Ep: 13 Top experts answer: "What, if anything, will significantly change accounting in the next few years?"

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:

What, if anything, will significantly change accounting in the next few years?

You'll hear insightful and passionate answers from these 5 experts and influencers:

John Glasgow | The CEO at Campfire who is building modern accounting software

John Thompson | Radical advocate for Primary Advisory and the value of accountants

Jon Jenkins | CEO & Founder Hindsight, starting client conversations for accountants

Jonathan Mifsud | Co-Founder at Buddy, Changing Payroll Tech for Accounting Practices

Julie Wilkinson | Specialist M&A Advisor helping businesses successfully buy and sell businesses

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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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

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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.