Introducing Accountant 2.0

August 14, 2024

A blog post by Beth Kaplan, Katie Glynn, Julie Velayo and Isa Farhat

The accounting function is facing a potential challenge when it comes to the role of accountants. According to the latest trends report from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)¹, more accountants are leaving the profession, new graduates are not joining, and the evolving role of the accountant is driving resource shortages in the struggle to keep up with transformation. However, as the function continues to be a prominent force in an organization and the evolving industry landscape offers new opportunities for professionals, it may be time to see the accounting profession in a new light and rebrand the role for the future of accounting.

We can call it Accountant 2.0—the future of the accounting profession. Let’s explore what this future role may look like for the accounting role and gain insights that can help usher in the next generation of accountants and finance professionals.

Current issues facing the accounting profession

Talent challenges and branding issues

There is a current shortage of talent in the accounting profession.²  As some current accountants leave, not enough new graduates are entering the accounting workforce. Many drivers may affect this, which may include misperceptions of the profession by incoming students, external pressures from other opportunities, and other high barriers to entry.

Some incoming students may perceive the role as too traditional or rigid, believing accounting is strictly simple bookkeeping and transaction processing. There could be more visibility into the dynamic and exciting challenges accountants face on a day-to-day basis and the expanding role of the function as it evolves through transformation. There may also be a misconception about the possibilities the accountant career path may offer, with students unaware of the skills and compensation growth achievable in the accounting profession.

To help address some possible talent issues, a rebrand of the accounting profession can help adapt and innovate the perception of the role and chart a new career path for the accountant.

The future of the accounting profession

Rapid transformation is changing the role

The accounting profession is going through rapid change. The role of yesterday and today, while keeping its core functionality, will look different to the accounting careers of the future—changing its use of technology, its roles and responsibilities, and its relationship to cross-functions and the broader organization. Enabling technologies that perform more advanced accounting tasks are expected to be a force multiplier to today’s technologies and tools that focus on traditional accounting responsibilities, which can free up accountants to perform more strategic activities.

Traditional accounting duties will likely continue to evolve even more into a mix of traditional accounting and strategic decision-making responsibilities, and accountants could become key parties in the visioning of the organization. These new responsibilities can also help enhance the accountant’s relationship with the broader organization as they can provide deeper insights and analysis to support other business functions and have an increased role in executing corporate strategy through policies and procedures.

Charting the journey of the future accountant

Technology skills and strategic insights

The new Accountant 2.0 can leverage transformation to help reshape the role around the skills needed for the function and tackle potential talent issues with a more dynamic career path for the future accountant.

To chart the course, look at some of the skills that may be required of current and future accountants. While the primary drivers of change introduce new skill sets, the leading change agents currently transforming the role are arguably advanced and intelligent technology—automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and data-driven cloud-based accounting systems.

Automation and AI
Advances in automation and AI technologies will continue to transform accounting tasks by streamlining repetitive processes and reducing time spent on manual tasks. This can enable accountants to focus on more complex activities such as financial analysis, strategic planning, and consulting as a strategic business partner.

Cloud-based systems
As companies continue to move their information to cloud-based systems, accountants will need to become proficient in leveraging cloud-based-systems to offer up-to-date financial analysis and predictive forecasting that cloud-driven data volume allows for. Additionally, they may need to be skilled at big data analysis and visualization to spot patterns and trends as real-time data becomes the new normal.

The human factor
While technology will likely become a significant aspect of accountancy by taking over the repetitive tasks and speeding up processes, it may become important to prepare for the future of the accounting role by developing the skills to perform managerial and strategic tasks that technology can’t do.

In short, it may be prudent for future accountants and existing finance professionals to be technologically savvy to evolve with the changing industry driven by technology transformation, which offers an opportunity to develop more advanced and dynamic skills to serve as strategic business partners.

As accounting continues to change and the role adapts through new disciplines in education and on-the-job upskill training, accountants can elevate the role and their place in the organization—empowering the future of accounting to thrive with the new generation of accountants and finance professionals.

¹ AICPA & CIMA, 2023 AICPA^® Trends Report, accessed August 2024.
² Ibid.