Welcome to the Accounting Influencers Podcast, going live every Monday to 150 countries and 30,000 accounting practitioners, fintech specialists and influencers in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space. 

In today's episode 19, "Career Development in Accountancy: Robyn Clark."

You can also watch this on youtube here: [link from spreadsheet]

GUEST BIO

Key takeaways from this episode include:

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How AI & ChatGPT Change Accounting: Randy Johnston

The ACCOUNTING INFLUENCERS PODCAST is hosted by Rob Brown, co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR). Join hundreds of others on our next virtual speed networking event for influential leaders and professionals in the accounting, finance and tech world: 
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On the show, Rob hits topics like leadership, people, talent, performance and success in the public accounting world. Listen for entertaining short interviews with top accounting leaders on what makes the good firms and professionals great. No fluff, just great bite-size insights from the people who count. 

The show also features multi-person panels on the key trends, reputation and future of the accounting profession. Stay informed and relevant by subscribing to one of the world's top accounting podcasts.

Host Rob Brown is a renowned presenter, facilitator and chair of high-level conferences, panels and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession. He is retained by many professional networks, alliances, associations, practices and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities. He is a dynamic speaker and accomplished expert on trust, reputation, employer brand, talent, career development, succession, gen z/generations, employee advocacy and executive presence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrown/

Rob is author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed over 300,000 times on YouTube. He is a stroke survivor, has epilepsy, is a committed Christian and has a black belt in kickboxing. He is based in Nottingham UK, home of Robin Hood, plays chess and backgammon, loves orange chocolate and is allergic to grapefruit. 

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Management

This international panel discussion explores the current state and future trajectory of the accounting profession. The distinguished panel includes influential leaders and innovators on the field such as Dianne Yetter, Sarah Dobek, Tom Barry and Jeff Seibert to share their diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. The conversation goes through with an assessment of the profession's current shape. While the panelists acknowledge the existence of challenges, such as talent shortages and outdated perceptions, they also recognize the immense opportunities arising from technological advancements and evolving client needs.  The discussion highlights the importance of embracing change, upskilling in areas like communication and strategic thinking, and positioning accountants as trusted business advisors. As the dialogue progresses, the guests share their visions for the future of accounting. Predictions range from the rise of accounting for virtual economies and cross-disciplinary education to the potential demise of the traditional partnership model and the globalization of services delivery.  The panelists also emphasize the need to address persistent myths and raise financial literacy to foster a better understanding of the profession's true value. Key Takeaways:The accounting profession is in a state of flux, with a divide between those embracing change and those resistant to it. Firms unwilling to adapt risk becoming irrelevant.Accountants must go beyond traditional number-crunching roles and develop skills in communication, strategic thinking, and entrepreneurship.Technology, such as AI and automation, will eliminate tedious tasks, allowing accountants to focus on delivering value-added advisory services.Attracting and retaining talent is a significant challenge, and firms must invest in training and development, particularly in soft skills.Branding and storytelling are crucial for changing the perception of accounting as a boring profession and showcasing its dynamic nature.
Quotes: "We have to tell a better story. What made Anderson great is the way that they onboarded people, the way that they ingrained them into what was great about the profession." - Sarah Dobek "It's the best of times and the worst of times for accounting." - Tom Barry (paraphrasing Charles Dickens) Watch in video format on youtube here: https://youtu.be/SuOqR21SLB4 ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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.com ACCOUNTEX. Bringing the accounting world together with UK and international events for the accounting and tech world. https://www.accountex.co.uk If you'd like to sponsor the show and...

Panel: Accounting's Changing Landscape: - Adapt or Die?

This international panel discussion explores where the accounting profession is headed and what it needs to do to remain relevant. The all-star panel includes influencers Daniel Dronsfield, Amy Vetter, Jasen Stine and Andrew Harding. The experts agree the profession is at an inflection point, with a divide between those embracing change and those resistant to it. Firms unwilling to adapt face potential irrelevance as the workforce ages and talent becomes scarce. Persistent myths like accountants being stuck in the past need debunking.  Successful future accountants will need skills beyond number-crunching, such as communication, strategic thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset. The panelists urge learning from other industries' client-centric and innovative approaches. Bold predictions include the rise of accounting for virtual economies, more cross-disciplinary education, the demise of the partnership model, and globalized services delivery. If granted a magic wand, the panelists wish for raising financial literacy, closing the public's expectation gap on audit failures, and fostering a culture of technology integration. While tumultuous times loom, the profession's future brims with opportunities for the adaptive. As Stein states: "It's the best and worst time" for accounting. Key Takeaways:The accounting profession is at an inflection point, with significant changes happening due to technology, changing workforce dynamics, and evolving client needs.Firms and individuals who embrace change and upskill in areas like communication, strategic thinking, and advisory services will thrive, while those resistant to change may struggle.The traditional partnership model and accounting qualifications may undergo significant transformations to adapt to the changing landscape.Increasing financial literacy and understanding the true value of accountants beyond compliance work is crucial for the profession's future.
"If your business model is serving people in volume and you want the 100, 1040 or the 50 a month bookkeeping client, I mean, you're in for a rude awakening because frankly, nobody really does want that." - Jason Stine "We'll see the emergence of cross-disciplinary accounting degrees, certifications that lend finance and technology with traditional accounting education. The accountants of tomorrow, they'll need to have a very broad knowledge base to navigate the complexities of modern business." - Daniel Dronsfield Watch in video format on youtube here: https://youtu.be/NsYHJu8dRTo ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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.com ACCOUNTEX. 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...

Global Panel: Is Accounting Having an Identity Crisis?

Jeremy Clopton is a governance and leadership expert who works extensively with accounting firms.  Jeremy and Rob delve into the critical topic of governance best practices for successful accounting firms. Jeremy emphasizes the importance of separating governance (strategic decision-making) from operations (day-to-day management). He shares insights on streamlining decision-making processes, delegating authority, and fostering effective communication within partner groups. Clopton's insights shed light on the common challenges firms face as they grow, including the need for partners to relinquish autonomy and embrace a more structured, business-like approach to governance.  He stresses the importance of clearly defining decision-making authority at different levels within the firm and ensuring that partners understand and buy into the governance model. Key Takeaways:Differentiate between governance (strategic decisions) and operations (day-to-day management)Clearly define decision-making authority at partner, management committee, and managing partner levelsFoster effective communication to keep partners informed and engagedEmbrace a business-like approach to governance while maintaining a people-focused cultureAlign partner compensation with desired behaviors and contributions to firm success
"You can either be running your firm like a business, or you can be running it as nine different firms that all sit under the same roof." View this episode in video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/QYUCukwNwQs ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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.com ACCOUNTEX. 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/london If 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/therobbrown You can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channel https://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Governance Best Practice for Successful Accounting Firms

This episode features a panel discussion on the challenges and future of the accounting profession. Panelists include Ed Kless, Michael Turner (Validis), Steve Cox (IRIS), and Dan McMahon (Integrated Growth Advisors). They delve into issues like the billable hour model, talent shortages, resistance to change, the role of technology like AI, client advisory services, private equity's impact, and more. The conversation offers insightful perspectives on where accounting is stuck and what kind of transformation is needed. Panelists: - Ed Kless, Former Senior Director of Partner Development and Strategy at Sage - Michael Turner, CEO of Validis - Steve Cox, Business Intelligence Director at IRIS   - Dan McMahon, Management Consultant at Integrated Growth Advisors Key Topics: - The billable hour as the "cancer" holding back accounting - Need to transition to selling knowledge/value instead of time - Talent shortage and struggles to attract newcomers   - Importance of purpose, values, and accountability for great firms - Role of change management to drive transformation - Predictions on multidisciplinary teams, data-driven audits, advisory services "Stuck. In a word, stuck...The cancer of the accounting profession is the billable hour and the timesheet." - Ed Kless "Let's eliminate the annual performance review and instead institute after action reviews...that is the replacement for the timesheet." - Ed Kless ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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.com ACCOUNTEX. 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/london If 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/therobbrown You can also check out all shows on the Accounting Influencers YouTube Channel https://bit.ly/AI-youtube

Panel: Making the Accounting Profession Future-Ready

Rob Brown discusses the future of accounting with special guests Davis Bell, Geni Whitehouse, Geoffrey Brown and Jason Blumer. The panel provides insights into the key challenges and opportunities facing accountants, from talent retention and technology adoption to redefining the role of the modern accountant. The conversation delves into the accounting profession's image problem, with the panel highlighting the need to better communicate the diverse career paths and meaningful work available to aspiring accountants. They also explore the shifts in firm ownership models, the rise of entrepreneurial mindsets, and the importance of accountants embracing a more advisory and future-focused role. The guests share their predictions for the profession, including the changing talent pool, the commoditization of certain services, and the critical need for firms to integrate technology and business analysis skills. Overall, the episode paints a picture of an industry in flux, but one that holds immense potential for those willing to adapt and lead the charge towards a more dynamic and impactful future for the accounting profession. Key Takeaways: 1. The accounting profession is facing a talent pipeline challenge, with a need to better retain and attract the next generation of accountants. 2. Embracing a more advisory and insight-driven approach is crucial for accountants to remain relevant and add value to clients. 3. Firms must adapt their ownership models and business structures to meet the needs and expectations of the incoming generation of leaders. 4. Technology and automation will continue to disrupt the profession, presenting both threats and opportunities for accountants. 5. Accounting firms should actively seek to integrate business analysis and technology skills into their teams to stay ahead of the curve. Quotes: "We need to start talking about what it means to be a finance and accounting professional much earlier, high school, junior high even, because there's a lot of opportunity there." - Geoffrey Brown "If we can convince some people to keep coming into the profession, I mean, we're going to kill it. We're going to kill it over the next 30 years, I think." - Jason Blumer ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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.com ACCOUNTEX. 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/london DEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with...

How AI & ChatGPT Change Accounting: Randy Johnston

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