get ready for the fast future: the anticipatory accounting and finance professional
TRANSCRIPT
The fast future
Get ready for …
The anticipatory accountingand finance professional
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
bli.cnf.io
Poll: What generation do you belong to?
Our top challenge?
“When the job is in the way of the
work, consider changing your
job enough that you can go back
to creating value. Anything less is
hiding.”
Seth Godin
Top five issues impacting CPAs
1. Keeping up2. Information overload3. Doing more with less4. Being proactive vs.
reactive5. Complexity
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Poll: What are your biggest challenges?
Poor reputation
No personal relationship
Inadequate staff to meet needs
Out-of-date technology
Fees were too high
CPA lacked expertise
Referral to a new firm
Poor responsiveness
CPA advice not proactive
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Why SMBs leave their CPA / accountant
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Source: CPA.COM Insight intothe CPA of the Future Study 2014
Only 8% of CPAs are future-ready
Future-ready is the capacity to be aware, predictive, and
adaptive of emerging challenges, tech innovations,
and trends and changes in business, population, and
social environment.
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.”
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
Oceans of opportunity
The faster you go, the farther ahead you have to
look.
5 steps to becoming future-ready
1.Context 2.Certainty3.Capacity4.Competence 5.Core beliefs
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Context
“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.” -- Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
“In the next five years, game-changing technologies will transform every business process, including how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, educate, train, and innovate.”
-- Daniel Burrus
Source: Frey & Osborne,“The Future of Employment,” Oxford University
Race against the machines?
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Are your offices, workspaces, and technology future-focused?
Do you know what your clients are facing now and in the future?
Are you using the language of the future or the past?
Will students and potential employees feel like they are traveling back in time when they walk through your door?
Certainty
Hard trends = future facts
Three hard trends:1. Government
regulation2. Technology3. Demographics
Disruption and RONIThe gap is widening, faster!
Source: Clayton Christensen, “Innovation Killers”
We think this is thetrade-off
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Capacity
6 ways to create capacity
• Maximize the software and tools you have• Use the latest, most efficient technologies• Workflow and process efficiency• Focus on your best ‘A’ clients / customers• Communicate your services (cross-sell)• Engage your people
Competency
Disruptions before they disruptProblems before you have themCustomer needs before they have them New opportunities before the competition
Anticipate
Source: Daniel Burrus
#Futur-eReady
Is the capacity to be anticipatory (aware, predictive and adaptive) of emerging technology and trends in business, demographics, and the social environment impacting your organization and industry.
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Respond lightning fast Access an encyclopaedic
memory Stay awake 24 x 7 x 365 Remember conversations Analyze on the fly Continually learn and improve
Advantage, machines
Source: AccountingWEB
Intuition Political acumen Challenging Reading the back story Who’s who? Probability of change Culture What’s in it for me?
Advantage, humans
Source: AccountingWEB
“Professional judgment and expertise is not replaceable by machines.”
— Cathy EngelbertCEO, Deloitte
“Humans should only do work that only humans can do.”
Peter Sheahan
The researchThe latest research inside and outside the CPA profession re-affirms the top competencies and skills needed by accounting and finance professionals.
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Top skills that accounting and finance professionals need today
BLI Research in 2015 with over 1,000 responses from all segments of the CPA profession identified these top skill needed to be successful in these rapidly changing times. This confirms and reinforces the research from the Conference Board, AICPA’s CPA Horizons 2025 report, Bersin, and Burrus Research.
75% covered by these
top 5 skills
VALUE
Adding Insight for Action
Information
Wisdom
Knowledge
Data
Compliance
Reliance
Source: CGMA and DIKW Pyramid
VALUE
Poll: What are the top skills accounting and finance pros need to succeed going forward?
TrustIntegrityObjectivityExcellence Lifelong learning
Core beliefs and values
Protect the core and stimulate progress
5 steps to becoming future-ready
1.Context 2.Certainty3.Capacity4.Competence 5.Core beliefs
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute
Calendar: The No. 1 appSpend just one hour per week in the future
…
“We are called to be architectsof the future, not its victims.”
R. Buckminster Fuller
“The best way to predictyour futureis to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln
Poll: What is your biggest takeaway from this session?
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Get ready for the fast future
Bill Sheridan, CAEThe Business Learning Institute