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The pandemic has led to a demand in automatic processes, enabling companies like FloQast, that provide accounting automation software to finance teams globally enabling them to close their month end with ease and dispense with much of the typical bureaucracy associated with accounting processes, to flourish.
The company has more than 1,500 customers on its books, including the likes of Zoom, MongoDB and WorldRemit. Its customers have – on average – been able to make three days in savings when it comes to month end, deliver audits that are 40 per cent cleaner in terms of potential accounting pitfalls, and save an additional 25 per cent in time across the team due to the automation the FloQast software provides.
Adam Zoucha, Managing Director FloQast, EMEA, with just under 10 years of experience in accounting, shares his insights on how fintechs can enable better information sharing in the accounting sector:
What has been the traditional company response to financial technology innovations nationally?
Financial technology innovations are at the forefront of what we do. As a financial technology company, we look at national laws, regulations, and future policy that might have an impact on how businesses do things. So, when we’re looking at how we innovate FloQast, we’re taking all these factors into account so that we can stay ahead of any changes or trends on each of these fronts and offer innovation to our clients.
How has this changed over the past few years?
In terms of technology in general, we’ve all gone through a big shift in mentality following the pandemic. As a company, we’ve only been in the UK for about a year so that’s also been a big step for us, but it hasn’t changed how we think about things. As a technology company, we always look to the future and how we can be one step ahead. Moving forward through innovation continues to be our mentality.
Is there anything that has created a culture of change inside the company?
Since we took on a large amount of funding in July 2020, the culture of the company has shifted. It’s an exciting time as we’re working towards becoming a public company. This has significantly heightened the expectations that we all have internally. We’ve brought in outside executives and managers who have experience of an IPO, who are focused on creating a culture that doesn’t lose the baseline of who we are at FloQast but rather strives to amp it up. We’re all hyper-focused on success and collaborating as a team to get to that next level.
Which fintech ideas have been implemented? (This refers to wider concepts/beliefs in the industry)
This is twofold for us. The first is workflow collaboration – collaborative software and fintech tools have really taken over and are at the forefront of what companies need. We’re no stranger to it and as a company we’re also adopting many of these tools and solutions. The second theme is automation. We’re doing everything we can to automate internally by streamlining as many historically manual processes as possible.
What benefits have these brought?
They’ve allowed us to collaborate better and more easily. It’s also allowed us to do our everyday work so much faster. This means more time freed up for analysis and strategy and more focus placed on those areas that really matter, within the context of our funding and the ambitions of the company.
Do you see any other industry challenges on the horizon?
The hard thing about the accounting industry is that there’s always policies developing and new laws to follow. Staying ahead of the game with software technology and accounting knowledge, in general, is difficult. The other challenge is adapting to a new way of working. A popular phrase in accounting over the years has been ‘it always gets done’. Changing this mentality from ‘it will get done’ to ‘how can I do this better?’ is a challenge accounting departments are going through. It’s a fun challenge, but it’s a challenge, nonetheless.
Can these challenges be aided by fintech?
Absolutely. Fintech specific to accounting and finance has largely lagged behind in terms of innovation and functionality, especially in comparison to similar tech for other business applications. It speaks a little bit to what I mentioned earlier in terms of mentality. The finance function is generally risk averse – why take the risk of messing up by deviating from your normal ways of doing things? Historically, finance tries to run lean, but what departments and leaders are finding now is that they can run leaner by implementing the right support systems. Fintech is getting its time to shine right now.
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