Internet Security and the changing role of the Accountant

3 minute read time.

Today clients are looking for a business partner, not just an accountant.

What it means to be an accountant is changing: technology is transforming the way your clients work—and what they expect from you. Have you got what you need to support your clients as they grow and develop their business, while growing your own business? 

 

Technology can help you make the move from accountant to business partner for your clients:

Read on here, however the key point is that:

 

LIVE! - Sage Colleague - Rachel Fisch on the problem with security on the Internet

  • Listen to the full Sage Advice podcast interview between Ed Kless and Rachel Fisch (who is Sage's Accountants Group Leader for Canada) here or read on below:

Rachel Fisch: "Sage gave me an opportunity to take my 20+ years of practitioner experience... To support bookkeepers and accountants in a way that I never thought possible. IT was always something that I had a passion for while I was building my own practice in Canada. There's 30,000 bookkeepers in Canada and I think we all kind of felt like we were having to craft our own workflows from scratch. Every client was unique, every workflow was unique and yet if we worked together collaborating and creating a community then we can actually build on each other's strengths and really feed each other in a way that I don't think was fostered before so it's something really cool that Sage is giving me the opportunity to do." - Rachel Fisch, Accountants Leader 

Ed Kless: "Bookkeepers in Canada are far more advanced [in aggregate] than bookkeepers in the US, for whatever reason bookkeepers in Canada have up'd at a level long before those in the US did as a group" 

Rachel Fisch: "I think what's interesting about ITBC… happening September 12 -16 in Calgary… you're getting the highest engaged and highest techy bookkeepers in Canada which is phenomenal. They really do have that passion for the best solutions for themselves and their clients and it's really exciting to see for sure" - Rachel Fisch 

Ed Kless: "What are you hearing from accountants and bookkeepers?... The top technological concern they have right now?"
Rachel Fisch: "It always seems to come down to security, and especially in Canada we have specific rules, the CRA has given us lots of rules to jump through and that's definitely top of mind… "

Ed Kless: "…I talked to Craig Lafalled and  one of the things that came out of that was that you know the internet as we know it, was not built with security in mind, it's an absolute afterthought… [questions like] what is your mother's maiden name ? [ Etc.] …all of these ridiculous things that you have to do to authenticate yourself [exist] because the internet is by and large unsecure"  

Rachel Fisch: "By nature it's not secure, it was built to connect people and to have this kind of free environment, so absolutely… couldn't agree more." 

Ed Kless: "There is going to be a wholesale change, I don't know if it's 2 months or 2 years from now but this security thing, when it does happen it's going to happen fast." 

Rachel Fisch: "with the number of breaches escalating quickly, something needs to be done, we're going to see it." 

Ed Kless: "We're going to see it."

 

Other Resources:

Thanks for reading!

      

For more resources visit: Sage Product Support Resources for help with products in North America