The UK’s accountancy industry is on track to meet the government regulations for online filing, with less than a tenth of practitioners (6%) having never done any online filing, according to the latest Pulse survey from Sage (UK) Limited.
However, the survey also revealed that around eight out of ten (81%) accountants admit
to not having read the actual Carter Report, which ultimately paved the way
for government recommendations on electronic filing which will come into
full effect in 2011.
“The findings suggest that while the Carter Report acted as a valuable
catalyst for change which certainly accelerated the move towards online filing,
accountants didn’t actually need a lot of persuasion as most practitioners
are comfortable with digital working practices already,” commented
Managing Director of Sage’s Accountants’ Division, Greg Ford.
Presumably because of their greater responsibility for submitting tax returns
and end of year accounts, senior partners in firms appear to be leading the
march towards online filing, according to Sage.
When asked about the percentage of filing already done electronically, almost
half of practitioners (42%) over the age of 55 stated that they are conducting
between 60-100% of their filing online, compared to only 19% of 18-34 year olds.
While the move towards online filing is on track, it is not without challenges.
The biggest one is viewed as implementation, which narrowly beats user acceptance
and training, and is closely followed by security issues as barriers to adoption.
Part of the reason for this could be a lack of awareness and education from the government,
as over a quarter of survey participants (27%) claim that not enough has been
done in these areas. This is further reflected in a much higher amount (37%)
who believe that they have received more support from their software vendors than they
have from HMRC (only 28%), when it comes to the Carter Report and online filing.
However despite the ambivalence around the implications of The Carter Report,
over a third of accountants (35%) acknowledge that the speed of online filing
will be the biggest benefit, followed by ease of use (15%).
The results of the survey, which was commissioned to measure the impact of the
Carter Report, also show that the trusted spreadsheet seems to be on the way
out.
Only a third (35%) still use it for more than five hours per day, while 11% of accountants still have clients that solely rely on spreadsheets.
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