Finance and accounting market to hit US$5b

China's smart finance and accounting market will grow rapidly with demand for digital transformation and cloud-based applications in reimbursement, finance and compliance, an industry report said on Thursday.

In 2022, China's smart finance and accounting market, which covers finance and accounting and connects office processing and supply chain systems, will hit 32 billion yuan (US$5 billion), compared with 18.2 billion yuan in 2020, according to a report by researcher EqualOcean and Shanghai-based Cloudpense. 

This year, about 45 percent of firms plan to increase investment in digital transformation covering the market segment. 

With new technologies such as cloud, big data and artificial intelligence, finance and accounting systems will become more intelligent and closely connected with other systems such as manufacturing, supply chains and sales.

Various applications can simplify the work process, control risk, save duplication, cut costs and make decisions for Chinese enterprises. Cloud technology development will speed up digital transformation, said Yu Yang, chief executive of Cloudpence. 

The Shanghai-based startup, which has raised several rounds of funds valued more than 100 million yuan, has offered cloud-based finance and accounting systems for clients in various industries including health care, banking, retail, electronic manufacturing and hotels.

The company is also involved in making an industry standard in the market to boost long-term development, Yu said.