Your Perception of Your Future Will Shape It

Source: Accounting Today

Gary Boomer believes the profession will fundamentally change. It will become more concerned for its clients’ welfare and more involved with delivering value added services.

Technology will play a major role. Boomer says the microchip is to blame for serious impacts on the profession. Many services accountants used to perform have declined in value. Clients want accountants to focus on the future instead of the past and to provide real-time information for decision-making.

Dying industries are distinguished by commoditization, failure to create value, self-absorption, obsession with rules and regulations, and consolidation. The accounting profession is characterized by all of these. Survival requires transformation. Transformation requires commitment to technology, not just hardware and software, but a dedication to training and processes. Firms must abandon their devotion to unproductive old ways of doing things. These inefficient methods make firms particularly vulnerable to hard times. Dedication to technology must become part of the firm culture.

For the complete article, click here and select “Boomer’s Blueprint: Perception - reaction - result!” in the March 16, 2009, issue.

From Accounting Today, January 26, 2009, SourceMedia Inc., One State Street Plaza, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10004, 800-221-1809.