Harnessing transformation: Key takeaways from the 2024 AICPA/CPA.com Executive Roundtable

Change has become the new norm for the business world. There’s always something new just around the corner—new technologies, new innovations, new client demands, new opportunities. Each year, the AICPA/CPA.com Executive Roundtable event brings together accounting technology executives to collaborate and share insights into ways to best serve accountants and their clients in these times of rapid change. Something we refer to as “fueling co-opetition.”

This year’s event highlighted some of the most prevalent trends impacting the profession, from the growing use of AI and automation to practice area transformation and the evolving firm business model landscape.

Here are top takeaways from the event:

Critical importance of responsible AI usage

Technology is the enabler that allows CPAs to create efficiencies and provide more value across all practice areas. Accounting and finance professionals have embraced automation to take on repetitive, manual tasks so that they can focus on delivering higher-level value and insights. CPAs are also taking a measured approach to adopting AI- and GenAI-enabled solutions. While these technologies promise new use cases and opportunities, they also raise concerns about the governance and safety of AI use.

Symposium speaker Jeff Easley, general manager at the Responsible AI Institute, noted that responsible AI use means unlocking its power without doing harm to people and the planet. It involves thinking through risk scenarios before the technology is built. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework , AI should be valid and reliable; safe, secure and resilient; accountable and transparent; explainable and interpretable; privacy-enhanced; and fair with harmful bias managed.

Right now, it’s up to organizations developing and using the solutions to take action to ensure a positive path for AI usage, because the regulatory landscape has not kept up with the pace of AI innovation and adoption. Hundreds of AI-related bills have been introduced at international, national and state levels as legislators are trying to assess how best to approach regulation of this fast emerging technology, but there’s still no comprehensive federal law in the U.S. Most states have proposed regulations, often focusing on the impact of AI in areas like civil rights, healthcare, and education. This environment is creating a lot of uncertainty.

Looking ahead, there’s an opportunity for the profession to help clients navigate their own responsible AI usage or to provide assurance on it, according to AICPA & CIMA president and CEO Barry Melancon.

An expanding horizon for private equity deals

Private equity (PE) investment is also a hot topic in the profession right now, opening new opportunities for firms to secure capital and invest in new transformation and growth initiatives. And while PE interest was initially aimed at larger firms, small practices are now being courted as well. As awareness of the value and profitability of CPA firms increases, pension funds and family offices are entering the market. This influx of capital is leading many firms to consider new business models and fuel investment in technology and their people.

Roundtable speaker Matthew Marinaro’s PE firm, Red Iron Group, recently invested in Hiline, a progressive firm focused on providing outsourced accounting for small businesses exclusively on a subscription basis. He laid out the three core pillars his PE firm seeks in an investment:

• Closely held founder-backed businesses that focus on recurring revenue and have a trusted advisor engagement model with a business-to-business value proposition.
• Fragmented markets, exemplified by the many players in the CPA firm market.
• Technology enablement as a source of durable competitive advantage. That could be evidenced by the effectiveness of the firm’s internal use of technology or how it leverages it to produce more value and ultimately create a stickier engagement model.

And as part of a profession predicated on protecting the public interest, it’s critical that firms ensure their role in delivering trust and value for clients remains intact. There must be a clear understanding and alignment of value systems up front.

At Hiline, firm decision making remains with CEO Matt Gardner, CPA, and both sides agree on a forward-looking technology-based growth strategy. For a larger firm like Eisner Advisory Group, PE investment has made it possible to accelerate innovation, while also allowing the firm to conduct a thoughtful evaluation of best practices and next steps, according to partner Jerry Ravi.

Delivering higher value advisory services

CPAs are continuing to make the shift beyond traditional compliance roles—fundamentally reshaping the profession. “In this very complicated world, the profession’s trusted advisor role is critical, whether you are the CFO of the finance management accounting function or in public practice,” Melancon said.

Several cutting-edge firms at the roundtable provided insights into their success, including:

• Having an intentional strategy on transformation.
• Setting guidelines that tech solution providers must meet before the firm will partner with them.
• Emphasizing holistic rather than narrow solutions and creating a repository of tech tools to prevent siloing of approaches.
• Engaging in “co-opetition,” or strategic collaboration with competitors to address common challenges.

The accounting profession continues to drive opportunities for firms through advancements in practice areas like client advisory services (CAS), audit and tax. On the corporate side, a recent report on the Future of Finance 2.0 defines essential skills, competencies and knowledge that professionals will need to meet changing expectations.

Embracing the opportunities

It’s an exciting time to be a part of the accounting and finance profession. The rapid emergence of new technologies, innovations and business strategies are creating more opportunities for firms than ever before. And through the open sharing, collaboration and partnerships that are happening across the accounting and technology ecosystem—at the Executive Roundtable and year-round—the profession is becoming even stronger and more indispensable now and into the future.

If you want to explore more, here are a few additional resources that may be of interest:

• CPA.com’s multi-part AI initiative
• Client advisory services (CAS) resources
• Audit transformation resources
• The AICPA Town Hall Sept. 26 segment on Insights and trends in the accounting profession from the AICPA & CPA.com Executive Roundtable
• DCPA Podcast episode: Executive Roundtable Reflections: Insights with Dan Hood