Angelique Faes from Class Gone are the days of accounting professionals spending hours buried in excel spreadsheets. Instead, the profound expansion of software and technology means accountants have come blinking into the sun and now spend the lion’s share of their time managing client relationships and not just crunching numbers. Understanding and managing the complex needs of clients now sits alongside the timely delivery of tax effective outcomes using up-to-date data as the essential purpose of the accounting professional, according to Angelique Faes, senior SME analyst at Class. “The world has become more complex, and the policies around how people manage their wealth have become more complex as well,” Faes says.