How can we become future ready if we don’t have enough time? Even worse is that everyone expects this pace of change to accelerate. The latest trends in research indicate we are in a period of exponential change with no signs of slowing down. So how do we stop the insanity? It’s about turning around and looking into the future waves of change coming at us instead of the shoreline, learning how to avoid being swamped by the waves and, even better, learning how to look for the opportunities in each wave and how to ride them. The alternative is to stay stuck in the present and risk being left behind in the same change of forces accelerating before our eyes.

1. The Future-Ready
CPA:
Waves of Change,
Oceans of Opportunity
Bill Sheridan, CAE
Oct. 25, 2016

2. bli.cnf.io

3. Poll: What generation do you belong to?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

10. Our top challenge?

11. “When the job is in
the way of the work,
consider changing
your job enough that
you can go back to
creating value.
Anything less is
hiding.”
Seth Godin

12. Top five issues
impacting CPAs
1. Keeping up
2. Information overload
3. Doing more with less
4. Being proactive vs. reactive
5. Complexity
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

13. Poll: What
is your
biggest
challenge?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

14. 0 2 4 6 8
Poor reputation
No personal relationship
Inadequate staff to meet…
Out-of-date technology
Fees were too high
CPA lacked expertise
Referral to a new firm
Poor responsiveness
CPA advice not proactive
Why SMBs leave their CPA /
accountant
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

15. Source: CPA.COM Insight into
the CPA of the Future Study 2014
Only 8% of CPAs are future-ready
Future-ready is the capacity to be
aware, predictive, and adaptive of
emerging challenges, tech
innovations, and trends and
changes in business, population,
and social environment.
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

16. “You can’t stop the waves, but
you can learn how to surf.”
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
Oceans of opportunity

17. The faster you go, the farther
ahead you have to look.

18. 5 steps to becoming future-ready
1. Context
2. Certainty
3. Capacity
4. Competence
5. Core beliefs
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

19. Context

20. “We stand on the brink of a technological
revolution that will fundamentally alter the
way we live, work, and relate to one
another. In its scale, scope, and
complexity, the transformation will be
unlike anything humankind has
experienced before.”
-- Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

21. “In the next five years,
game-changing
technologies
will transform every
business process,
including how we sell,
market, communicate,
collaborate, educate,
train, and innovate.”
-- Daniel Burrus

24. Source: Frey & Osborne,
“The Future of Employment,” Oxford University
Race against the machines?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

27. What does the future hold?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute
 Automation replacing routine tasks –
higher order skills are needed to
survive.
.
 Alternative options to services and
knowledge – automated or otherwise.
Tax and audit implications.
 Globalization, specialization and
consolidation changing the landscape.
 Domain expertise matters.

28. Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute
 Are your offices, workspaces,
and technology future-focused?
 Do you know what your clients
are facing now and in the future?
 Are you using the language of
the future or the past?
 Will students and potential
employees feel like they are
traveling back in time when they
walk through your door?

29. Certainty

31. Hard trends = future facts
Four hard trends:
1. Government regulation
2. Technology
3. Demographics
4. Globalization

32. Examples of trends:
Hard or soft?

33. The new ‘Big Six’
Source: Gallup

34. Disruption and RONI
The gap is widening, faster!
Source: Clayton Christensen, “Innovation Killers”
We think this
is the
trade-off
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

36. Capacity

37. 6 ways to create
capacity
• Maximize the software and tools you have
• Use the latest, most efficient technologies
• Workflow and process efficiency
• Focus on your best ‘A’ clients
• Communicate your services (cross-sell)
• Engage your people

38. Competency
Disruptions before they disrupt
Problems before you have them
Customer needs before they have them
New opportunities before the competition
Anticipate
Source: Daniel Burrus

39. #FutureReady
Is the capacity to be anticipatory
(aware, predictive and adaptive) of
emerging technology and trends in
business, demographics, and the
social environment impacting your
organization and industry.
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

40. The research
The latest research inside and
outside the CPA profession re-
affirms the top competencies
and skills needed by accounting
and finance professionals.
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

41. Top skills that accounting and finance
professionals need today
BLI Research in 2015 with over 1,000 responses from all segments of the CPA
profession identified these top skill needed to be successful in these rapidly
changing times. This confirms and reinforces the research from the Conference
Board, AICPA’s CPA Horizons 2025 report, Bersin, and Burrus Research.
75%
covered by
these top 5
skills

42. V
A
L
U
E
Adding Insight for Action
Information
Wisdom
Knowledge
Data
Compliance
Reliance
Source: CGMA and DIKW Pyramid
V
A
L
U
E

43. Poll: What are
the top skills
accounting and
finance pros
need to
succeed?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning
Institute

44. Trust
Integrity
Objectivity
Excellence
Lifelong learning
Core beliefs and values
Protect the core and stimulate progress

45. 5 steps to becoming future-ready
1. Context
2. Certainty
3. Capacity
4. Competence
5. Core beliefs
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

46. The Shift Change
Leadership
Learning
Technology
Generations
Workplace

48. The challenge and
opportunity is to make
the shift from the first
curve to the second
curve at the right time
and with the right
strategy.

49. “How would you think differently about
your strategy if you knew your advantage
might not last?”

51. Calendar: The No. 1 app
Spend just one hour per week in the future …

52. “We are
called to be
architects
of the future,
not its
victims.”
R. Buckminster Fuller

53. “The best way
to predict
your future
is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln

54. Questions?
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute

55. Download these slides:
Slideshare.net/BillSheridan
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The Future-
Ready CPA
Firm
Bill Sheridan, CAE
The Business Learning Institute