The accounting profession is on the same roller coaster of unprecedented levels of change as the rest of the world. We believe that we are used to change because that is the nature of accounting thanks to the changing landscapes of the courts, the business environment, technology and government. Now we are also living in a world where books, DVDs, taxis and hotels are being replaced by other alternatives. Banks are experiencing pressure from peer-to-peer lending and software accountants who can quickly provide the same advice that only we could before. Lawyers are staring down the barrel of smart software that can predict court rulings.

What is changing for accountants?
The following five trends are impacting the accounting profession:

1. Outsourcing: You know this has a very real impact on the profession when Google’s number one hit is an advertisement for a company that does nothing more than provide outsourcing for accounting firms. It’s a wonderful way to save you time and money, but it comes with a number of problems, such as the need to check for accuracy and the development of the profession.
2. Advances in Software and Artificial Intelligence: Accounting and tax research has been done online for some time, but AI will only get smarter at predicting failures, conducting investigations, and making recommendations. While it will make our roles much more efficient, it will also come with a whole new set of challenges in how we charge for time and how we make sure the advice we give is correct. Advances in software bring with them wonderful new ways to commit financial fraud, which we as accountants must also detect and advise our clients.
3. social media: It has now become part of how we market our accounting services, how we recruit, and how we conduct research on the people we are recruiting. When it comes to our customers and investments, social media may reveal more data than any corporate assurance report on a company. It’s become so ingrained in some of our lives that an accountant I know touches her smartphone in the morning to check social media before saying good morning to her partner.
4. Regulation: Although not new to our profession, it would appear that even more regulation may be on the way in the wake of massive tax evasion, transfer pricing, and money laundering as exposed through things like the Panama Papers. Our profession can also be part of enforcing regulations that we can’t even consider yet, such as how ethical an organization is in its behavior towards the environment or people. We may have to find ways to account for the environmental or social impacts of trade policies.
5. A multigenerational workforce: For the first time in history we now have four generations working side by side in the area of ​​accounting work. We have traditionalists, baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y working together. People are now working longer and that means that in some situations there is a 50+ year gap between the youngest and oldest employees.
6. Alternative billing models: The traditional billable hours model was not popular with our clients and could even be seen as a reward for inefficiency. New billing models have arrived and will continue to evolve as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more common in our roles. You’ll be faced with tough decisions about how much to bill a client when what previously would have taken you 30 hours of detailed research and bookkeeping can now be done in minutes thanks to smart software. Clients also seek certainty regarding their accounting fees for the year, and in some cases would prefer to pay a monthly advance rather than pay for partial accounting advice.

Greg Hayes of the firm Hayes Knight has recently responded to all the pessimism that accountants are being told about these changes. He believes that as long as there are government regulators and as long as there are small businesses, there will always be a need for someone to come between them. He says that accountants have always been the trusted and advisory business owner, and will continue to be, “You can’t automate relationships and you can’t automate trust.”

Interesting changes that have already occurred
What changes have I already seen professionals undertake? Here are a few:

• A non-profit family law firm.
• The use of emoticons in all emails from a company because putting a happy face at the end of an email ensures that the other party knows that you are not looking to escalate a dispute.
• Network with other professionals, such as lawyers, bankers, financial planners, insurance brokers, health professionals, or anyone else who could potentially recommend you (and vice versa). This networking is being done not only face to face over coffee, but also through monthly seminars where clients and a variety of professionals are invited. In one case, each month three people are invited to give a ten-minute presentation on what they are doing to see if there are ways to work together with someone else in the room.
• A company holds a ‘digital festival’ every six months to keep customers up to date on some of the latest technology they might be using in their business and any legal or accounting issues associated with it.
• Apps that help people track what stage their file is in (for example, text alert when a tax return is filed or when monthly spending has exceeded budget), when their next meeting is, which government agencies they will need for different matters, etc.
• Strategic positioning of accounting offices in non-traditional physical locations, such as health or innovation centers.

How to Consciously Accept Change

As accountants and business advisors, we are traditional and conservative and are now being asked to embrace some of the biggest changes our profession has seen in years if we are to remain relevant. Change requires energy, motivation and a certain level of discomfort as we head into uncharted waters.

Change can be a good thing. If you’re old enough to remember the cassette tapes you had to wind up with a pencil when they broke, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Have you ever been in a house that was sold? There was a frenzy of cleaning, moving, and fixing things you had put up with for years. The day before the first open house, you step back and look at this gleaming house and wonder why you ever wanted to leave such a lovely place. Your accounting practice could probably benefit from the same treatment. Take this disruption as an opportunity to practice innovation and see new ways of operating that you haven’t paid attention to before. You have a golden opportunity to transform the nature of your role, for example, from trusted accountant to strategic business advisor.

Mindfulness asks you to acknowledge and accept the need for change. It’s neither good nor bad, it is what it is. The coming changes are inevitable and we can either accept them and prepare for them or we can practice denial and catch up later.

Acceptance requires that we take an honest look at where we are and then start taking the steps we need to get to where we want to be. Tackling change in one big leap is daunting, but if you can find one small thing at a time to change, you will slowly but surely absorb the changes ahead. Start with something easy, like meeting or calling one new contact a week who could be part of your referral network.

Every time you take a step, however small, to change the way business is done, your brain gives you a spurt of its internal reward drug, dopamine. Every time you take a step towards a goal or check something off your ‘to do’ list, dopamine is also the reason you feel good. Open a Twitter account and feel good. Set up a Facebook page for your business and feel good. Look for ways to expand your referral network and feel good about yourself. Start small. Start anywhere and start embracing the journey of change ahead.

Remember that it is neither good nor bad, it is simply an opportunity.