Virtual Accountants: Is this the Future of Finances?

On-demand accounting services are now available through virtual assistance programs designed to streamline access to and interaction with bank accounts by optimizing services to run as applications on smartphones and other similar platforms. The ever-changing face of the financial world brings with it a new channel for locating accountants, banks, and accounting services by adapting to the continuously increasing rise in popularity and the use of smart mobile devices in this progressive age of information and technology.

Software developers have to create a new format for users to access account management resources on-demand through their phones. With an upsurge in interest for virtual account management platforms, corporation treasurers are turning to these out-of-the-box applications to provide the solution to the issues inherently present in dealing with creating, managing, and monitoring physical bank accounts and accounting services. According to the global treasurer, the Value of Virtual Accounts from leading comprehensive knowledge resource for treasury, finance, payments, and cash management professionals The Global Treasurer.

This ease of contact between accounting firms/banks and their clients reaps a host of benefits for both parties. On the one hand, the businesses using these new applications to offer their services are likely to profit from this new medium of communication with both potential and existing clients alike, by not only increasing their outreach but, more importantly, exploring different modes for company outreach. Thus, the company’s audience can grow along with its clientele. This growth could include serving an entirely new generation of clients via online channels or even reaching an international market.

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As far as streamlining company account services, virtual accounting applications can aid businesses in a range of financial management processes and has the potential to reduce staff workload and monetary expenses actively.  It offers a modernized solution to the issues companies often have to contend with when dealing with physical account management by simplifying account and banking relationships. Virtual account management platforms also enable treasurers to integrate their physical accounts—which are holding capital—and their core virtual banking applications for a seamlessly incorporated summary of real-time account information.

But if approached correctly, operating within a virtual account environment offers an abundance of benefits including alternative solutions to traditional cash management servicing difficulties, the centralization of treasury functions, a substitute platform for liquidity management tools, heightened overall cost efficiency, and the simplified conception of banking and account relationships.

If nothing else, at least take the word of financial account management experts at the multinational investment bank and financial services holding company, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. In this article written in partnership with the independent financial publication, the Corporate Treasurer, two representatives of J.P. Morgan’s APAC liquidity and escrow services and cash core management product discuss the intricate inner workings and advantages of virtual accounting.

As the landscape of financial regulations becomes increasingly strict and demands of the consumer market become significant, the need for more efficient, accessible, scalable accounting services through on-demand mediums has grown. On top of this, operating in a virtual account environment contributes to the consistently desirable objective of reducing the overall cost of doing business. It takes no stretch of the imagination to understand why the corporate appetite for virtual accounting has intensified in recent years: it provides an abundance of benefits to corporations, clients, and banks, and accounting firms.

For both domestic and international corporations, the challenges of managing physical accounts to remain in control of their finances are reaching a breaking point: facing a proliferation of accounts, fragmented liquidity, and unreconciled suspense entries are just some of the complications that arise when managing countless physical accounts. To better manage physical accounts, it will be better to have accountants who take the best CPA review courses; then, it will level up the company’s accounting management. By also using virtual accounts, companies can simplify the administration of liquidity and account management thanks to the software’s automated structures for these processes. For more on this, read through this article written by liquidity management expert David Rego for business and finance publication Euromoney. It also allows corporations to reduce unnecessary interactions with physical bank accounts and streamline resourcing to survive a business world in which margins are under mounting pressure.

Company treasurers are empowered by the services virtual accounting software applications can offer, as it grants them more direct control over the business’s assets and provides a view of cash positions which has been intentionally restructured to optimize account management efficiency. Unlike with physical accounting, virtual accounting also boasts flexibility in reporting and enables corporations to make better, smarter decisions regarding their finances. Consequently, the corporate treasury can be seamlessly advanced by the mitigation of the numerous issues presented by dealing with physical account management. For instance, corporations that operate on a larger-scale and maintain hundreds or thousands of bank accounts often face contention in opening, tracking, rationalizing, and closing client accounts, as well as reconciling client collections and payments. The cost of running these physical accounts is also a significant expense for any business, while these processes can take months and are not entirely in control of the company themselves.

The workload for corporate employees can be diminished by employing virtual account management services, as a company can effortlessly (and for a significantly reduced cost) segregate money with its accounts without relying on the laborious and complicated administrative process of holding additional accounts for various functions and/or lines of business. Another key advantage of using virtual accounting services is flexible, self-service functionality. For a full run-down of the extensive capabilities and benefits of implementing the use of virtual account management platforms for the smoother running of corporate treasury, take a look at this comprehensive report from Accenture Payments on Virtual Accounts and Virtual Account Management: A Major Opportunity for Today’s Transaction Banks.