If you’ve been around a while I am sure that you find the constant articles, posts and commentators telling accountants you have to move into advisory services both boring and repetitive. I’ve been debunking the hype here for well over ten years. Many commentators have also been naively forecasting the end of compliance work.
'Many commentators seem almost contemptuous when talking about accountants who focus on the provision of compliance services'. That is the first line of a post I wrote on this blog OVER TEN YEARS AGO in June 2009. Back then I, quite justifiably as it transpires, predicted that those commentators were being unduly
After I recently delivered a talk about the future for accountants I was asked a popular question: Do you see increased automation as a threat or an opportunity for accountants? I explained that I don't like giving a simplistic answer - although, if forced, I would have to say that automation, as ever,
When I write and talk about the future for accountants I debunk the hype (and fake news) that suggests that compliance work is dying. It's NOT. However I do believe that within ten years or so, most of the compliance focused work currently done by general practitioners will no longer be required.
What is the real reason you are in practice as an accountant? This is a question many accountants struggle to answer when I ask them. Why do you do what you do? What is the first thing that comes to mind as to your motivation to be in practice as an accountant?
During my talks about the future for accountants I sometimes share a famous quote from Bill Gates. Before repeating it here, let me just offer some context. There has long been a tendency to over-hype new ideas and initiatives. Some accountants jump on the bandwagon early which is great. I don’t do
I had mixed emotions when I read Della Hudson's book, The Numbers Business. On the plus side it is a superb guide to growing a successful cloud accountancy practice from scratch. I also felt a degree of envy and frustration. There's a part of me that thinks I should just stop offering
This blog post contains something I rarely do. It references a book I have read and want to recommend to accountants who are looking to the future. The Digital Firm is written by an accountant, Will Farnell, who also published it in 2018. The book is subtitled: How to change your accounting
Whenever I talk with accountants about cloud accounting I suspect that many suffer from FOMO. Sometimes their FOMO has worked in their favour and prompted them to take action. More often their FOMO is holding them back from making a decision. And the constant deferral of that decision is slowing down the development of their
This is the first of what I anticipate will become a series of cloud accounting related blog posts. Back in 2009 I disagreed with those commentators who were warning accountants about an urgent need to embrace cloud accounting technology. The alternative, warned these merchants of doom, was that accountants who failed to embrace the cloud
