Accounting Influencers Podcast

This is an insightful discussion on the future of the accounting profession, featuring an esteemed panel of accounting industry leaders and experts - Gary Boomer, Val Steed, Sarah Beale, and Bob Lewis. They delve into the current state of accounting, the need for change, potential threats like AI and automation, the importance of rebranding and improving the profession's perception, the relevance of accounting qualifications, predictions for the profession's future, and more. The panel acknowledges that while accounting has historically been stable, it's currently facing the most profound changes from all angles - economic shifts, regulatory uncertainties, technological disruptions like AI, and a severe talent shortage. They emphasize that to remain relevant, the profession must adapt, innovate, improve processes, diversify talent, focus on advisory services, leverage technology intelligently, and most importantly, change its perception among the youth to attract the required talent.Key Takeaways:- The accounting profession is amid a transformative period driven by the accelerated pace of change, AI/automation, increased private equity investments, and changing workforce dynamics. Firms that fail to adapt will struggle to survive.- The biggest threat is from entrepreneurs and firms that don't change their mindset from just providing compliance services to becoming strategic advisors understanding and solving clients' core business challenges.- Rebranding the profession is crucial to attract diverse, younger talent by changing the perception that it's just number-crunching to showcasing it as an exciting, entrepreneurial career with varied opportunities.- Accounting qualifications must continuously evolve with changing business needs, emphasizing skills like communication, ethics, sustainability, and digital proficiency along with technical expertise.- Key predictions include greater advisory services adoption, private equity/consolidation, AI-driven automation of routine tasks, and the rise of accounting "big-box" firms offering integrated professional services.- It's an opportune time in accounting, presenting transformative prospects for those willing to develop required skills, embrace technology, focus on advisory/consulting services, and be part of steering the profession's narrative."There is so much change out there, which means so much opportunity. And I think we've got the opportunity to carve out our profession in a really different way that adds massive value to business, economy, and society, if we get it right." - Sarah Beale ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Jeremy Clopton, a thought leader in the accounting profession, challenges the traditional concept of work-life balance by emphasizing the need to prioritize life over work. He encourages professionals to focus on quality over quantity, set personal success definitions, and leverage technology for efficiency. The discussion highlights the flaws of the 'hustle culture' and provides practical strategies for achieving work-life harmony.

In this panel discussion, host Rob Brown brings together knowledgeable guests from the accounting industry to discuss the current state of the profession, the challenges and threats it faces, and make bold predictions about the future of accounting. The panelists include Jeff Gramlich (Managing Director, Validus), Pat Morrell (Co-Founder, iWin), Hitender Patil (Director, Datamatics Business Solutions), Doug Lewis (Director, The Visionary Group), and the host Rob Brown.The conversation covers various topics, such as the impact of technology, artificial intelligence (AI), outsourcing, private equity investments, talent acquisition, and the evolving role of accountants. The panelists share their insights and expertise, offering diverse perspectives on the industry's transformation and the changes firms must embrace to remain competitive and future-ready.Key Takeaways:Accounting firms are currently in good financial shape, with many experiencing strong growth and profitability.However, firms face significant challenges in adapting to rapid technological changes, attracting and retaining talent, and transitioning from traditional compliance work to advisory services.AI and automation are poised to revolutionize the industry, enabling firms to increase productivity, reduce burnout, and focus on higher-value services.Private equity investments and consolidation among top firms are expected to accelerate, bringing in professional management teams and driving diversification of service offerings.Successful firms will prioritize client satisfaction, embrace change, leverage global teams and outsourcing, and adopt a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation."Accountants are so very needed, but they just can't reach all the masses that they need to reach, right? So I think it's a great flux to be in." - Hitendra Patil◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

This engaging roundtable discussion explores the future of the accounting profession from multiple perspectives. Host Rob Brown is joined by Gary Shamis, Lexy Kessler, Roger Knecht and Calvin Harris to debate whether accountants need to change, examine threats and challenges facing the field, discuss making accounting an attractive career choice, and share bold predictions.The panel acknowledges accounting is in flux, with technology, staffing shortages, and an increasingly transactional approach reshaping the profession. However, they see tremendous opportunity amid this disruption for those willing to adapt. Private equity investment, offshoring, and new firm models are expected, as well as a continued push to redefine accounting's relevance and enhance the pipeline of emerging talent.Key Takeaways:The accounting profession is becoming more transactional and less relationship-oriented due to staffing constraints.Poor starting salaries compared to the significant educational investment required is a major threat hindering recruitment.There is a lack of consensus on what modern accounting roles entail, hurting the profession's branding and ability to attract newcomers.Technology skills will be essential for future accountants, but so will an ability to tell compelling stories about accounting's impact.Firms must evolve through potential private equity investment, offshoring, and new operational models to meet changing client and staff expectations."The sky isn't falling, it's just we're having to act and move." - Roger Knecht◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Discover how Bob Lewis shapes CPA firm futures with M&A, advisory services and growth tactics. Essential listening for accountants and CPAsIn this episode, host Rob Brown interviews Bob Lewis, CEO of The Vision Group, about major disruptions happening in the accounting industry.They discuss the key inflection points causing disruption such as aging partners, workforce shortages, emerging technologies, and private equity investments. Bob explains the importance of recognizing these disruptions and taking proactive steps to get "disruption ready".He shares insights on managing people, improving firm profitability, preparing for leadership transitions, and rethinking service offerings to meet evolving client needs.Key Takeaways:Aging partners, workforce shortages, and emerging technologies are disrupting accounting firms, requiring changes in strategy.Firms must invest in technology, people, and new service offerings to stay competitive. Lack of investment reduces profitability.Metrics like revenue per professional and realization rates indicate a firm's pricing, profitability, client mix and other performance factors.Future-focused firms are expanding into advisory services beyond compliance work to add value.Staff want vision, training, and empowerment - not just remote work options - to stay engaged.Private equity investments are changing ownership models and bringing new leadership approaches to firms.Quotable Quotes:"The disruption is occurring all around them and they can't control it.""CPA firms, accounting firms, they're becoming consultant agencies."

Jim Bourke is a thought leader in the accounting profession. Jim and host, Rob Brown, extensively discuss the impact of private equity investments and rapidly evolving technology on the accounting landscape.Bourke emphasizes the substantial changes brought about by private equity, altering traditional norms of firm acquisitions and augmenting profitability. He also underscores how technology, particularly artificial intelligence and machine learning, is reshaping the profession.He talks about the demographic shift witnessed in the field with younger, tech-savvy professionals driving change. Additionally, the conversation touches upon the challenges and opportunities faced by firms contemplating mergers and acquisitions.Bourke offers valuable advice for both junior and senior professionals in the accounting industry to stay relevant and thrive in the face of these sweeping transformations.Key Takeaways➯Private equity has permanently changed the accounting profession, affecting acquisitions, firm structure, and revenue models.➯Technology, such as generative AI, is transforming the way accountants work and offering opportunities for increased efficiency and specialization.➯Young professionals should view mergers and acquisitions as opportunities for growth and differentiation within the evolving accounting landscape.➯Successful deals require a period of engagement and cultural alignment, as deals that neglect these factors are more likely to fail.➯To stay relevant, accountants must embrace change, invest in technology, and adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of clients.◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Rob Brown interviews Katie Thomas, a podcasting expert, about the benefits of podcasting for accountants and finance professionals. Katie makes a compelling case for why podcasting is worth the investment of time and resources, even in a crowded space with over 5 million active podcasts.Katie explains how podcasting helps build relationships and trust with both existing and prospective clients. It establishes you as an expert in your niche and gives you a platform to share valuable insights. Podcasting also generates content that can be repurposed across social media, your website, and other marketing channels.Katie also offers practical tips for getting started, like batch recording episodes in advance for busy seasons and working with a professional agency so you only have to focus on the recording.Key Takeaways:➯ Podcasting builds trust and relationships with your audience.➯ It establishes you as an expert in your niche.➯ A podcast spearheads content that can be repurposed across channels.➯ You don't need millions of listeners to benefit.➯ Consider hiring an agency to handle production so you simply have to record."Podcasting is a way that you can build peri-social relationships. So you don’t have to go out 1 by 1 to all these people listening to your podcast or consuming your content that. your content that’s a byproduct of that podcast, but rather those people, they feel like they know you, they like you, they trust you, but you’re doing it on a mass scale."◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Rob Brown interviews Geni Whitehouse, an accountant turned speaker, author, and trainer who helps CPAs make the transition from compliance work to becoming trusted advisors for their clients.They discuss why technology hasn't replaced accountants, the importance of communication skills for advisors, asking insightful questions, and overcoming the resistance many accountants have to expanding their services.Geni emphasizes that the future of the accounting profession depends on building deeper relationships with clients by uncovering their goals and turning financial data into meaningful insights.Key Takeaways:Technology like AI will augment the work of accountants, not replace them. Accountants will be freed up to focus on more strategic insights.Communication skills, especially listening, are critical for advisors. Asking thoughtful questions is key to understanding client needs.Advisors don't impose solutions. They collaborate with clients to develop custom strategies based on their goals.Accountants have invaluable financial knowledge but need to learn to convey it visually for clients.Firms need to help accountants find time for learning and collaboration to expand their advisory skills."Technology, is going to be the final liberating force in our lives that allows us to do the stuff that we really want to do."◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast drops every Monday to accounting professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers across 150 countries in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events. Great to build your personal brand and make valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity.◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

In this insightful conversation, Nicolas Boucher shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence (AI) and tools like ChatGPT are transforming the accounting and finance functions. He emphasizes that AI will not make these roles obsolete but rather enable professionals to focus on more strategic and value-adding activities. Boucher highlights the importance of embracing technology, learning coding (e.g., Python), and developing communication skills to effectively translate financial insights to non-finance stakeholders.Key Takeaways:AI and ChatGPT can significantly increase productivity and automation, allowing finance professionals to spend more time on analysis and strategic decision-making.Learning coding languages like Python and leveraging ChatGPT's capabilities can automate mundane tasks and enable more effective data analysis.Communication skills are crucial for finance professionals to effectively translate financial data and insights to non-finance stakeholders and decision-makers.Embracing AI and continuous learning are essential for finance professionals to remain relevant and add value in a rapidly changing business landscape.The future of finance lies in strategic advisory roles, providing insights and guidance to business partners, rather than solely focusing on compliance and reporting."The world is going to belong to people that are the best at communicating ideas, not going to belong to the people that have the best ideas." - Nicolas Boucher◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Join us at Accountex London, the pinnacle of fintech innovation, May 15-16, 2024! Discover ground-breaking solutions from 295+ brands and gain invaluable insights at our CPD-accredited sessions. Connect with 10,000+ finance professionals. Elevate your practice – attendance is free, plus earn up to 16 CPD points! https://www.accountex.co.uk/londonDEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.comIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrownYou can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channelhttps://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Marketing expert Jo Edwards, with 35 years of experience in personal branding for accountants, shares the importance of building a strong personal brand aligned with your interests. She discusses the power of microniche expertise, measuring brand progress, and using tools like content creation and public speaking. Jo emphasizes the benefits of personal branding, including commanding premium fees, generating referrals, fast-tracking your career, and achieving influence in your firm.