Lessons from platform economies for accounting and advisory firms
In an era of rapid technological advancement, the accounting and advisory industry is undergoing a major transformation. Firms must adapt not just to survive but to thrive, reimagining their operating models and the client experience. Leading firms are not only embedding new technologies such as artificial intelligence into the fabric of their firms but also leveraging outside-in principles from disruptors like Airbnb and Uber to turn their firms into tech-enabled platforms to embrace a 'glocal' (global + local) workforce strategy. Industry leaders are leveraging top talent from all over the world alongside local full-time staff, redefining industry benchmarks for leverage models, utilization, and operational efficiency to increase profitability by over 50% in some cases while transforming how they work, serve clients, and attract top-tier talent.
Reimagining Accounting & Advisory Firms
Just as Uber and Airbnb disrupted their respective industries, accounting and advisory firms are embracing technology to transform their operations. These tech giants have shown us the power of platforms to connect people and resources efficiently. Similarly, accounting firms are now leveraging technology to create agile, overhead-light models that can dynamically match talent to client needs. This shift enables firms to scale their operations seamlessly, leveraging real-time data insights to optimize performance. Gen AI is accelerating this shift by providing more intelligent resource management, helping firms more effectively align the right talent to the right project at the right time, regardless of geographic location.
Tech-enabled Reinvention
Accounting firms are reimagining their entire operational structure, drawing inspiration from the blueprints of platform economies pioneered by Uber and Airbnb. By leveraging AI-driven tools and cloud-based technologies, firms can now create elastic, scalable talent benches, much like how Uber dynamically scales riders and drivers.
This approach allows firms to create agility by dynamically aligning supply with demand in real-time, dramatically improving efficiency and service quality. Moreover, it enables a 'glocal' workforce strategy, where firms can seamlessly integrate local expertise with global talent pools, mitigating geopolitical risks and reducing cost-to-serve while maintaining high quality standards.
This shift addresses the industry's pressing challenges, such as talent shortages and margin pressures, and it positions firms to deliver faster, higher-quality services to clients while improving their own profitability.
Automation and AI: Changing the Nature of Work
While technology is transforming firm operating models, the accounting and advisory profession can also learn from how leading tech companies are embracing change. Jeff Bezos, who recently came out of retirement to focus on AI at Amazon, has said, "Modern AI is a horizontal enabling layer. It can be used to improve everything. It will be in everything. This is most like electricity."
This perspective can be deployed in professional services, where unprecedented opportunities for AI and automation exist to drive efficiency and quality improvements as a horizontal enabling layer.
Efficiency and Quality Opportunities
It's now old news that AI-driven automation is taking over repetitive tasks, allowing professionals to focus on more complex, value-added services.
Use cases deployed by top global firms range from administrative (AI virtual assistants to provide personalized support to partners and staff, timesheet compliance) to transforming the way engagement teams deliver. For instance, AI can proactively identify compliance risks in real-time, significantly reducing human oversight errors.
However, to truly unlock the potential of these technologies, firms can't simply deploy the tech within their existing delivery constructs and expect magic to happen. They must think holistically about the combination of new tech with specialized resources and improved business process. In many instances, work is being reimagined across these three dimensions via the establishment of Centers of Excellence (COEs) models.
Centers of Excellence: Tech + Process + Specialized Resources
COEs allow firms to centralize expertise and leverage technology at scale. For instance, a COE focused on relatively standardized work, such as Pension Plan Audits in the UK, can utilize specialized software and AI tools to streamline audits and ensure consistency across engagements. By combining tech with specialized resources and improved processes, leading firms are reducing cost-to-serve by over 50% in certain practice areas, reducing quality deficiencies, and freeing up staff from routine, compliance-oriented work to generate new business or elevate to higher value-add work.
Another example lies in financial due diligence advisory, where COE solutions can combine AI-powered tools with specialized processes to analyze thousands of transactions quickly, flagging potential issues for human experts to investigate. This combination of AI efficiency and human expertise leads to more thorough and accurate assessments in significantly less time.
The Future: 'Glocal', Agile, and Tech-enabled
As we look to the future, it's clear that the accounting and advisory landscape will be dramatically different from what we see today. The firms that are outpacing the field are those that think beyond the legacy model for professional services firms and instead look at outside-in examples to embrace innovation and reimagine their entire operating models.
By leveraging technology, reimagining service delivery models, and prioritizing both employee and client experiences, firms can not only survive but thrive in this new era. The transformation we're witnessing is not just about adopting new tools; it's about reimagining the entire profession to make it more dynamic, rewarding, and impactful than ever before.
