How to get started.
It’s already clear that automation is an important technology that organizations are quickly adapting. So, as an accounting and finance professional, you need to learn to work with automation technology or risk losing relevance.
RPA can help your firm or organization increase efficiency, reduce error rates and deliver greater operational excellence. It is the next step on a journey toward enabling intelligent automation through cognitive computing.
Finance and IT should partner to implement RPA. Finance should own the process and IT should own the system.
Remember, as is often the case with change projects, the technology is the easy part. The hard part is bringing engaged people with you on the change journey.
An RPA project at any firm or organization is more likely to be successful if the team understands the processes being automated, and how it’s saving them (and the company) time and money.
For accounting and finance professionals, there’s also a great benefit to understanding RPA: It will enhance your career prospects as you develop important new change management skills. You might even become champion of the new technology as you help roll it out across your organization or your clients' business.
Exercise the accounting mindset. Learning to support agile working is easy for accounting and finance professionals. That’s because you already inform and facilitate the management and control cycle — a learning cycle that’s consistent with the rational, measured and commercial accounting mindset:
For accounting and finance professionals, there’s also a great benefit to understanding RPA: It will enhance your career prospects as you develop important new change management skills.
Conduct some basic background research to expand your RPA knowledge. Read articles and white papers including the one from the AICPA and CPA Canada on the auditor’s role in AI. And, of course, look at the resources available at the AICPA Store.
Look at RPA vendor software. Compare and contrast. The AICPA provides a RPA Vendor Checklist to help you get started asking the right questions.
Prioritize processes that could be automated in your organization or your clients'. Look at the reasons behind the current level of human intervention and consider the potential for automation.
Build consensus with relevant colleagues and potential senior sponsors in the business. Engage enthusiastic people who currently carry out the processes that will be automated.
"Implementing RPA is easier than you think."
