Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) has revealed a technology-driven initiative to help its members modernise their practices. The inititiative was announced this week as part of Prime Minister Turnbull’s innovation platform and had been kept secret from vendors such as Xero and MYOB, reported the Australian Financial Review.
It sets the stage for an almighty tussle between the association and vendors over the opportunity to become the analytical hub of business data.
The CA Kairos initiative comprises three elements; a data analytics solution called “the Predictive Accountant”; a single-sign on web portal that connects to the ATO, online accounting programs and other services called “the Connected Practice”; and a business accelerator and innovation hub. CA ANZ has released a short video and blog post describing the initiative.
The initiative includes an analytics solution that uses business intelligence program Microsoft Power BI. Power BI aggregates data from online accounting software made by MYOB, Xero, Reckon, Class Super and Sage, as well as billing software and customer relationship (sales) programs.
CAs will also have access to Microsoft’s cloud platform for developers, Microsoft Azure, to write their own data queries.
The platform-agnostic Kairos puts the accounting association in competition with accounting software vendors’ own plans for data analytics.
Xero CEO Rod Drury has frequently talked about benchmarking customers as a key direction for Xero’s business platform. In 2011 Drury explained to Digital First how a Xero accountant could one day set up a benchmarking group for 20 plumbers in the same region so that each plumber could compare cash flow and revenue to the group average.
The following is an excerpt from the AFR story detailing how accountants will use the analytics program.
CAANZ has asked members to allow key business information, such as firm profitability, staff productivity and performance, to be de-identified and used for benchmarking.
This is similar to benchmarking reports compiled by consultants like Rob Nixon, David Smith, Thea Foster and Grant Bloxham but more robust according to Johnstone, who wants to compare his practice with other CA firms in the Sydney CBD.
Sydney accounting practice owner Cameron Johnstone of Weston Woodley & Robertson is volunteering as a guinea pig. He is one of nine practice owners whom CAANZ has road-tested the concept with over two separate sessions at Westpac’s innovation hive in Kogarah in Sydney’s south-west.
Johnstone wants to compare his practice against benchmarking data from CAANZ’ 4000 member firms, then work with Professor Sood to start writing his own queries around freight costs, which is a big expense for a lot of his clients.
CA Kairos represented a significant step for SMEs and chartered accountants, said CA ANZ Chief Executive Officer Lee White in a press release.
“There will be a huge demand for professional advisers who are commercially astute and data-savvy who can use predictive analytics to make better business decisions, particularly from small to medium sized enterprises. Chartered Accountants are ideally positioned to take advantage of this,” Lee said.
CA ANZ is also adding a Master of Data Analytics as an adjunct to its conventional CA program, the AFR reported. CA ANZ is aiming to beta test Microsoft Power BI by April 2016.
Pricing has not yet been determined, said the AFR. CA Kairos will be distributed through three companies, distributor Rhipe and IT services integrators HubOne and MOQdigital.