CPA Practice Advisor - 26

THE 21ST CENTURY ACCOUNTANT

Robotic Process Automation:
An Introduction
WE OFTEN HEAR about robotic process automation (RPA) in the same circles where
other consultant-friendly buzzwords like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine
learning are mentioned.
RPA is not an entirely new
technology - in fact, many concepts
included in RPA are descendants of
older technologies like optical character recognition (OCR) of scanned
documents, zonal OCR, the "screen
scraping" tools used for decades to
extract data from legacy applications, and macro-based automation
scripts. Current RPA tools take
those capabilities to the next level
by allowing non-programmers to
create automation scripts and then
have the RPA tool interact with the
application the way a human might
do so in a computer session.
Just as the tasks a novice can
perform with Microsoft Excel pale
in comparison with what a skilled
expert can do with the same tool,
RPA suites offer increasing levels of
task automation to users of differing
abilities. Early generation process
automation tools are descendants
of the enterprise architecture applications (e.g. SAP, Oracle Financials,
Peoplesoft, Workday, etc.) used by
multinational enterprises to manage the financial, operational,
and compliance through

26

MAY 2019 ■

controlling their business processes.
Where customizing first generation tools used OCR engines, screen
scrapers, and required expensive
consultants with programming
skills, second generation "low code/
no code" RPA suites extend those
basic tools to allow the software to
observe and record a human doing
the work, and the RPA application
uses these observations to create a
modifiable script which reperforms
the task - without having to write
code (although coding is available
if you want to use it).
When a script is created and can
do a repetitive task formerly done by
a person somewhat autonomously,
it is referred to as a "bot". Just as
a "service" on a computer network
does a repetitive task over and over
(e.g. copying files), a "bot" does more
sophisticated tasks normally performed by a human. For example, a
scanned invoice might be placed in a
folder by a scanning application, and
a "service" on a computer network
might automatically upload it to
an accounts payable workflow
service. A bot might be

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used by the A/P workflow service
to extract the vendor name and
address, invoice amount, due date,
and invoice number for the invoice,
and then use a scripted routine
to enter the bill into accounting
software like QuickBooks or Sage 50.
While both automation tools did
work, the computer "service" did a
low level task, like copying a file,
while the "bot" did a much higher
level task, including using OCR to
extract data from an image of an
invoice and enter the data through
the accounting software application
on a personal computer. Some RPA
suites even allow bots to do work
inside systems using their own usernames - and not the account of the
human who supervises their work.
If accountants are to be successful in this new real-time world, they
must be working in systems which
receive data well before they end
up as recorded transactions in the
general ledger system. Executives
must work with current data from
CRM systems, HR databases,
operations management tools,

BRIAN F. TANKERSLEY

CPA.CITP, CGMA (@BFTCPA, CPATechBlog.com
K2 Enterprises
brian.tankersley@cpapracticeadvisor.com

and e-commerce platforms if they
want to maximize their value to
their organizations.
Accounting professionals who
want to remain relevant must
venture outside of the comfort of
our ledgers and our accounting software. RPA offers accountants a way
to automate some of the busy work
associated with our jobs, and as
the tools improve, bots will handle
higher level tasks. Professionals
who embrace the automation will
direct it, and those who avoid the
automation will not be as valuable
to the marketplace.
My next column will move
beyond this basic introduction
and will focus on the stages of
RPA implementation, and help you
understand how it can change your
work now and in the future. ■
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CPA Practice Advisor

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