Myths & Misconceptions: Robotic Process Automation in Accounting

Robotic process automation in accounting brought drastic changes in the industry. From changing how professionals work, to transforming the way we handle  government compliance, it is understandable that even professionals and industry leaders develop fears and misconceptions about the technological innovation.

To help you dispel the thoughts that are holding you back from accepting robotic accounting, here are some myths and misconceptions about robotic accounting, and the real facts to address them:

Myth #1: Robotic Accounting will result to the unemployment of finance and accounting professionals

Probably one of the biggest fears of F&A professionals about the robotic process automation (RPA) is that it will take their jobs away. Think tanks and industry leaders estimate that close to 70 to 80 percent of finance and accounting services today are going to be automated.

FACT: Robotic Accounting helps finance and accounting service providers give better value

With bulk, repetitive, and predictable tasks automated, finance and accounting professionals can focus in scaling up their services to provide better insights and value to their clients. Aside from which, robotic accounting also gives faster and more accurate results, thus giving professionals and decision-makers worry-free data sets to use in business analysis.

Myth #2: RPA is 100% Fool-proof

Since tasks are going to be automated and done by the platform, we can be sure that it does not have any errors and inconsistencies.

FACT: Robotic accounting is only as accurate as we want it to be.

It is crucial to remember that robotic accounting still relies on us to give instructions. It is not a genie that just happens to pop out from a lamp and give us our finance and accounting wishes. During the setup stage, your finance and accounting team will give the platform the appropriate rules to follow in the automation process. The platform will only produce correct results if you have given the correct instructions for it to follow.

Myth #3: It is not wise for us to invest in RPA

The implementation of robotic process automation in accounting will cost us a fortune, and even if we can afford it, it will take us time to recover from our losses.

FACT: You can save a lot of resources with accounting automation.

With the chance of getting accurate results now more likely than ever, robotic accounting saves your money and other resources by preventing errors that shouldn’t be there in the first place. More importantly, automating your accounting processes gives you something that money can’t buy: time to work on things that matter most to you, thus making robotic accounting a worthwhile investment.

Myth #4: My business is currently not ready for RPA

Some business owners are afraid that aside from the cost of setting up robotic process automation, their business size, age, or industry won’t benefit from robotic accounting at all.

FACT: Robotic accounting can be applied regardless of size, age, and industry

Whether your issue is about the size of your business, its age, or the industry that it belongs to, it won’t matter to robotic accounting. Robotic accounting is about process improvement, delivering better results by leveraging the available technologies and using them to complement your skills.

Without proper knowledge, it is easy to develop fears and misconceptions about groundbreaking innovation and technological breakthroughs. But with the proper information and the openness to change, you can take advantage of the future, and use it as an edge over your competition.

Curious about robotic accounting? Download our Robotic Accounting Primer and learn more about how you can benefit from robotic process automation in accounting, and how you can prepare your business for its implementation.