Your clients trust you with their numbers. Increasingly, they also trust you to tell them which tools to run their business on.
Plooto surveyed 500+ Canadian accountants and bookkeepers about where their practices stand heading into 2027: their strengths, where they want to improve, how they use AI, and how their clients are adopting technology. One finding stood out for anyone who advises small businesses: clients are ready to follow your lead, and their questions are addressable.
Among the firm owners and partners we surveyed, 89% say their clients are very open or somewhat open when they recommend financial software.
That openness matters because there’s still plenty of room for you to have an impact. More than half of firm owners and partners (55%) say half or fewer of their clients use financial software at all. That’s a large group of small businesses still running payments, invoicing, and reconciliation by hand, and an advisor they already trust is the best person to change that.
When clients adopt the right tools, the benefits flow both ways. In our previous survey of Canadian accountants, we learned:
Accountants get time back. More than half save six or more hours per month, per client, when clients use fintech. Nearly half (49%) now serve more clients in the same amount of time.
Firms become more valuable partners. Half say fintech frees them to offer more strategic advice, the kind of work clients value most and are least likely to walk away from.
Clients have better cash flow visibility. 65% of accountants said their clients can reconcile their books faster, and 56% said clients can make and receive payments faster, giving them a clearer view of cash flow.
The opposite is costly, too. Over a quarter of accountants said they regularly work evenings or weekends because clients haven’t adopted time-saving tools.
Firms like Enkel show what's possible: automating payments with clients saves them about 100 hours a month. Learn how >
Many clients still have questions about the value and investment of technology before they implement. Here’s what firm owners and partners say they hear most, and how to respond.
Data security is now the top concern. Lead with proof, not reassurance: look for tools that are SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliant, with multi-level approvals, dual controls, and a full audit trail. The best setup also protects you. When the client approves every payment and your firm never holds their bank login, you limit your own liability, too.
Shift the conversation from price to ROI. Show the hours spent on cheques, data entry, and chasing approvals, then compare that with transparent pricing. When you join the Plooto Partner Program, you can access discounts of 10–20% as you bring more clients on board.
Need more ammunition? Here are five reasons automation is worth the investment.
Recommend tools built for one job that anyone can pick up quickly, backed by live support. You know these tools well, so offer a short walkthrough during setup. Your peers agree: when we asked for one piece of advice for 2027, the most common theme was to train your team before rolling out new tools, so change feels manageable rather than disruptive. Then point to the payoff: the time they put into learning comes back every month the workflow runs on its own.
Start small. Pick one workflow, like bill approvals, and run it for a month. Once the client sees the time saved, expanding to payments, receivables, and CRA remittances is an easy next step.
Look for a true two-way sync with the client’s accounting software, so bills and payments are written back and reconciled automatically. Plooto syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero, so the books stay the single source of truth.