Ep: 80 Top experts answer: "Will the next generation of accountants be any different from their predecessors?"
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:
Will the next generation of accountants be any different from their predecessors?
You'll hear insightful and passionate answers from these 5 experts and influencers:
Roger Knecht | President, Universal Accounting Center. Author, Host, Father and Husband
Russell Frayne | Director of Transformation at Gravita, Tech enabling colleagues and clients
Seth Fineberg | Business journalist turned accounting profession consultant and content strategist
Siddharth Kothari | Owner of Digital Outsourcing Services. Strategic partner to accountants
Steve Cox | Accountant, thought-leader, technologist, strategist & 20-year software vendor veteran
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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The world wants to know what the world is thinking and to stay relevant and competitive, you need to know what's working and what isn't. You want to peer over the garden wall of your peers and see what they're doing. This is the Accounting Answers Podcast, answering and asking the questions that you have on your mind. And we're asking the people whose opinions and insights are super valuable. I'm Rob Brown, your host, and in recent months, I've reached out to 111 of the world's most influential experts, leaders and advisors in the accounting world. And I've asked them the same five questions, and that means I have a 500-billionth passionate and articulate perceptions, insights, viewpoints and professionals with skin in the game. All of these guests play in the Accounting Finance and Techspier, they work in through or with accounting firms. They all have the experience, the viewpoints, the interests, they all care. Together, they give you the whole picture of what the next generation of accountants will look like, the realm of proactive advice, what's changing, accounting and how, and what the tech and software vendors can do better in this space. I'll also ask them to give three predictions for accounting over the next few years, and you won't believe the variety of answers and perspectives that come out from that one question. And in this show, coming out every working day for the next few weeks, you're going to hear every single answer. Each episode, we'll focus on one of the five questions and give you five answers from our experts. Let's get moving with today's episode. We've been focusing all this week on the question, will the next generation of accountants be any different from their predecessors? Getting future focuses top of the agenda for accounting firms and the professional association societies and governing bodies who shape the reputation of this world. It's fascinating what our different experts and influencers have to say about what's coming through to replace the baby boomers currently running the accounting world. Let's check out more of their answers. And next is the wonderful Roger Connect president of Universal Accounting Center, author, host, father, husband, who brings a holistic approach to accounting education, focusing on both personal and professional growth. Will they? I do not know. Should they? Yes. The more forward thinking that we can actually be as an accounting profession to answer the question, therefore what for our clients, I think will be the telltale sign of whether or not we're progressing as a profession to help the economy. So the next generation of accounting professionals, I think need to be trained and they are not being trained, but need to be trained in an advisory capacity. They need to understand that the compliant work that they're doing, the tax services that they offer, they may be valuable to the client to be in business. But what really is lacking and that the accounting profession can provide is then the answer to therefore what? How does this information that resides in the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, all of this information, how does it then impact tomorrow as it relates to the business owner and our ability as an accounting profession to articulate that in an intelligent way for the business owner to use to make informed business decisions as they're running their company is going to be the telltale sign of whether or not the generation of accounting professionals have adapted to what I feel is needed in the economy today. So I truly hope so because I feel now that the generation of always having done things this way are less prominent in professional, I think more open minded age to use a certain younger but forward thinking accountants are taken over, but also quite prominent influence in the way that things are going to go forward both service delivery and what sort of a modern practice would look like. I think the previous reliance on violence will obviously reduce and the more sort of forward thinking mindset around added value and that connected client experience I think is the way forward. So valuing close flight relationships, looking at more rounded skill sets, doing technical compliance and technological skill sets and obviously more that will change because change transformation will continue. We are supposed to suffered as a profession over the last few years with all this change coming in with a less sort of change mindset. I think the future generation will have absolutely changed mindset. They will always be looking at can we do things better? Can we do things quicker and can we deliver a little bit of value. And now insights from Seth Feinberg, business journalist and accounting professional consultant and content strategist who uses his media expertise to elevate the conversations around accounting practices and industry trends. A short answer to that is a very accounting or accountant answer, which is it depends. Now different from their predecessors, I would say yes, we're already seeing it. What it takes to be an accounting professional today is not quite what it was when I say predecessors, you look back, you know, maybe usually a block of about 20 years. You know, that's the, you know, that's about like a good generation. That's all a generational thing. So so yeah, the short answer is I think we're, yes, we're already, we're already seeing the next generation on display and they certainly are different. Well, first and foremost, not only embracing but more comfortable with technology, which there's very little in an in an accountancy practice these days or that an accountant does these days that does not involve some level of automation or, or, you know, technology and technological platform to use. So they're already, you know, a bit, you know, if they're not savvy with it, they're at least more or comfortable. They're more understanding of the idea of, okay, I'm, you know, I'm out of the paper ledger. I'm probably even out of, you know, some, not all some desktop software, but I am using technology first and foremost. The second is I think they're learning to be more proactive and more, I guess, insightful versus just, you know, doing, you know, the, I don't want to say, you know, backwards work, but you know, historically, you know, accountancy has been about, you know, review looking back, looking back. And I think we're finally seeing that tip. So the accountants, you know, the next generation accountants are already being sort of trained to be more forward looking and thinking because they're based, particularly their business clients expected. We now tend to Siddharth Kothare, owner of Digital Outsourcing Services, a strategic partner to accountants where he provides innovative outsourcing solutions that enhance efficiency and capacity for accounting firms all over the world. Yes, of course, so what we've seen right now and we are speaking of our accountancy companies and started to only be five years in the line, they're being more active in how they are growing their business, unlike the traditional accounting firms. And they've been more proactive on all of their profitable in different services, different clients, how they are growing. The second thing is they're also embracing changes, whether it is on the digital world, whether it is any regulation changes or any changes that has going on in the job market, it would balance and everything. So yeah, so I think accountants have been more proactive on how they're growing their business, they've been very serious on making sure that they're just not going, but they're making an impact in the accountancy industry. Next up is a favorite of mine, one of the most respected accounting influencers in the United Kingdom and certainly a big figure in the round table that we run here. It's Steve Cox, accountant thought it a technology strategist, 20 year software vendor veteran who brings a wealth of experience in leveraging technology to solve complex accounting challenges. Here he comes. It's going to be a big change in this next generation of accountants are coming along at the moment and continuing going forward. One from a point of view of mindset, the next generation of accountants are much more digitally savvy than the current and previous generation, so therefore they're looking to technologies to how they can help them to run their practices and help their client better. Two, they've got to be more entrepreneurial. We see a real dramatic shift in the type of accountant rather than working for a big firm that want to go set up on their own and want to go and create their own practice to help their client. And the third one is actually we're seeing a wide of diversity within accountants within the UK. Certainly from the results that come out of the FRC's key trends reports were starting to see a real shift in that it takes time, but it will happen over generations rather than over years. Nice answers. I hadn't concluded those before. So there you have five per year answers to the question, will the next generation of accountants be any different from their predecessors? Each work in day of the week, Monday through Friday, we give the insights of five top influencers in the accounting world on this critical area of next gen 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 accounting leaders and influencers we can find. Thanks for listening to the Accounting Answers podcast and sharing the show with your friends. 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 North America and UK Europe. Great opportunities to raise your profile, build valuable connections and share your thoughts with influential peers. Until next time, this is your host Rob Reynolds saying stay informed, stay relevant and stay connected. [MUSIC PLAYING]
