Future-proof | A Podcast For Tomorrow's Accounting & Finance Pros

Pretty much every survey under the sun identifies recruitment and retention as one of the top five issues facing accounting and finance organizations today. Everyone is struggling with this and nobody seems to know how to solve it.There are a lot of suggestions being put forward throughout the profession — communicate, be a role model, make your expectations clear, offer a safe working environment, provide a clear career path, build leaders — and that’s all great advice. Yet, no matter how many times we hear this, talent continues to be one of our most pressing problems.So, what’s the real issue here? Why can’t we hire the people we want? And why can we keep the people we have?Our guest Alan Jagonlinzer has some ideas. Alan is a Professor of Financial Accounting, the Head of the Accounting Faculty Subject Group, and the Director of the Centre for Financial Reporting & Accountability at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, where he has helped develop leadership, innovation, and change-

Today we’re going to talk about something that most accounting and finance professionals probably never give a second thought — writing.Writing is one of those skills that we all take for granted. We all do it in some way, shape, or form every day, so we all assume we’re awesome at it. Maybe even better at it than some of our peers?This is a misconception that happens all the time, in different areas of our life. We can’t all be better than mostly everyone else at most things, but we’ll learn more about that phenomenon in a moment.First, we want to introduce our guest Bob Dean, a learning and development expert who has designed, developed, and facilitated hundreds of interactive virtual learning programs, using a variety of technology platforms. More to the point, he has authored a series of programs for the Business Learning Institute about writing for results, writing as a leader, writing in a way that will get you noticed — and, equally important, writing in a way that makes sure people won’t notice you as

Pascal Finette is co-founder of be radical, an organization that teaches leaders how to create new business models for success, positively embrace disruption, and prepare their people to be future-forward and future-ready.He is also chair for Entrepreneurship and Open Innovation at Singularity University, which is a global learning and innovation community that uses exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. He previously held leadership positions at Google, Mozilla, and eBay.Pascal’s focus these days is what the future looks like, as it pertains to the intersection of business and technology. And that future? It terrifies him and thrills him at the same time. He says he’s living this duality between freaking out and being super excited — and that gets us excited, too.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:be radical: beradicalgroup.comSingularity University: su.orgLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pfinette/Twitter: twitter.com/pfinetteDisruption Map

Summer’s over, October’s here, and things are changing. But that’s the state of our world today, isn’t it? And not just when it comes to the weather. Change is the new normal, and that can be an uncomfortable thing, especially for CPAs. But for those who are ready to embrace it — to adapt a more nimble and flexible mindset — there are a lot of opportunities just waiting to be taken advantage of.The question is, then, how do we do that? How do we start embracing flexibility and fluidity as competitive advantages? How do we start thinking about transforming our very business models so that we’ll remain relevant in a changing and complex world? Those things aren’t baked into our DNA, are they?But here to help us figure it all out is Will Hill, the Tax Professionals Advisory product manager for Thomson Reuters. He’s also been included on CPA Practice Advisor’s “40 Under 40” list twice and he’s an iInnovator with TR’s Practice Forward service offering, which is focused on helping firms make the transitio

We’re jumping back on the culture train today. As you can probably tell, we’re big believers in getting your culture right. We’ve had conversations on the topic with Tom Peters, Karl Alrichs, Jamie Notter, Richard Silberstein, and David Barrett — and that’s because it’s a REALLY important conversation to be having! Really, there might not be a bigger or more important differentiator in business today than your culture. If you get it right, you’re going to have a leg up in recruitment and retention, for one, but you’ll also just be doing business with really great people who will sing your praises and be loyal to you, and evangelize what you do to the world.To help us take this conversation a step further, we sat down with with Dee Ann Turner, who speaks and consults with businesses around the world on how to leverage talent and culture to create what she calls “legendary customer experiences.” And she ought to know. She spent more than 30 years with Chick-fil-A, including a stint as their vice president

Today’s episode is all about Color Accounting — and if you’re not familiar with Color Accounting yet, you need to be!So, we invited Peter Frampton, co-founder of Color Accounting, onto the show to teach us all about what Color Accounting is and why it’s so important to the future of our profession.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:ColorAccounting.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peterframptonHow Color Accounting works: https://youtu.be/QeoCoatHGsYColor Accounting’s books on accounting and finance: coloraccounting.com/books.htmlLearn more at MACPA.org/future-learningFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Today we’re going to talk about something you probably didn’t expect from this show: Cannabis. But legalization for both medical and recreational cannabis products is growing at the state level. At this point, it seems like a hard trend. So it’s high time we talked about this stuff (pun intended)  if we want to future-proof this profession.To help us come to a joint understanding, if you will, about how we can best serve our clients in this area, we are joined by Emily Burns, who provides customized legal and consulting solutions specifically for the rapidly evolving cannabis industry.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Check out LegallyBurns.comTwitter: twitter.com/legallyburnsLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/legallyburnsWatch Sen. Orrin Hatch’s statementTake one of Emily’s courses: blionline.org/instructor/emily-burnsLearn more at MACPA.org/future-learningFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

We’ve been talking about the cloud for so long now that it’s easy to assume that everyone already has it figured out – but that’s the wrong assumption to make with our profession.   There are exceptions, of course. There are some accounting and finance pros out there who take pride in getting ahead of new technologies early. But a sizeable part of the profession hasn’t made that leap yet.   So Blake Oliver, co-host of the Cloud Accounting Podcast, joins us to assess where we’re at in the profession when it comes to cloud adoption, as well as what’s next from here.   To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.   Resources: Read: Cloud Accounting Blog Listen: Cloud Accounting Podcast Twitter: twitter.com/BlakeTOliver Facebook: www.facebook.com/blake.t.oliver LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/blaketoliver/ Learn more at MACPA.org/future-learning Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media

How do you transform your organization into a truly digital organization?    It’s not as simple as it sounds. You can’t just about employ some digital technologies and think that you’ve made it. Doing digital and being digital are not the same things. Not even close.   So, we’re joined by Matt Loeb, principal of Optimal Performance Seekers and acting CEO of SECURE, who is simply one of the deepest thinkers about what it means to be digital in an increasingly digital world. Quite frankly, too many people get this stuff wrong, and Matt is here to point us in the right direction.   To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.   Resources: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mattloeb/ Twitter: twitter.com/mattloeb digitalNow Conference: digitalnowconference.com How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World by Neil Irwin Learn more at MACPA.org/future-learning Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media

To know where you’re going, you have to have an understanding of – and an appreciation for – where you’ve been.    Publisher and activist Marcus Garvey said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” And Michael Crichton, the bestselling author of Jurassic Park and Westworld, said, “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.”   Why are our two favorite quotes about history also about trees? Who knows. But these quotes encapsulate what we’re going to be discussing on today’s episode: a glimpse back at a little-known but hugely important event in this nation’s history and the role that little-old Maryland played in that event.   Our guest, Chris Formant, is a businessman by trade – a former top executive of a multi-billion-dollar global business and now the CEO of a technology company – but more to the point for this episode, he’s the author of a riveting new book called Saving Was

We spend a lot of time on this show talking about future trends and technologies — things like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and automation – and, more importantly, what those things mean for the future of our profession.   But there are many other hard trends — a.k.a. future facts, a.k.a. things that we know are going to happen – that will have a huge impact on what we do. The topics aren’t always as sexy, sure, but they’re equally impactful, and if we want to get serious about becoming future-ready, we need to be talking about these things, too.   So, that brings us to the decidedly un-sexy world of regulation this week. It probably doesn’t excite you, but we have to talk about this stuff, as a profession, because it might have more of an impact on what we do going forward than anything that technology can throw our way.   Luckily, our guest, Russ Golden, is one of the best people to talk to about regulation in the accounting and finance world because Russ is the Chairman of the Financial Accounting

Our guest today is Neil Irwin, who is the senior economic correspondent at the New York Times and the best-selling author of The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire, about the global financial crisis and its aftermath.   And Irwin recently wrote a new book titled How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World: The Definitive Guide to Adapting and Succeeding in High-Performance Careers. It’s a fascinating and important book, given the changing and complex world we live in.   To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.   Resources: Neilirwin.com   How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World: The Definitive Guide to Adapting and Succeeding in High-Performance Careers   Twitter: twitter.com/neil_irwin LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/neil-irwin/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/neil.irwin Learn more at MACPA.org/future-learning Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Today, we’re talking about the elephant in the room, or what Tom Hood would call the dead moose in the room. That thing that’s stinking up the joint but that nobody wants to do anything about – or, more to the point, nobody knows what to do about it.   That dead moose is talent.    How do you find it? How do you keep it? How do you set your organization apart from all the others out there so people want to work for you?   It’s a HUGE problem, and here’s why in three short words: One point five.   That’s the unemployment rate for accountants and auditors. One point five percent. The national average is 3.7 percent. That means it’s more than twice as hard for employers to find great employees than everyone else.   Welcome to reality, and reality continues to get more and more harsh. Ten thousand Baby Boomers reach retirement age every single day. That means one of two things: they’re retiring and they’re taking all of their wisdom and experience with them or they’re continuing to work, which means younger profe

Today’s show is all about innovation – which, let’s face it, it’s not something the accounting and finance profession is known for. We’re all about accounting for what has happened, and history tells us that what will happen is not our problem.   Except, here’s the thing: We’re living in a world where we’ll be flattened by what’s in front of us if we don’t take the time to look for it, if we don’t take the time to turn around and look for what futurist Andrew Zolli would call those “weak signals of disruptive change” on the horizon. If we don’t start training ourselves to look forward to what’s next as much as we look back to what’s happened, we’re doomed. And here’s why: A few years ago, the Sleeter Group released the results of a survey that showed the top reason why clients decided to leave their CPA firms is that their CPAs were providing reactive services instead of proactive advice. In other words, their CPAs were holding them back instead of helping them become future-ready. At the same time, CPA.com

We’re going to talk about your career path today. If you’re new to the profession, and even if you’re not, we’re not going to lie to you – things are going to get weird.    It’s just the nature of work today. Things are changing at an exponential pace these days and that means your career is also going to change exponentially – so you have to be ready with new skills, a flexible career path, and the ability to shift on a dime when the time comes. More than ever, we all have to be more nimble, more flexible, and more willing to learn new skills. Our careers, our futures, and those of our customers and clients depend on it more now than ever.   We can’t do anything about the twists and turns coming our way, but we can prepare ourselves to take those twists and turns without spinning out or flipping the car over. Luckily, today’s guest puts an inspiring twist on the twists and turns of career and life.    Tony Nitti is a partner in RubinBrown’s Tax Services Group, a well-known contributor of tax content to Forbe

The accounting and finance profession as we know it seems to be under assault. New technologies, staggering legislation and regulations, demographic shifts that are reshaping the face of workforces — we’re experiencing change and complexity on a level we’ve never seen before.   Or is that really true?   In a way, when you think about it, none of what we’re experiencing right now is new. All of the thought leaders out there are calling this “the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Know what that means? There have been three other industrial revolutions before it. We’ve gone through massive change before.   The only difference today is that these changes are happening faster than ever before, which means we have to be more agile than ever, ready to shift with the next big transformation.   And that, in part, is Bill Reeb’s message to the accounting and finance world. Bill Reeb is chief executive of the management consulting firm Succession Institute, LLC. But more importantly, he is the incoming chair of the America

Our guests this week have a challenge for all accounting and finance professionals: start thinking in terms of moonshots.   Now, you might be asking yourself, what in the world is a moonshot? It’s a huge, seemingly insurmountable quest that is ultimately inspirational and game-changing in nature. It’s something that, when achieved, changes the boundary between possible and impossible – just like the USA’s attempt to land Apollo 11 on the moon almost exactly 50 years ago.   Sherif Hallaba and Travis Dirks are the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, respectively, for an organization named XLabs. They describe themselves as a company that builds moonshot companies for the future, powered by artificial intelligence, unconventional computing, and neurotechnology.   And if that sounds a little “out there” for our little podcast... well, it is, but they make a pretty strong argument that adopting a moonshot mindset will have some very tangible benefits for accounting and finance pros.   To learn mo

Our guest this week is Brian Solis, who you’re probably already familiar with if you’re conference nerds like us. He describes himself as a digital analyst, an anthropologist, and a futurist; he has studied the effects of emerging technology on business, marketing, and culture; and he’s written best-selling books like Engage, The End of Business as Usual, and What’s the Future of Business?   His latest book is called LifeScale – and it could really be a gamechanger for the accounting and finance industry, and really any industry that takes it to heart.   We discuss how time seems increasingly important these days – and why, if you’re looking to take your business to the next level, if you’re looking for your next competitive advantage, if you’re trying to figure out where your business is going and how it’s going to get there, then the first question you should be asking yourself is, “How am I spending my time?”   We’re not trying to shame anybody or make anyone feel guilty. This is all about becoming more aw

This week we’re talking about the role of the CFO – a role that is changing, and pretty radically. Thanks to advances in technology and other disruptions, organizations are expecting their CFOs to play an increasingly strategic role; to actually help drive strategy in the organization, rather than just leading their department and crunching numbers.   It’s a fairly recent phenomenon, but it’s happening quite quickly, and getting up to speed on that is just the latest challenge that finance chiefs are facing.   Joining the show to offer some insight on the fluctuating world of corporate finance is Ash Noah, managing director of CGMA Learning, Education and Development, which is the global association that the American Institute of CPAs formed in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.   To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.   Resources: CGMA Competency Framework: https://www.cgma.org/resources/tools/cgma-competency-framework.html LinkedIn: https

Today’s topic is A.I. Artificial intelligence. You might have heard about it? It’s that thing everyone’s been talking about for the last five years or so. Yeah, the hype is out of this world.   But here’s the thing, and there’s really no getting around it: this isn’t something entirely new or groundbreaking. The technology itself is new, but we’ve been through this before. Excel was supposed to kill our profession, remember? Then came the Internet, and Turbotax, and the cloud. And you know what? We’re still here, adding greater value for our clients than ever.   But technology today is also evolving faster than ever, meaning it’s harder to keep up than ever. Automated solutions are eating away at more of our foundational tasks than ever. However, for the time being anyway, they’re still just tools — tools that augment what we do and allow us to do it with greater efficiency, speed, effectiveness, all while adding more value for our clients than ever.   It’s in that light that CPA.com, the technology arm of th