Is the future of the CPA profession in jeopardy?
If you spend any time online these days, you’re likely to find all kinds of content suggesting the future of the CPA profession may be in jeopardy.
A quick Google search brings back headlines like:
“Will AI Replace Accountants and Bookkeepers with Automation?”
“The World Economic Forum labeled accounting as the #3 most at-risk job.”
"Are Accountants Becoming Obsolete?”
There’s a lot of unnecessary fear being spread by many people who don't even work in the profession...
By the way, I’m writing about the CPA profession, but this isn’t unique to CPAs.
Technology, AI, and other market influences are impacting professional services as a whole. The entire professional services landscape is evolving rapidly.
So is the CPA profession in jeopardy of becoming obsolete?
The CPA profession isn't going anywhere—and I believe the same about professional services as a whole.
Audits will need to be conducted, tax advice will be needed, and books will need to be kept.
The role of a Certified Public Accountant won’t be going anywhere without a major shift in the regulatory environment or by market stakeholders (which includes those relying on CPAs given the trust they’ve built over many, many years).
However, there will be winners and losers at the firm level.
Only some firms will remain relevant and sustainable. Others won’t necessarily disappear, but they will likely lose market share, make less money, or become less relevant.
From my years of experience leading a top 10 CPA firm and after gaining insights into many firms as an advisor, there are 3 things CPA firms must embrace to thrive in the years to come:
1) Embrace technology and AI.
You have two choices when it comes to technology and AI:
Option #1: Fear it and choose to ignore it.
Option #2: Embrace it and choose to adopt it.
If you’re in the former… good luck.
Look, technology isn’t going anywhere. It will continue to advance and you better believe it’s going to continue to be integrated into every element of the workforce.
I don’t see technology (totally) replacing the work CPAs do, however. I see it enhancing it.
Think about the introduction of Lotus… then Excel.
These were exponential leaps in the development tools to make our work more efficient… I see AI being the same thing, albeit having a more significant effect.
When harnessed, it can be an incredible tool to support the work that CPA firms do and yet there are still things humans provide that I don't see AI replacing.
As the CEO of a firm, I’d be exploring every possible opportunity to use technology and AI to make our processes more efficient and identify opportunities based on what data is telling us.
Technology can help us make more informed decisions and deliver more efficient service.
Why wouldn’t we embrace that?
2) Embrace different styles of working.
I’ve written extensively in support of remote work. It’s here to stay.
Requiring your entire workforce to be in a single location and show up to an office each day is an antiquated way of thinking.
COVID didn't change that, it simply sped up the reality that the ways in which we were working weren't working.
The CPA firm of the future will not only embrace a remote workforce, it will BREAK THE MOLD™ of traditional operating principles by:
Exploring opportunities for low(er) cost resources.
Promoting part-time and (fully) remote people to executive leadership roles.
Creating bespoke development programs for team members.
People need to be developed with intention and evaluated based on their output and value to the organization, not based on how many hours they work.
The CPA firm of the future will embrace these realities and remain open to adapting as the landscape shifts in the future.
3) Embrace different operating models.
For decades, CPA firms have been fixated on hours.
We track hours.
We enter hours.
We bill hours.
We plan our years around hours.
We manage people according to hours.
The CPA firm of the future will embrace different ways of packaging and billing for services.
Things like:
Billing based on outcomes and value, not hours.
Building subscription services in addition to project-based work.
Productizing services to be packaged and sold in new ways.
As technology makes firms and professionals more efficient, we need to embrace new ways of billing for the services and value we provide to clients.
I recognize these are some bold changes from the ways in which things have always been done—I don't see them as optional, though.
The firm of the future will embrace the question, "What will it take?" when exploring these opportunities and come up with unique solutions.
BREAK THE MOLD™
The foundation of the BREAK THE MOLD™ mindset is about challenging the ways we’ve always thought.
It’s about examining the things we’ve accepted to be true because “it’s the way they’ve always been” and instead, being open to new solutions.
So, from my POV, the CPA profession and professional services as a whole aren't going away….in fact, they are needed by many market stakeholders (and will continue to be).
I don’t believe in some of the “CPAs will be obsolete by 2030” doomsday rhetoric out there.
Not everyone can win, though.
At the firm level, especially, some will rise and some will fall. Or, as I’ve referenced before, they will gradually become less relevant until one day, suddenly, they will be on the outside looking in.
It’s time to take a real hard look in the mirror and think about the opportunities you have as a professional or firm leader to do one of these three things in order to set yourself up for the future:
Embrace technology and AI.
Embrace different ways of working.
Embracing different operating models.
Be willing to BREAK THE MOLD™ and you'll be set up to succeed long-term.
I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts. What's your opinion on the future of the profession and the future of the firms? Do you agree with what I've shared?
Reply to this email with your thoughts, it goes directly to my personal inbox.
With intention,
Alan D Whitman
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