Pretty soon, there will be few persons in the UK who can remember how to add up a column of figures in pre-decimal currency. Why would you? For the younger generation, rather than pounds and new pence, sterling was expressed as pounds shillings and old pence: 12 pence to a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound. Without a calculator, this apparently required a reasonable degree of competence at mental arithmetic.
Will we be writing, in years to come, of the demise of self-assessment as MTD finally gains traction and draws all our personal financial data into the cloud.
Will smart meters be extended to pick up heat signatures to crack down on multiple occupancy?
Will smart watches anticipate heart attacks and have a paramedic at your door in time to bring you back?
Will we see the end of keys to be replaced with touch pads and eye scanners?
Or will technology outpace our ability to cope with its ever-expanding facilities and will we have to buy a robot to take care of things for us?
One thing is clear, we will have to accommodate change. The days of steady as you go seem to be long past. Accountants already have many changes to deal with this year, we highlighted a few in our post last week. Perhaps a constant state of change will become the new norm. Who knows, in years to come, as inflation eats into the purchasing power of our currency, perhaps we will abandon new pence and express all our purchases in £s.
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