
harming the practice in order to understand what niche skills are needed to
counteract this

15:30 – 15:50

Closing panel: Exploring Where The Accountancy Profession Is
Heading Towards To Determine Future Opportunities

·        
Highlighting the impact of globalisation on the profession to develop the next generation of
accountants 

·        
Discussing  future
strategies to ensure that the accountancy profession remains attractive to
the younger generation

·        
Outlining future technological changes to increase the
automation of accountancy 

Mark Edmondson, CEO, Inflo

15:50
– 16:00

Chair’s closing remarks

16:00 – 16:45

Digital Accountancy Awards 2020

Join us for our virtual awards celebrating the
best in accounting excellence.