Tech Innovation Awards – Part 2 – The Accounting Technology Lab Podcast – Nov. 2025 – CPA Practice Advisor

Report on 2025 Accounting Technology Innovations and Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

This report analyzes select products from the 2025 CPA Practice Advisor Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Awards. The evaluation focuses on the capabilities of these technologies within accounting and audit services and their direct and indirect contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The innovations demonstrate a clear trend towards leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation to enhance efficiency, advisory capacity, and operational resilience, thereby supporting key SDGs, including SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

Fostering Sustainable Economic Growth and Innovation (SDG 8 & SDG 9)

Technological advancements in advisory and client management services are pivotal in supporting sustainable business growth and fostering innovation. These tools empower accounting firms to provide strategic guidance that helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) thrive, directly contributing to economic stability and job creation.

BDO’s Internal AI Consultative Tool

• Functionality: An internal AI-driven tool designed to identify client needs and facilitate cross-selling of services, enhancing the consultative role of accounting professionals.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 8: By enabling firms to deliver more comprehensive and targeted advisory services, the tool helps client businesses improve their operations, build resilience, and achieve sustainable growth.
  2. SDG 9: Represents a significant internal innovation that builds a more resilient and responsive service delivery infrastructure within the firm.

For impact data Advisory Platform

• Functionality: An AI-powered advisory platform that provides rapid diagnostics and recommendations for businesses. It is designed to enhance an advisory team’s leverage, analyzing metrics such as cash flow, margin pressure, and revenue volatility.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 8: Directly supports the survival and growth of SMEs, which are critical drivers of economic growth and decent work. The platform’s focus on client-centric guidance helps build stronger, more sustainable businesses.
  2. SDG 9: Utilizes advanced AI and data analytics to provide businesses with the innovative tools needed to build resilient operational and financial infrastructure.

Enhancing Institutional Accountability and Modernizing Infrastructure (SDG 16 & SDG 9)

The integrity of financial markets and institutions relies on robust and transparent audit and accounting practices. AI-powered digital assistants are emerging as key innovations for strengthening these processes.

CaseWare ADA

• Functionality: An AI-powered digital assistant integrated into the CaseWare platform to revolutionize audit and accounting workflows. It assists with document summarization, content analysis, and workflow efficiency. The system operates on secure cloud infrastructure like Amazon Bedrock, ensuring data protection.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 16: Increases the accuracy, efficiency, and transparency of financial audits. By improving the quality of assurance services, it contributes to building more effective, accountable, and transparent institutions.
  2. SDG 9: Represents a critical innovation in financial technology infrastructure, modernizing the audit process to be more resilient and reliable. The platform’s commitment to data privacy, by not storing user prompts for model training, aligns with principles of responsible technological development.

Promoting Responsible Production and Decent Work through Automation (SDG 12 & SDG 8)

Workflow automation and digitization are transforming accounting operations, leading to more sustainable practices by reducing resource consumption and improving the quality of work for professionals.

Carbon’s End-to-End Tax Workflow

• Functionality: An integrated platform for practice management that includes advanced workflow, client portals, document management, and integrations with tax software. It aims to streamline tax processes, from client data collection to final review.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 12: By digitizing workflows and client communication through portals, the platform significantly reduces the reliance on paper, promoting responsible consumption of resources.
  2. SDG 8: Automates mundane and repetitive administrative tasks, allowing accounting professionals to focus on higher-value, strategic advisory work, which contributes to the principles of decent work.
  3. SDG 17: The emphasis on integrations with other tools, such as Stanford Tax, exemplifies the spirit of partnership to build a more efficient and interconnected professional ecosystem.

Makers Hub Purchase Order Module

• Functionality: An accounts payable automation tool enhanced with a new purchase order (PO) module. It provides line-item level data extraction, matches invoices to multiple POs, and handles complex scenarios like partial receipts and prorated costs.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 12: Enables businesses to achieve greater transparency and control over their procurement and supply chain. Detailed line-item tracking and PO matching support more responsible and efficient production and consumption patterns by minimizing errors and waste.
  2. SDG 8: Boosts productivity by automating complex and labor-intensive payables processes, freeing up human capital for more strategic functions that drive economic value.

Rico ScanSnap iX2500

• Functionality: A high-performance document scanner designed to simplify the digitization of paper records for individuals and workgroups, integrating with mobile and cloud applications.
• SDG Alignment:
  1. SDG 12: Acts as a foundational tool for achieving sustainable, paperless operations. By facilitating an efficient transition to digital documents, it directly supports corporate goals for reduced resource consumption.
  2. SDG 9: Provides essential infrastructure for modern, resilient business operations, particularly in supporting remote and hybrid work models that rely on digital information sharing.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth: The article discusses technologies and advisory services aimed at helping small businesses “survive and thrive.” By improving business diagnostics, efficiency, and strategic guidance, these innovations contribute to economic productivity and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are crucial for job creation and economic stability.
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: This is the most prominent SDG in the article. The entire discussion revolves around technological innovation within the accounting industry. It highlights the development and adoption of new AI-powered tools, advanced software platforms, and digital assistants designed to upgrade industry practices, enhance efficiency, and foster a culture of innovation.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

  • Target 8.2: Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation. The article extensively covers technological upgrades like AI-powered digital assistants (Caseware’s ADA), automated workflow tools (Carbon), and advanced payables automation (Makers Hub), all of which are designed to increase the productivity and efficiency of accounting firms and their clients.
  • Target 8.3: Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities… and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. The discussion about the “For Impact Data” platform, which was created to “really help small businesses thrive, survive and thrive,” directly aligns with this target by providing advisory tools that support the growth and stability of smaller enterprises.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

  • Target 9.3: Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises… to financial services… and their integration into value chains and markets. The advisory tools mentioned, such as For Impact Data, increase the access of small businesses to high-level strategic and financial advisory services that were previously available only to larger corporations. This helps them manage issues like “cash flow strain, margin pressure, revenue volatility, [and] customer concentration,” enabling better market integration.
  • Target 9.b: Support domestic technology development, research and innovation. The article is a showcase of technology development and innovation within the accounting sector. It reviews 39 products from the “2025 Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Awards,” highlighting a vibrant ecosystem of companies creating new solutions and pushing the industry forward.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicators for SDG 8 Targets

  • Productivity Increases: The article implies this through phrases like “revolutionize audit and accounting” and the potential for “absolutely revolutionary” productivity gains from tinkering with new AI tools. The goal of Carbon’s workflow is to solve the “chaos” of tax firms, directly pointing to an increase in operational productivity.
  • Improved Business Viability for SMEs: The For Impact Data tool provides “rapid diagnostics and recommendations” to help small businesses. Progress could be measured by the number of small businesses using such platforms and qualitative improvements in their financial health (e.g., managing cash flow, margin pressure).

• Indicators for SDG 9 Targets

  • Rate of Technological Adoption: The discussion of numerous new tools and the advice to “try new things out” suggests that the adoption rate of these technologies by accounting firms is a key indicator of innovation within the industry.
  • Leverage of Advisory Services: The article explicitly mentions that For Impact Data is promoting the concept of “10x advisory,” meaning their technology allows an advisory team to be ten times more effective. This “10x” figure serves as a direct, quantifiable indicator of increased access to and impact of advisory services for businesses.
  • Number of Innovations: The context of the article is the “2025 Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Awards,” for which there were “39 options.” The number of new and innovative products entering the market serves as a clear indicator of ongoing technology development and research in the sector.

4. Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: cpapracticeadvisor.com