AI in Accountancy: Transform Your Firm | Silverfin

Aiming Higher with AI

The accounting industry is under pressure to become more efficient and to increase the value of services provided to clients. Firms must achieve cost efficiencies and differentiation while also addressing a growing talent shortage.

Cloud technology, such as Silverfin, already delivers efficiencies by improving access, standardising data and schedules, and enabling automation. However, AI has the potential to further enhance these benefits and create new opportunities, including differentiation for ambitious firms.

At Silverfin, with a team that includes many former accountants, there is a strong belief that AI is essential in the technical toolkit of accountants. AI is already improving the work that accountancy firms and their clients rely on.

Software with AI consistently outperforms software without AI, as seen in client experiences and supported by research from companies like Accenture and McKinsey. Recent ACCA research also shows that modern tools and AI training are priorities for top accountants.

AI is clearly a necessary tool for accountancy firms. However, truly successful firms will embrace AI in trustworthy, transparent, and ethical ways that keep humans in control.

Silverfin Assistant was designed with these values in mind—to work with accountants, involving them for greater benefits rather than circumventing them. Clients using Silverfin Assistant have reported that the AI caught data inaccuracies that humans might miss. By improving data quality and reducing human error, accountants have more time to resolve issues or receive AI-driven training, increasing their knowledge.

This guide aims to help your firm start or expand its AI journey, as AI's potential for your team and clients is significant.

Six Ways AI Can Improve Your Accountancy Firm’s Performance

Capacity and Efficiency

AI can automate routine or manual tasks such as data entry, report generation, and account reconciliation.

Consistency, Accuracy, and Quality

AI technologies can mitigate human error and enhance the precision of financial reporting by using complex algorithms to analyse large datasets and identify anomalies that may be difficult for humans to spot.

Customer Service

AI-powered chatbots can provide quick responses to common queries around the clock. AI-driven platforms can also accelerate compliance workflows, generate precise financial management accounts, and offer deeper insights into cost-saving opportunities, financial planning, and risk management.

Talent Attraction and Retention

Employees prefer to work for forward-thinking companies, and this is true in accountancy as well. To attract and retain new or tech-savvy talent, firms need to adopt modern technologies.

Competitiveness

Early adoption of promising technologies increases the chances of market leadership. A McKinsey study found that early adopters of digital technologies outperformed their industry peers by a factor of 2 to 3 in revenue growth.

Financial Performance

Improving the bottom line is crucial. Some competitors may already be gaining a financial edge by adopting AI technologies.

About Silverfin

Silverfin is a cloud platform with live client data, connected workpapers, and AI, built by accountants for accountants. It improves the efficiency, accuracy, and profitability of traditional post-accounting work. With centralised data and automated workflows, tasks that once took days now take hours.

Silverfin supports over 340,000 client files annually for customers, including 30 of the top 100 accounting firms in the UK. By creating consistency and capacity, Silverfin helps firms thrive with improved quality, insights, and the benefits of AI trained on accounting data. The cloud Data Hub enables access to real-time data and eliminates errors, so preparing and submitting end-of-year accounts and corporation tax returns often takes 50% less time.

Silverfin Assistant

Silverfin Assistant continuously analyses client files to find unusual balances, missing transactions, and outliers. By flagging these and suggesting fixes, it saves hours of manual checking, improves accuracy, and enhances client service.