Ep: 86 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:
Des O'Neill | Chief Delivery Officer at ProfitPro, helping accountants build better businesses
Diane Yetter | The Original Sales Tax Nerd who loves sharing knowledge
Martin Bissett | Advisor to CEOs of 6-9 Figure Accounting & Fintech Organisations
Ed Kless | MetaConsultant/Iconoclast who believes that entrepreneurs continue the work of creation
Elaine Godley | Inspiring dynamic accountants to optimise personal, team and business wellbeing
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 unveil of 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. All this week we're asking the question what if anything will significantly change accounting in the next few years. What changes are on the horizon? A few doubt that we're undergoing seismic shifts propelled by technological investments, the rise of innovative business models and the every evolving regulatory landscape. And this dynamic environment presents many questions, challenges and opportunities that demand our attention. It's good to stay informed so let's dive into here what our experts have to say. And now here is Des O'Neill, Chief Delivery Officer at Profit Pro, helping accountants build better businesses through strategic advice and tools designed to enhance profitability and efficiency. Everything is going to change accounting in the next few years. Society is going to change accounting. Climate change and sustainability is going to change accounting. Education is going to change accounting. The business wants the needs. Again, think about it. I'm 4k 7 years of age. I've been working in the accounting profession for 27 years. When I look at what businesses are and what businesses exist and what they want to need now versus what they wanted and needed then, it's just an unrecognizable landscape. So as the society changes and technology changes, as the human race evolves, as the global population grows, as artificial intelligence begins to really take hold, as human beings, as a race, as everything changes, that's what's going to change how accounting works. And if you look at this, there's lots of things in our world and there's lots of things in our lives that the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, there wasn't a huge amount of change, the 90s. But we're in this exponential change phase and accounting is not going to be left behind. Accounting is going to keep up. As you go back to your last question, do you believe business owners are closer to receiving proactive advice from their accountant? I believe the changes in society and everything around us. Accounting, I believe, is going to adapt, adapt, change, innovate, and become more relevant and more important in the future than it is now. So yet, change, it's going to be huge over the next couple of years. You know, we don't need to be out on the bleeding edge of that change, but we do need to be open to the possibility that it's happening and be ready to move with this. A lot of criticism out there for the accounting profession that they're not good at change. I don't buy into that. I see the changes that I've witnessed and experienced. The changes we've witnessed and experienced in the last three years in the profession, I think change is inevitable. And the accounting profession is well matched to make changes necessary. Let's get the thoughts of Diane Yetter, the original sales tax nerd who loves sharing her extensive knowledge on sales tax with professionals and businesses demystifying complex regulations. Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one that is saying AI. And I think AI is going to just have such a transformational impact on accounting, not just in terms of how we can use AI and, you know, robotics and other types of technology to remove the rote day to day, very repetitive type of work that really nobody wants to do, but also to help let the accountants become much more consultative to the business and to let AI look at trends, look at the data and give the accountant some information that then the accountant can take that and wrap it up with the information that they have about the client's business and come to the client and give them really valuable insight that just putting numbers into some sort of a tool to spit out information isn't going to give them. And I think that's where accounting is going to need to really embrace AI. The other thing that I think we really need to look at is how are we going to keep the younger generation interested in accounting? I think one of the things that's interesting, I'm a licensed CPA. In all my years, I've never done anything that requires a CPA license, but it helps give me credibility. But I think what we need to think about is what services actually require a CPA license that requires that 150 hours requires the exam versus what services need accounting knowledge and expertise and how do we make sure that keep educating people and the next generation with the right skill set in not just accounting, but also business operations and all of the different kind of skills that are going to help them be truly very valued business advisors to their clients. Ultimately, legislation regulation, same thing that has been the catalyst for change on everything in the accounting world, we often attribute progress to technology. I think erroneously, it's generally when accountants have no choice but to change the way they work because it has been regulated or mandated by law that we see those changes happen. So if we ever see in the UK making tax digital become fully implemented, that will see change. If we see something like a change to pension law, as we have seen previously, that will see change, audit law, that will see change such as the audit limits. These things will materially affect an accounting firm. If regulation and legislation stays pretty much as it is, then expect accounting firms to stay pretty much as they are. Coming up now is the legend ed plus meta consultant iconoclast who believes that entrepreneurs continue the work of creation, challenging the status quo and inspiring innovation within the profession. It's definitely generative AI. I mean, there's no question about that. It's already changing it. The analysis that is being done right now, the systems that are being put in place to allow for what at Sage, anyway, we call continuous audit, where we're looking at transactions, it live as they're coming in and saying, hey, maybe take a look at this, that potentially could make the audit go away. I think we are, I don't think we can over hype AI. The reason for that is because AI has been around for so long, it's just that the generative part is what's new, but I think people are missing the fact that the AI systems that are already in place are having a real big impact and it's behind the scenes. We don't even talk about that stuff because generative is getting all of the play right now, but it's not just generative. It's the stuff that's already in place. The next for you here will be Elaine Godley, inspiring dynamic accountants to optimize personal team and business wellbeing, focusing on the holistic success of accounting professionals. I think it has to be tech, you know, tech tech tech right the way through. And we are seeing more and more tech influencers coming on the markets who have previously operated in other areas who are now putting their attention to the accounting functionality because it's an integral part of every business. If we don't have the check in the business, we're going to be left behind. It's just, it's just a done deal really, isn't it? 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] You
