Innovating Accounting: Strategies for Upcoming Changes

Rob Brown: 00:00:00

Hi, I'm Rob brown and welcome you.

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Accounting finance professionals,

tech enthusiasts to the

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accounting answers podcast.

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We've embarked on a captivating

exploration of the future of accounting

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and its profound connection to the

ever-changing technology ecosystem.

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I think for a moment, how access to the

minds of a range of accounting experts,

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influencers, vendors, and leaders would

keep you super informed about what's

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going on in this wonderful profession.

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You'd stay relevant and future focused.

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You'd make better strategic

and career decisions.

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If you know what forces are in play

and what factors are driving change.

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To unravel the complexities

unenviable future of accounting.

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I've personally interviewed 111

leading accounting professionals, tech

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leaders, and industry influencers,

each bring in their unique.

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Expertise and insights to the

table and together we'll delve into

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the five critical questions that

will shape the accounting world.

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Through the eyes and minds of people

living their accounts in life.

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I'll talk into accountants every day.

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We'll talk about five critical topics

that ignite in passionate debates

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and stimulate minds across the globe.

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We're mapping the transformative

trajectory of the accounting profession

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and its symbiotic relationship

with the technological revolution.

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We'll be asking about the next

gen accountants, how far down

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the advisory line firms are.

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What's going to change

the accounting world.

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What their software vendors

and tech providers could do

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better to serve accountants.

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And what's coming up in the future.

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Let's get straight into the

answers for today's topic.

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And this episode will continue to

ask our experts and influencers,

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what they think will drive change in

accounting over the next few years.

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Everything's important,

but not everything matters.

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What we think might move the dial might

turn into something of a gimmick or a

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flash in the pan or a blip in the journey.

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Other seemingly minor factors might

evolve into major drivers of change.

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So let's find out what our guests

think will be the difference makers

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in accounting over the next few years.

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Um, now, uh, here is John

Glasgow, the CEO at campfire.

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Who's at the hell of building modern

accounting software designed to meet the

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dynamic needs of today's accountants and

their clients with efficiency and ease.

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John Glasgow: AI is the

obvious answer, but adoption's

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going to take a lot of time.

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You think of even rule based triggers.

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A lot of our customers are still

manually doing a lot of transaction

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categorization, even though rules exist.

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so just getting everybody Into software

that is, I would just argue is fun and

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modern and we've seen ramp and some

others really take the industry to

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be like, whoa, like I saw a bus the

other day that was covered in bright

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yellow and it said ramp and it said

we're out having fun or something

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instead of, categorizing a transaction.

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I was like, man, that looks like

a really cool company, but this

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is where accounting is going.

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and one thing I've noticed in a

controller customer of ours says we

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are not the back office at the company.

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We are the backbone.

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And so if you rethink the role and you

think about being more strategic in the

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role, the role becomes more front office.

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and then also this trend

of making it more fun.

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And I love all of that, and

that's a big vision and push

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that we're making at Campfire.

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Rob Brown: And here we get

the thoughts of John Thompson.

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Radical advocate for primary advisory

and the value of accountants emphasizing

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the critical role accountants

play in guided businesses through

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strategic financial decisions.

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John Thompson: we're going

back to technology, Rob.

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AI is already having an impact.

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Some of it very good.

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Some of it not so good because

it's the early days, really.

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And bluntly, some AI is

excellent and some AI is tosh.

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What will change it?

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The tech's going to drive it.

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I'd like to think there'd

be more than just the tech.

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I have a view that some people hold

and maybe some people doubt that

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the regulatory, the accountant's

regulatory bodies, the associations, the

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institutes are letting the accountant

down, letting their members down by

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not training them for this future.

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from my viewpoint, I'm not aware

of any formal training in advisory

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anywhere in the world, other than

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advisory 101, which of course my

company with Martin Bissett have

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created and are beginning to roll out.

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I'm not aware of it anywhere else.

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How will tech change the profession?

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it already has done.

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So Rob, we've got a few

gray hairs, you and me.

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So we've been around

the block a few times.

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if I just roll the clock back,

when I learned and trained to be an

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accountant, we prepared the accounts.

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We have to understand.

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The, disclosure requirements on a set

of accounts, and if we needed to amend

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them, those disclosure requirements, we

had to have the knowledge to do that.

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Then accounting software

preparation tech came in and you

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entered a TB, trial balance, and

a set of accounts was produced.

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And what that meant was very quickly,

some of the part qualified or indeed

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even qualified accountants Never

really needed to fully understand the

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disclosure requirements in the notes.

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So that when something needed changing,

and I remember when I was a partner in a

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top 10 firm, I sent something back to a

manager and said, could you change that?

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And she didn't know how to.

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So she was relying totally on the tech.

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So the tech made everything

faster, in theory, more efficient,

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but was it more effective?

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And that's.

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The good and the bad of tech.

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Rob Brown: The next voice is John

Jenkins, CEO and founder of hindsight's

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starting meaningful conversations

for accountants enhancing client

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relationships and practice value

through innovative ingredient tools.

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Jon Jenkins: I think for me, the biggest

thing is going to be a change in mindset.

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I genuinely think we've got, AI

has been a massive explosion the

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kind of, last 12 months or so.

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so I know a lot of people are

going to go, Oh, this is going

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to be, the biggest change, but we

have an intent to do things, but

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actually implementing something.

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And the intent to do something, I

think, are two different things.

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for me, what I would like to see is

the biggest, change in accountancy

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is actually for all of us to have

a kind of a change in mindset,

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about how important what we do is.

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How we can achieve it, how we should

be more realistic, in terms of what

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we can provide to, to business owners,

then you can start to harness the tools

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that are available to us to provide

the services that small business owners

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want and quite, quite rightly need.

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We need to follow through on, on

these things that we're thinking

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about, we need to implement.

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The key thing for me and probably

the biggest thing that I've seen when

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working with, talking to any accountants

and working with accountants is we're

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trained in dot and I's cross and T's.

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We need to be more curious.

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I think that's the biggest issue that I

can see is that we've lost this ability

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to be curious and clicking on buttons and

seeing what that does and just, thinking

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about things in a slightly different way.

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and we almost need to go back to being a

bit more childlike, just be inquisitive.

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And curious about everything, and

look at things in a different way.

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Because, as I've said, with AI and

tech, I think it's just, it's given us

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the ability to rewrite the landscape.

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And the only thing that's going to

hold us back from genuinely doing

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that is our lack of ability to think

about what we can do with that.

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Rob Brown: Coming up now is Jonathan

Mifsud, co founder, buddy changing

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payroll tech for accounting practices

by introducing innovative solutions

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that streamline payroll processes

and enhance service delivery.

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Jonathan Mifsud: So I think

the next few years will see the

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increase of self accounting.

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I think people will try to use things

like AI to do things themselves.

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We definitely know the way

that goes most of the time.

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So there'll be mistakes and issues

which will come back up into.

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Our advisors will see

a rise of automation.

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So we see accountants that

are leveraging this to give

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better advice to their clients.

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And that is hopefully what will

start shifting people from using

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AI themselves, using someone that's

qualified that can leverage that

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AI to deliver that value to them.

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Rob Brown: The next bushy hit will

be Julie Wilkinson specialist, M

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and a advisor, helping businesses

successfully navigate the complexities

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of buying and selling insurance.

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Smooth transitions on optimal

outcomes for all parties involved.

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Julie Wilkinson: I think the

main change to come is probably

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going to be AI and technology.

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What I think will happen, I think it will

really change the accounting industry,

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because I feel like clients will think

because software is saying it can do

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things, it will put more expectation on

this consultancy services, because whether

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the client can actually do their own, I

don't believe they will, because you're

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still going to have to do tax knowledge.

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But we don't know how

advanced AI will become.

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For example, if there's an AI that can

recite the textbook, then obviously

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that's going to change the industry.

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so I definitely think AI is

something to watch out for.

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Microphone (TONOR TC30 Audio Device)-1:

So they have five great

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answers to the question.

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What, if anything will significantly

change accounting in the next few

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years, every working day of the week,

Monday through Friday, we give you

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the insights of five top influencers

in the accounting world on this

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critical area of what is coming up.

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Change wise for accountants

that's 25 valuable perspectives.

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Viewpoints and best thinking every

week and with a fresh week comes the

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first question and more thoughts from

the best influencers and leaders we

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can find in the accounting world.

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Thanks for listening to the accounting

answers podcast and sharing this brand

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new show with your friends and colleagues.

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If you want to join the conversation.

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You can plug into our community of

influencers@accountinginfluences.com.

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And check out our virtual

speed networking events.

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These happen every few months

for the north American region

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and the UK Europe region.

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These are great opportunities

to raise your profile, build

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valuable connections and share your

thoughts with influential peers.

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Until next time, this is your host,

Rob brown, saying stay informed,

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stay relevant and stay connected.