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 this episode of the Accounting Influencers Podcast, guest Justin Grant discusses the image problem in the accounting profession, citing a decline in accounting degree enrollment and a shortage of skilled professionals. He suggests that leaders should prioritize creating a better work environment. Justin also emphasizes the importance of high-quality podcast production to attract and retain listeners. He shares his personal journey transitioning from law to podcasting and highlights the need for professionals to focus on their expertise while seeking support in podcast production. The episode concludes with a discussion on the need for inclusivity and support for mental health in the accounting profession. Guest Bio Justin Grant is a seasoned professional in the field of financial services with a career that began in 1997. Initially starting in the banking and fund management sector, Justin later qualified as a financial adviser in 2001 with a national firm. Joining Kudos IFS in 2005, which later became part of Mattioli Woods, Justin specializes in holistic wealth management and wealth preservation strategies, offering tailored advice in areas such as pension planning, investments, and inheritance tax planning. With a focus on helping clients achieve their desired outcomes for their families and businesses, Justin is dedicated to providing exceptional service. ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ If you like the show, we'd truly appreciate a review on whatever platform you listen. We'd love to get to know you! Main show website. For access to every single show with full shownotes: https://accountinginfluencers.com/podcast  For announcements of published shows, tagging guest so you can build your network and offer feedback on the show: https://www.linkedin.com/company/accountinginfluencers  For videos of all podcast interviews and bonus video content: https://bit.ly/AI-youtube  https://www.instagram.com/accinfluencers  https://twitter.com/accinfluencers  https://www.facebook.com/accountinginfluencers  Thanks to our sponsors: Accountex. Accountex will return to ExCeL London UK on the 10-11 May 2023. Bringing together 250+ top fintech companies and cutting-edge start-ups, visitors can browse new software and stay up to date with the latest technology, tools and ideas in accountancy and finance. Alongside the exhibition, attendees will take away actionable tips from the CPD-accredited seminar programme, led by 200+ thought leaders shaping the profession. Accountex is Europe’s largest annual event for the accounting and finance profession. It attracts 8,000+ attendees and 250+ exhibitors. Attendees can get up to 16 CPD hours with 200+ free seminar sessions across 12 theatres. https://www.accountex.co.uk/london/ 

Mental Wellbeing Tips for Today’s Busy Accountants

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: 
 https://accountinginfluencers.com/events

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 episode features a panel discussion on the challenges and future of the accounting profession. Panelists include Ed Kless (Sage), Michael Turner (Aladis), 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, Senior Director of Partner Development and Strategy at Sage - Michael Turner, CEO of Aladis - 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 DEXT. Streamline your accounting practice with Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming their practices. Start your free trial and embrace efficiency today! https://dext.com 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...

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...

Panel: Accounting Influencers on the Profession's Future

Jeff Seibert is the co-founder and CEO of Digits, a modern accounting platform. Jeff and Rob delve into the impact of AI on the accounting profession, exploring its potential to revolutionize the industry while also addressing concerns and misconceptions surrounding this emerging technology. Jeff explains the fundamental concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence in layman's terms, emphasizing that AI is not aimed at replacing accountants but rather augmenting their capabilities and freeing them from tedious tasks. He discusses the two main branches of machine learning – generative models like ChatGPT and predictive models – and how Digits is leveraging the latter to automate bookkeeping with an 87% accuracy rate. The conversation also touches on the importance of data security, collaborative finance, real-time accounting, and the need for accountants to embrace technology to stay relevant and competitive. Jeff's message is one of hope, encouraging accountants to experiment with AI and adopt these tools to enhance their practices and better serve their clients. 5 Key Takeaways:AI is not going to replace accountants; it will elevate the profession by automating tedious tasks and allowing accountants to focus on higher-value activities.Digits is developing AI bookkeeping models that can accurately classify transactions with 87% accuracy, significantly reducing manual labor.Data security is crucial when integrating AI into accounting software, and firms should scrutinize vendors' security measures.Collaborative finance and real-time accounting are the future, enabling accountants and clients to work together seamlessly and access up-to-date financial data.Embracing AI and new technologies is essential for accountants to remain competitive and grow their practices.
"AI is not going to be the death of accounting. Just like the calculator wasn't the death of accounting, the computer wasn't the death of accounting." - Jeff Seibert ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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 Dext! Our cutting-edge tools, Dext Prepare, Commerce, and Precision, revolutionize data handling, saving you precious time and ensuring accuracy. Connect seamlessly with leading software like Xero and QBO. Join 500,000+ customers transforming...

Navigating the Shift: Deep Dive on 'Accounting Meets AI'

This engaging panel discussion explored the rapidly evolving landscape of the accounting profession, addressing the challenges, opportunities, and pivotal factors shaping its future. The panelists delved into topics such as technological disruption, changing workforce dynamics, the erosion of public trust, and the critical skills and mindsets required for accountants to stay relevant and indispensable in an era of unprecedented change. The conversation highlighted the shared responsibility among various stakeholders, including individuals, firms, professional bodies, and technology providers, to drive the profession forward and maintain its ethical integrity. The panelists emphasized the importance of continuous learning, specialization, problem-solving, agility, and client-centricity as key competencies for accountants to cultivate in this transformative period. Important Takeaways:Continuous learning, specialization, and the ability to adapt to rapid change are essential for accounting professionals to stay relevant and competitive.Fostering a culture of generosity, humility, and curiosity within firms is crucial for driving innovation and empowering the next generation of accountants.Technology, particularly AI and automation, will profoundly impact the accounting profession, necessitating a mindset shift and a willingness to embrace these advancements.Accountants and professional bodies must collaborate to uphold the ethical standards and financial integrity of the profession, regaining public trust through transparency and accountability.Remote work and globalized teams present both opportunities and challenges, requiring a balanced approach that prioritizes talent development, mentorship, and fostering a sense of connection and belonging.
"Innovate or perish. Because honestly, at the end of the day, the reality is we're all consultants, and what's our mindset? How do we adapt to this changing world? We either innovate or we retire." - David Cieslak "Time is going to become so much less relevant. The minute they offshored and outsourced and didn't put people's time into their time system for that work, pricing on time is ridiculous." - Jennifer Wilson ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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 Dext! Our cutting-edge

Global Panel: Discussing the Future for Accounting

This is an insightful discussion on the future of the accounting profession, featuring an esteemed panel of accounting industry leaders and experts - Gary Boomer, Val Steed, Sarah Beale, and Bob Lewis.  They delve into the current state of accounting, the need for change, potential threats like AI and automation, the importance of rebranding and improving the profession's perception, the relevance of accounting qualifications, predictions for the profession's future, and more.  The panel acknowledges that while accounting has historically been stable, it's currently facing the most profound changes from all angles - economic shifts, regulatory uncertainties, technological disruptions like AI, and a severe talent shortage.  They emphasize that to remain relevant, the profession must adapt, innovate, improve processes, diversify talent, focus on advisory services, leverage technology intelligently, and most importantly, change its perception among the youth to attract the required talent. Key Takeaways: - The accounting profession is amid a transformative period driven by the accelerated pace of change, AI/automation, increased private equity investments, and changing workforce dynamics. Firms that fail to adapt will struggle to survive. - The biggest threat is from entrepreneurs and firms that don't change their mindset from just providing compliance services to becoming strategic advisors understanding and solving clients' core business challenges. - Rebranding the profession is crucial to attract diverse, younger talent by changing the perception that it's just number-crunching to showcasing it as an exciting, entrepreneurial career with varied opportunities. - Accounting qualifications must continuously evolve with changing business needs, emphasizing skills like communication, ethics, sustainability, and digital proficiency along with technical expertise. - Key predictions include greater advisory services adoption, private equity/consolidation, AI-driven automation of routine tasks, and the rise of accounting "big-box" firms offering integrated professional services. - It's an opportune time in accounting, presenting transformative prospects for those willing to develop required skills, embrace technology, focus on advisory/consulting services, and be part of steering the profession's narrative. "There is so much change out there, which means so much opportunity. And I think we've got the opportunity to carve out our profession in a really different way that adds massive value to business, economy, and society, if we get it right." - Sarah Beale  ◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢ 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...

Mental Wellbeing Tips for Today’s Busy Accountants

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