More worryingly, around 42% of accountants said they were not completely confident or satisfied with the work that they did.

The average accountant would only give their satisfaction with the profession a C grade (73%), with only 5% ranking at an A+, found research by FloQast.

Accountants spend considerable time on basic, repetitive tasks, with their work split between managing finance and accounting functions (16%), classifying transactions (14%) and preparing and issuing financial reports (12%).

For the majority of accountants, some of the most important ways to improve their job satisfaction was how they allocated their time in their jobs and the opportunity to be involved in more strategic activities.

This also pointed to working methods and coordination across functions and people, and how the technology supports the work they do.

When asked about how they are viewed within their organisations, more than a third said that they were seen as a valuable strategic partner.

Being able to think analytically, alongside having a strategic and practical focus, and also translating their ideas into financial language and workable financial models, were all viewed as their top strengths.

But, if it were up to them, accountants reported that they would like to set the strategic direction for projects (83%) and have more of an impact on the success of their organisation (78%).

Many believed that these activities could be possible with more reliable systems, more automation, and clearer processes that everyone understood and followed.

In the survey, one accountant who had been in practice for 20+ years, said: ‘I would like to see more effective processes and less manual tasks. We need to update all processes so that it’s not so time-consuming. We shouldn’t be working holidays and weekends to get things done.’

Having the right technology would mean the upstream and downstream processes would be better integrated with their work, said 76% of accountants, and the execution of their work, as a result, would be improved (75%).

Technology would also favourably impact company performance (75%), and they would be better equipped to make stronger strategic decisions.

Mike Whitmire, CEO of FloQast said: ‘There is a massive opportunity to bring accounting into the 21st century by aligning accountants’ roles and responsibilities with their desires.

‘FloQast exists because of my own desire as an accountant to add strategic value to the organisation by automatic basic, repetitive tasks. This dream to accomplish more still permeates the accounting industry.’