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Accountants: Let The Rebellion Begin in 2025!
We need to ask the same questions differently—what, how, and why—to serve people better, not the purpose of solving their problems.
As we move into 2025, the accounting profession is undergoing a significant transformation. This could be the first time in decades that we can truly rethink how we have served clients and inspired the people who work for our firms. However, let us be candid: Things are changing around us quickly and purposefully.
TL;DR - Click here to download the 25 simple ideas to make 2025 exciting for you, your clients, and your staff.
To my mind, understanding the context of issues, satisfying clients' needs, and redefining the value of work are three highly relevant topics now.
To my mind, it is the end of the gimmicky AI; instead, AI is ushering in a paradigm shift. This is a change where clients won't simply require a firm to do the traditional work firms did; instead, they will seek solutions. Solutions that inherently focus on anticipating key trends and navigating the most complex of problems without losing sight of areas important for clients' financial lives.
The Paradox
The threat we face is more of a mindset. Accounting standards are a multitude of rules that aim to uphold and aid the level of consistency. It is often said that those characteristics are what accountants should aspire to attain – accuracy and consistency. It is pertinent to recognize that these attributes can also become our weaknesses.
Let's be honest: It is rather effortless to stick to old habits. They've succeeded before, so why alter what's already functioning? One of the reasons we must change is very easy—in fact, it is the only reason ever: people have evolved. What makes sense today might not be as effective tomorrow. And if we are not evolving, we are regressing.
Why It's Important to Think Outside the Box
We need to ask the same questions differently—what, how, and why—to serve people better, not the purpose of solving their problems.
Right now, try to remember the firms that are alive till now. But they did not just adapt; they metamorphosed their strategies. This is also how high-tech giants and small shops delight in being mavericks to the conformist civilization.
And this doesn't spare us either, the accountants. The alternate course is how trivial advancement would survive us in oblivion. On the contrary, what other opportunities await if we should begin evolution – no - rebellion?
The Three Forces That Shape 2025
Technology: AI and automation are redefining what we call "work." The question isn't whether these technologies will make displacement possible; the question is how best to leverage them to improve what is already done. Think of opportunities when less time is spent determining earnings and more time is provided for the various services clients may be looking for.
Client Expectations: Clients' expectations have changed. They don't want your services only to meet regulations' requirements; instead, they want you to embrace their business as a relationship. They are looking for someone who will make plans, bring new ideas, and help accomplish them. If we don't create solutions, somebody else will, and we'll lose business.
Talent: New-age accountants have no thirst to fill the vacancy queue. All they seek is meaning and a contribution to a worthy cause. They seek to be enlisted in firms that are in the business of creating, engineering, or revolutionizing. We'll have a hard time attracting and keeping the "best in the best" if we fail to nurture that culture.
What Would it Mean to Think Differently?
It is not about doing everything at once but small, analogous things that make up the bigger picture. It is about being bored with the same old ways, looking at what other industries do, and figuring out what else can be done.
What about looking at client communications through the lens of a marketing agency? Or consider your team meetings and brainstorming sessions as if you are in a startup business. Or think of yourself not as "an accountant" but as a client's business success-enhancing wingman.
The Fear of Failure
And now for the elephant in the room: fear. It's trying something new, and that's the hardest part. Likely, it won't work on the first try or second. But that's okay. It's about movement, which innovation is about, not perfection.
Consider the lessons you have grasped over your professional life. How many of them resulted from making mistakes or going through hardships? Most likely, people would rather not say too many, but those experiences made you better, stronger, and better equipped for what is yet to come.
The same is true with thinking differently.
The Opportunity Ahead
Here's the good news: accountants are better positioned to lead this than anyone. We already have the trust of our clients. We understand their challenges and goals better than anyone else. We can analyze, strategize, and problem-solve.
All that's left is to embrace the mindset of innovation.
Now that it's 2025, I dare you to be uncomfortable. Question the way you've always done it. Find inspiration in unexpected places. Try something new, even if it feels risky.
The truth is, the biggest risk we take isn't trying and failing- it's staying the same.
So, let's make 2025 the year we reinvent what it means to be an accountant—for ourselves, our clients, our teams, and, ultimately, the future of our profession.
What's your first step?
Click here to download the 25 simple ideas to make 2025 exciting for you, your clients, and your staff.
P.S.: Please share your ideas in the comments. I'd love to hear how you plan to think differently this year.