Are You Ready for CPA 2.0?

Can the “profession” reinvent itself as an “industry?” And is that a good thing? Join the discussion.

by Rick Telberg

Why are you smiling? To hear CPAs talking today, you’d know the landscape is mined with staff shortages, regulatory overload, economic twists and technology turns. Those are indeed tough problems. But most CPAs see the problems as manageable. A few others even see the problems as opportunities. In fact, CPAs who are “confident” about “the future of the profession” outnumber those who are “concerned” by almost four to one, according to some new trend lines. Add your opinion to the survey, and I’ll send you the results.

And they are confident for many different reasons, which suggests there may be many different paths to success. On the other hand, the “concerned” CPAs are looking at the same trends and see no way out, only oblivion.

Let’s start with CPA/CVA Colette Corliss Sellers, who practices in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. She may be only “somewhat confident,” but she sees bountiful opportunities ahead for those who are properly prepared. “The opportunities are in specialization of our practice,” Sellers says. The challenge, of course, is also remaining “knowledgeable across the range of expected CPA services,” such as tax, auditing, financial planning and technology.

But how do you do that? You can’t do it alone, she says. According to Sellers, CPAs must “learn all we can, and network with other CPAs and with other professionals.”

Larry Houff, a senior-level CPA in Tallahassee, Fla., reports guarded but unshaken confidence. But he also sees problems at both ends of the staffing process. At one end of the problem, he says, is “recruiting talent,” but on the other end there’s “loss of talent and client relationships due to aging partners and insufficient transition plans.”

Paul Hornbuckle, senior staffer with a small company in Elmira, N.Y., has some words both stern and encouraging. “An increasing number of young people do not want to seriously work toward the accounting professional status of CPA,” he tells us. “I think this creates an opportunity for the young hungry professionals and the older generation that stays current with the pertinent issues.”

Monica Visalia, a senior-level CPA in Visalia, Calif., sheds a lot of light on an issue that seems to run a close second to concerns with the labor pool. She defined the biggest problem as “the huge amount of regulation… the majority of which force compliance of small CPA firms with costly changes affecting… a small part of their practices but nonetheless necessary to be able to provide the same services to our clients.”

And then there’s another small-firm operator, Jon Neal in Greenfield, Wisc. While he’s “very confident,” he acknowledges that an increase in rules and regulations complicates life for the CPA. But, he adds, “opportunities exist with all the new businesses being created and all the technology that many people do not want to deal with.” Still, CPAs must “keep their integrity and help their clients understand what is going on.”

An anonymous but “very confident” CPA shared that complaint. “BIGGEST ISSUE IS THE NEW REGULATIONS THAT ARE COMING ON THE SCENE ALMOST DAILY,” he or she shouted in caps. It is “IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP UP WITH EVERYTHING!”

To be sure, the onslaught of complexity is rattling the confidence of many CPAs. Interestingly, almost as many are expressing concern with ethics, credibility, and independence. Technology is also being widely mentioned. Some CPAs are concerned about keeping up with it. Others see it as something to offer to clients.

Aladdin Al-Khatib, chief internal auditor at a large company in Saudi Arabia, has a thought on technology that rings of both confidence and concern. After echoing the common complaint about lack of staff, he foresees opportunity crossed with challenge: “We should increase the awareness and training of information technology,” he said. “Everything will be automated sooner or later!”

But maybe Jeff Pawlow, the St. Louis, Mo.-based practice consultant, says it best by invoking a comparison with Web 2.0. “For firms that think in terms of the ‘Profession: 2.0,’ I think the sky is the limit,” says Pawlow. “Firms have to have a culture that allows for evolution and change in order to take full advantage of today’s marketplace.”

Many firms, he says, are worrying about the wrong things. “Firms aren’t going to be ‘caught’ by similar competitors, they’re going to run into a brick wall because they are only looking in the rear view mirror,” Pawlow says.

Pawlow, who describes himself as “very confident” and becoming more so, adds, “Moving the paradigm from ‘profession’ to ‘industry’ holds the greatest opportunity. Systemization will be the buzz word for the next five years. CPAs will really begin to run their firms like a business.”

I believe he’s right about the bright future. But I’ll miss the old “profession.”

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: How do CPAs feel about the future of the profession? Take the survey; get the results.

[Copyright 2007 Bay Street Group LLC. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. First published by the AICPA.]

Posted on October 7, 2007