Ep: 88 Top experts answer: "What, if anything, will significantly change accounting in the next few years?"
The Accounting Answers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, asks critical questions of the experts, leaders and influencers who shape the decision-making of accountants, CPAs and finance professionals. Today we ask:
What, if anything, will significantly change accounting in the next few years?
You'll hear insightful and passionate answers from these 5 experts and influencers:
Adam Rakich | Accounting technology enthusiast and Director of Strategic Alliances at DataBlend
Adrienne Lester | Senior Sales Director at Citrix, Sharefile and RightSignature
Alice Grey Harrison | Communications expert: Guiding firms through change, fostering alignment and success
Amanda C. Watts | Business Advisor Academy founder helping accountants escape the compliance cage
Amy Holdsworth | Clarity Street CEO, guiding the industry in connected software
Tune into more on this daily show for short, sharp episodes that keep you informed of what's happening in the accounting world and the whole ecosystem of consultants, organizations, vendors and advisors who serve them.
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Hi, I'm Rob Brown and welcome you accounting finance professionals tech enthusiasts to the Accounting Answers podcast. We've embarked on a captivating exploration of the future of accounting and its profound connection to the ever-changing technology ecosystem. Think for a moment how access to the minds of a range of accounting experts, influencers, vendors, and leaders would keep you super informed about what's going on in this wonderful profession. You'd stay relevant and future focused. You'd make better strategic and career decisions if you know what forces are in play and what factors are driving change. To unravel complexities, an envelope future of accounting have personally interviewed 111 leading, accounting professionals, tech leaders, and industry influencers each bring in their unique expertise and insights to the table. And together we'll delve into the five critical questions that will shape the accounting world. Through the eyes and minds of people living the accounting life or talk into accountants every day, we'll talk about five critical topics that ignite in passion debates and stimulate minds across the globe. We'll map in the transformative trajectory of the accounting profession and its symbiotic relationship with the technological revolution. We'll be asking about the next-gen accountants, how far down the advisory line firms are, what's going to change the accounting world, what the software vendors and tech providers could do better to serve accountants and what's coming up in the future. Let's get straight into the answers for today's topic. In this episode, we'll continue to ask our experts and influencers what they think will drive change in accounting over the next few years. Everything's important, but not everything matters. What we think might move the dial might turn into something of a gimmick or flashing the pan or a blip in the journey. Other seemingly minor factors might evolve into major drivers of change, so let's find out what our guests think will be the difference makers in accounting over the next few years. Now, here is Adam Rackage, an accounting technology enthusiast and director of strategic alliances at Datablend passionate about connecting businesses with the right technological solutions to streamline their accounting processes. For me, it's automation, both new and old. Obviously, AI is hugely exciting. It opens up really interesting possibilities that weren't there before, but the fact is, there's so much automation that's been possible for literal years that accountants haven't embraced quite as much as I think they should. I get it sometimes the tech side's a bit daunting, but with the shortage of new accountants, you're simply not going to be able to get away with business as usual. It's cliched, but every accountant is going to need to do more with less. Technology is going to have to be an enabler of that. But frankly, for most accountants, if you're thinking about solving the automation problem with AI, I kind of feel it's a bit like having a headache and going and booking yourself in for an MRI without first trying to open a proton, because there are so many really simple, proven automation options with substantial ROI out there long before AI came along. I think most people are better served looking at those first. They can do it right now and get results very quickly. Let's get the thoughts of Adrian Lester, Senior Sales Director at Citrix Share File and Write Signature, where she drives sales strategies and partnerships to empower businesses with secure document sharing and the e-signature solutions. Two things. First, client expectations are absolutely changing. As a client of an accounting firm, I have a much higher level of desire, I guess, than my accountant, just because there are so many. The competitive landscape is enormous. How do I set myself apart from my peer group? You can do that in a lot of ways, a lot of which I've kind of repeated, but it's increasing that simplicity of being able to work with your accountant, making things more visible. How do I go back in time? How do I make it more self-service? I think that demand is really pushing on this, and then the second is in digitization. With more and more digital transformation that we're seeing, pulling out of paper and coming more into electronics, that's going to really change certainly in the next couple of years as well. Based on some research that we've done, 62% of those that we've pulled believe that advances in technology have helped the profession become more efficient. We know that with this digital transformation, this ability to become more and more efficient has allowed the accounting profession to spend more of that time back with their customers to provide that white-glove level of service that I think so many are trying to set themselves apart from their peers on, to be able to gain more and more business. The next voice is Alice Gray Harrison, a communications expert who specializes in guiding accounting firms through change, fostering alignment and ensuring success through effective communication strategies and employee engagement. Okay, so I'm going to speak a little bit differently because I'm not an accountant. I am a change management and communications professional, so I'm going to speak from that perspective, that the employee experience will continue to evolve. And it's going to have to evolve because our next generation of workers, they think differently. There's also a fire demand on the higher need for accountants because there are less accountants. So it's got to evolve. And so we have to meet the needs of and the desires of the workforce. So I think that we're going to see more of a latticed career path because people don't really want to be partners. I think there's going to be more job sharing. I think there are going to be more fractional workers like you see in other industries where you come in and maybe you just work a busy season or maybe you just work on one client. And you're not paid, obviously, the same amount, but you are able to pursue your interest outside of accounting and five, a steady career that you can count on that may exist. So I think that we're going to see that I think we're seeing a change in the way firms approach ours because people don't want to work 80 hour work weeks at some firms that are coming in saying we're going to we're going to request 50 hour work week. So you have this number of hours you have to work in a year. If you work over that number, then you either are going to get paid extra for working over those hours or you cash them out every three months. And so you those extra hours you take two or three weeks off. So there's just going to be some changes in how we approach what work in order to accommodate the demands of our team members. Second thing, I think communication with alignment within the firm, it's going to increase. So what we're seeing, what I mean by that is firms are defining their mission vision values and their strategy. And they are aligning their team members to that. So there was a point in time where we measured performance by satisfaction. You know, you can have a satisfied employee who pumps them in and they who they think that seeks to be and they sit there and they sit in that seat for 80 hours a week. But they're not really performing or they're not performing in the way that you want them to work. Then we measured in the, you know, let's go mid mid teens to 210, 2000 and an inch. We measured engagement. We talked a lot about employee engagement. So guess what? You and they brought in foosball tables and pizza and classy bars and all kinds of things. And those people were engaged, but were they engaged in the direction that the firm wanted them to be engaged in? Okay, so in our 2020 for I got the year right, I'm four days in. And we are measuring alignment. So what we're doing is we're measuring employees performance on their alignment with our mission vision strategy and values. If we know that it may or aligns that our overall firm performance will peak. So we're going to see a shift in how we're measuring employees. And then finally, I think that all the new technology, I'm sure that a lot of people have talked about this, but AI, the evolving methodologies, the advancements in advisory practices, and the more specialization and boutique firms, I think are really going to change and continue to evolve. I think that that firms are going to come more sophisticated in how they manage these changes, because we know that we need to bring it's a continuum, and we need to bring the our people along this continuum. So we are moving away from heavy top down do as I say to, okay, this is the why we're doing it. This is how we're doing it. This is what we're doing it. And we're really mapping it out in a very clear path so that people move along the continuum of change with the firms. Those are the three things that I really think are going to we're going to see evolve in the next 12 to 24 months. Coming up now is Amanda see what's found of the Business Advisor Academy dedicated to helping accounts that to escape the compliance cage and grow their practices to advisory services. I would like to hope that some changes in the accounting profession will be a shift to outsourcing and offshoring the compliance work. There is technology that's taking over the world and you're going to bury your head in the sand as an accountant and a lion is going to come and bite your butt off if you bury your head in the sand. And what we're going to find is that the only way for accounting firms to be relevant and to be able to show up and do that shift to advisory consulting and coaching is to outsource the grump work. So I am hoping that I am correct and I would like to see a flurry of accountants move over to outsourcing and offshoring. And my clients that I've spoken to that do this. It's not as difficult as you think it is. It's fear and systemization that stop you from taking action on that. Next question here will be Amy Holsworth CEO of Clarity Street, guiding the industry and connected software and helping account in firms leverage technology for efficiency and growth. I feel like AI will definitely assist with producing and executing on compliance or producing advisory. It will never replace human beings. I don't believe that, you know, human beings need interaction. They need that human being element. We need that relationship side of things. So the likes of technology will never replace us as human beings. But I think that that will significantly change the way that we deliver elements of what the service is for the industry to our client. So there you have five great answers to the question. What if anything will significantly change accounting in the next few years? Every work in depth. A week Monday through Friday, we give you the insights of five top influencers in the accounting world on this critical area of what is coming up change wise for accountants. That's 25 valuable perspectives, viewpoints and best thinking every week. And with a fresh week comes a fresh question and more thoughts from the best influencers and leaders we can find in the accounting world. Thanks for listening to the Accounting Answers podcast and sharing this brand new show with your friends and colleagues. If you want to join the conversation, you can plug into our community of influencers at accountinginfluencers.com and check out our virtual speed networking events. These happen every few months for the North American region and the UK Europe region. These are great opportunities to raise your profile, build valuable connections and share your thoughts with influential peers. Until next time, this is your host Rob Brown saying stay informed, stay relevant and stay connected. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
