snh 2018
As technology advances, our world and the way we do business changes. It seems fitting to me to cram as many popular media references as possible into my educational offerings to my fellow accounting professionals. After all, references to our favorite science fiction start seeming very relevant when the fiction begins looking so much like our reality.
Rise of the Machines
Many accounting professionals fear being replaced by machines and programs that can perform accounting tasks better and faster than humans. How can we compete?
The answer: Don't compete.
As accounting professionals, we often feel like we can relate well to Data or Spock from Star Trek. We rationally evaluate the situation, we interpret, and we offer options for action based upon the perceived probability for outcomes.
This is where Han Solo steps in and tells C-3PO, "Never tell me the odds." People are emotional and complicated, and success is messy. There are bigger, unquantifiable factors at play in our daily decisions, such as love, grit, purpose, or even a higher power.
Why try to be better than a computer at computing? A computer will never be able to match your skills at being human. We keep hearing that the way to survive the machines is to offer more advisory services. What does that really mean? What are the core qualities and service offerings needed to ensure that the machines will never make you obsolete?
Embracing our Human Strengths
Computers may be evolving "brains" that allow a degree of analytical thinking, however, it's going to be quite some time before a computer can demonstrate any degree of heart, gut, or imagination. Many see these as our key "competitive" advantages. Keep in mind that the computers are not competing. They can't. They have no "desire" to be better than us at anything. The very idea of competition is purely a result of our fears and worries. When we release our fear of change and embrace technology for its gifts, the opportunity to collaborate for superior results is astounding.
The amount of time it takes to manually process analytical data is prohibitive. Now that computers have taken on some of the heavy lifting in that area, it has freed us up to find new and creative ways to apply that data.
- A computer cannot empathize with a client's stressful situation and encourage them with heart.
- Machines do not have gut intuition or conscience, directing us on a path we know is right even when the data may indicate otherwise.
- Big data may have the ability to find patterns and trends that we could never see on our own, but it only has the ability to use data that already exists. Computers cannot create new ideas, think outside the box, or extrapolate based upon experiences outside the current query.
Deeper Relationships
Our primary objective as accounting professionals is to support our clients in making educated business decisions. Now that the core facts of the transactions and the resulting reports can be automated, it is time to start collecting data from our clients that is a lot more subjective and more difficult to interpret. There is a lot of data missing from our clients' books, making a computer's analytical processes incomplete, at best. The books may show that sales are down and costs are up. It may be very clear by the numbers what needs to happen to turn that trend around and make the business more successful.
What is not clear in those numbers is that the business owner's spouse has been in chemo, they have been travelling a lot since their kid's team made it to finals, and they are considering shifting their focus toward their real estate investments and other passive income as they prepare for retirement. In short, they have other priorities in their lives right now. That changes the objectives and focus of the company, as well as our interpretation of the data and the advice we may offer.
It's all too easy for us to forget that our client's business is not the only focus in their life, particularly when it is the only aspect of their life that we touch. Why not touch other areas? Why not build deeper trust with our clients? When their ever-changing life plans and goals affect their business decisions far more than the data in the books, collecting data about our client's lives to build a full picture of their goals becomes essential to offering effective advisory services. We need to know them as people, not just numbers.
However, it is very challenging to maintain these high-value, quality relationships with clients if a firm is focused instead on quantity of clients. We can automate our data-driven roles, but we cannot automate our human relationships. Real relationships with real people are rooted in the investment of time, and that is the one thing that we cannot make more of.
Rise of the Human
The rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence has created an amazing opportunity for us to rise as well, to become more human. While it is important to educate our clients about their margins, it's also important for us to understand and relate to their dreams. As accounting professionals, we get to share in the creation of amazing and powerful things, facilitating the success of the people and causes we care about.
They don't teach this stuff in school... yet.
Fortunately, we do teach it at Scaling New Heights and here in Insightful Accountant. In the breakout session "Rise of the Human" at Scaling New Heights, we will focus on how to bring together the expanding wealth of data at our fingertips and apply it in human conversations with our clients, leveraging information and relationships for the greatest positive impact.
Author Bio: Ingrid Edstrom is the Priestess of Profits at the award winning bookkeeping firm, Polymath LLC. She has been recognized as one of the accounting profession's Top 40 Under 40, Most Powerful Women in Accounting, and the 2017 Top "Up-N-Comer" ProAdvisor. She is a certified FICB (Fellow member - Institute for Certified Bookkeepers), and she has been instrumental in establishing the ICB in the United States, including launching their new webinar series. Ingrid is the creator the AskABookkeeper.com online education series, a member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network, and leader of the Southern Oregon Woodard Group. When Ingrid is not teaching or playing her favorite video game (QuickBooks!), she is usually playing Irish music or frolicking with her goats.