Mid-tier accountancy firm BKL will soon begin accepting Bitcoin for invoice payments. The announcement adds to the growing number of accounting firms who have decided to accept cryptocurrency.
BKL’s move to accept cryptocurrency follows earlier moves by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) and KPMG’s Kuwait branch.
The Top 50 firm, which has offices in Cambridge and London, decided to offer Bitcoin as a payment option after several fintech industry clients inquired about it.
BKL is seeking to promote the view that it supports businesses involved with cryptocurrencies and the blockchain.
However, the firm is acutely aware that Millennials are the age group who are the most comfortable with crypto.
Last year, nearly 5% of Millennials conducted cryptocurrency purchases, roughly three times more than the baby boomer generation that year.
Thus, BKL has endeavored to make paying its invoices simple and intuitive.
‘Until now, bitcoin has been discussed in the accountancy sphere with a lot of hypothetical beard-stroking, but news that BKL is using the tech for invoices goes to show the potential in cryptocurrency as a day-to-day alternative.’ (Via @AccountingWEBuk) https://t.co/TwjxcKudRD
— BKL (@BKLtweets) September 20, 2019
Although company invoices are issued in fiat, clients can pay in Bitcoin by using a conversion rate set by BitPay.
BitPay issues its conversion rate every 15 minutes after determining the average bitcoin price from leading exchanges.
The fixed-rate guards against Bitcoin’s notorious price volatility. In the end, BKL receives its payment in fiat.
Smaller firms may lead the way
Several larger accountancy firms are already taking tentative steps to normalize Bitcoin payments.
Earlier this year, PwC announced that they were pursuing plans to approve job candidates through the blockchain.
They have also created Halo, a tool to facilitate cryptocurrency auditing. Although a niche product, Halo is highly-valued among clients who partake in cryptocurrency transactions.
The ambitious plans set forth by PwC stand in stark contrast to its competitor Deloitte.
Another Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte is merely allowing its employees to buy lunch with crypto.
Ernst and Young hasn’t even taken that small step, though they did join the Bitcoin Association of Switzerland in 2017.
Indeed, smaller accountancy firms seeking a competitive edge may be far more amenable to following BKL’s lead.
If so, blockchain outfit Clarity will be ready to show them the way. Known as the Airbnb of accounting, Clarity has introduced an app that attempts to tokenise accounting functions.
Consequently, Clarity staff regularly attend accounting conferences to touts the app’s features to smaller firms.
BKL gains admiration
Not surprisingly, many blockchain companies view BKL’s move as another step toward cryptocurrency becoming mainstream.
Sonny Singh, BitPay’s chief commercial officer, commended the move:
“BKL is one of the most respected specialist accountancy practices serving the blockchain industry and we are very happy that they are successfully using BitPay’s B2B service.
“This is another superb example of forward-thinking professional service businesses engaging with the ever-expanding cryptocurrency industry.
“As blockchain ventures continue to proliferate there will be an increasing worldwide demand by vendors to pay invoices in Bitcoin.”
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