There is just under a month to go until entries for the Accounting Excellence Awards close on 20 May. Matthew Ord shares more on this year’s awards, including the new categories, while Tom Herbert outlines the trends he expects to see in the entries and offers some good advice on what actually makes a good entry.

After an Any Answers post criticised AccountingWEB for covering artificial intelligence (AI) too much, Herbert argued that AI is changing the profession too quickly to ignore. Calling it a “noisy tech transition”, he said there is a clear appetite for education and information. Drawing on conversations from Sage’s AI roadshows, Herbert noted that many attendees were sole practitioners and small firms at the start of their AI journey, looking for guidance, something which AccountingWEB can provide.

Finally, Ord looks at the profession’s ongoing skills gap, which shows little sign of easing. He reflects on his conversation with AAT chief executive Sarah Beale, who warned that the profession is still not doing enough to show how much it has changed. Ord and Herbert agree that finance and accountancy have never been especially strong at selling themselves, keeping old ideas about the profession alive.