AICPA and CPA.com host inaugural AI Symposium to explore the implications and opportunities of artificial intelligence for the accounting and finance profession.

NEW YORK (Jan. 24, 2024) – Leaders from across the accounting and technology ecosystem convene today at the inaugural AICPA and CPA.com AI Symposium to exchange insights and perspectives on the real and potential impacts and transformative abilities of artificial intelligence on the accounting profession.

The event, hosted by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CPA.com, its business and technology subsidiary, brings together more than 70 firm and finance leaders, standard setters, thought leaders, AI solution providers and technologists to identify the ways AI is reshaping the profession and creating new possibilities, along with the risks and considerations to be addressed for effective implementation.

“GenAI has the potential to revolutionize the way firms deliver value and business insights, while also increasing their capacity to do so. When implemented correctly, it can deepen the trusted advisor relationship and unlock new opportunities for growth,” said Erik Asgeirsson, CPA.com president and CEO. “We’re energized by the response to this first symposium and the leadership underway to support firms and finance professionals in the responsible and effective deployment of its transformational capabilities. We look forward to building on the momentum.”

The symposium agenda covers key areas of leadership and focus including AI standards and regulations, advocacy initiatives, AI-enabled technology solutions, education and awareness for practitioners, and use cases related to internal management and practice areas encompassing tax, audit, finance and advisory services. CPA.com will release a whitepaper in March that recaps key themes and takeaways from the event sessions, including:

• The Future of AI in Accounting & Finance with Aaron Harris, CTO, Sage.
• Exploring Responsible AI: Industry Insights & Lessons Learned with Alyssa Lefaivre Škopac, Head of Global Partnerships and Growth, Responsible Artificial Intelligence Institute.
• AI Regulation & D.C. Outlook with Mark Peterson, EVP-Advocacy, AICPA.
• AI in Audit & Assurance with Amy Pawlicki, VP-Assurance and Advisory Innovation, AICPA.
• AI Strategies & Use Cases panel with Michael Cerami, EVP, CPA.com, Molly Goins-Cox, Chief Innovation Officer, Withum, Peter Scavuzzo, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Marcum LLP, and Moe Asgharnia, Chief Information Officer, BPM.

The event will also feature remarks from Erik Asgeirsson and Sue Coffey, CEO of Public Accounting at the AICPA, as well as an interactive session led by Kacee Johnson, VP-Strategy & Innovation, CPA.com, and Jason Staats, president, Realize LLC.

“As a trusted profession, we must remain agile in our pursuit to keep up with the speed and transformational capabilities of technology, but we must also be diligent in our commitment to adopt it securely,” said Sue Coffey, CPA, CGMA. “Working with policymakers and establishing and adopting standards and practices that instill confidence in financial and non-financial data and information remains a top priority for us as we deploy initiatives and resources to support CPAs and CGMAs.”

Resources to support accounting and finance professionals
The AI Symposium is part of the AICPA and CPA.com’s ongoing efforts to deliver education, tools and resources to help accounting and finance professionals build their understanding of GenAI and the potential impact on their practices during this time of rapid change, including:

• CPA.com’s Generative AI initiative, which includes a toolkit featuring use cases and a security checklist to help firms build smart, safe AI strategies.
• AICPA Artificial Intelligence Resource Center
• An AI-specific cohort as part of the 2024 AICPA and CPA.com Startup Accelerator

Heightened Regulatory Landscape Will Drive Momentum in 2024 and Create New Opportunities for the Accounting Profession.

NEW YORK (Dec. 18, 2023) – New and emerging regulations and stakeholder demand are increasing pressure on companies to focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, which in turn is creating significant opportunities for the accounting profession, according to a new special report from the AICPA and CPA.com.

The report, ESG: A new era in practice opportunities, includes insights from the second annual AICPA and CPA.com ESG Symposium, which brought together top leaders in the ESG space to exchange ideas and perspectives on emerging issues and to discuss the critical role of accounting and finance within the ESG category. It was released during the AICPA & CIMA’s virtual ESG & Sustainability Conference.

“The birth of audit and accounting occurred more than 100 years ago when an economic downturn led to the requirement for companies to provide financial information to operate their businesses. Today that’s shifting as a larger group of stakeholders, including customers, employees and local communities, are expecting companies to provide broader ESG reporting,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, CEO of AICPA & CIMA, during this week’s conference. “The accounting profession has a critical role to play to ensure the reliability and comparability of the information. CPAs have the skillset and expertise to design systems to do this.”

The report offers five key takeaways in 2023 related to the growing ESG landscape and the potential for accounting and finance professionals to build on their trusted advisor roles through ESG services, including:

• Critical need for standards. Although various frameworks have been used in the past, the absence of mandates has resulted in a lack of consistency, reliability and comparability. In response, the profession has taken an important role in the development of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to create a new reporting system and, ultimately, position firms as leaders in the ESG space.
• Turning point in regulation. Beyond ISSB global standards, the impacts of new and emerging regulations at global, national and state levels, including the recently passed California laws and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s proposed climate-disclosure rules, will require businesses to address ESG with the same metrics-based rigor as is applied to financial reporting. The impacts will extend far beyond those jurisdictions and the largest public companies. As part of a larger business’s value chain, smaller companies may be expected to provide their own emissions reporting and will look to their trusted advisors for help.
• Value in CPA assurance. While the global assurance market is growing, the percentage of ESG assurance engagements conducted by audit firms has declined to 57%, down from 63% two years earlier, according to a survey by IFAC and the AICPA & CIMA. CPAs are best positioned to provide proper assurance given their deep expertise and experience in protecting the public interest, backed by the profession’s rigorous attestation standards, oversight structure and independence requirements.
• Quantifying the value in finance. As CFOs continue to seek a financial ROI for sustainability programs, many may be ignoring the societal push from stakeholders, including employees and customers. If finance can evaluate and communicate the value of a company’s sustainability initiatives, it can better articulate impact and value, which can be attractive to talent, customers and business partners.
• Building an ESG practice requires an intentional approach. As with any new service line, having a strong business model strategy, training and awareness are critical to a firm’s success. The report offers best practices to help firms launch or enhance their ESG practice, focusing on areas such as leadership buy-in, leveraging internal and external expertise, customizing services around what your clients truly need, and more.

Looking toward 2024, the demand for ESG services will likely accelerate as the SEC is expected to release disclosure rules for publicly traded companies, adding to a growing number of global and state regulations. During his session at this week’s AICPA & CIMA ESG & Sustainability Conference, Wes Bricker, Vice Chair - US Trust Solutions Co-Leader, PWC, discussed the important role that ESG regulations play in driving consistency in sustainability reporting. “Over the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of progress made on sustainability reporting, but with the emergence of new regulations, we’re now shifting from voluntary reporting toward mandatory reporting,” said Bricker. “We see how some of the regulations overlap, but also how they’re different. We need to connect the dots and not just limit our attention to one.”

The ESG Symposium, 2023 report and ESG & Sustainability Conference are part of the ongoing efforts of the AICPA & CIMA and CPA.com to support accounting and finance professionals in their understanding of the growing ESG landscape and ways to leverage the opportunities to enhance their roles as trusted advisors. “In the coming year, we will continue to build on the momentum to help accounting and finance professionals stay up-to-date on the latest developments in this area and support firms in expanding their services into the ESG category,” noted Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO, CPA.com.

Additional resources and tools can be found on CPA.com’s ESG Professional Services webpage and the AICPA & CIMA ESG Resource Center.

Steve Chaney, Owner at Chaney & Associates, receives top honor.

LAS VEGAS (Dec. 5, 2023) – Steve Chaney, CPA, has been named the recipient of CPA.com’s Digital CPA Innovative Practitioner Award which recognizes the profession’s pioneers who demonstrate thought leadership, strategic decision-making and a commitment to drive the profession toward the future. Chaney has been at the forefront of outsourced accounting, pioneering methodologies and tools that have set profession best practices.

“Over the past year, my focus has been on staying at the forefront of advancements, leveraging cutting-edge approaches to enhance user experiences and provide valuable insights,” said Chaney. “This recognition reaffirms the commitment to pushing boundaries and underscores the importance of fostering a culture of innovation for sustained growth and relevance.”

Chaney is the owner of Chaney & Associates, a more than 20-year-old firm that specializes in providing accounting services to more than 1,100 clients in the faith-based not-for-profit niche. His company’s client base spans all 50 states—a testament to his vision and drive to seamlessly integrate top-tier digital accounting services with purpose. Under Chaney’s leadership, his firm designed a dashboarding system that provides clients with a holistic view of their accounting metrics. His team introduced and implemented spend and expense management systems to the faith-based marketplace, streamlining his clients’ operations while extending his firm’s value as trusted advisors.

“Steve has been very strategic building out his practice—he is laser-focused on a niche, and this has allowed him to develop significant domain expertise which he pairs with an ongoing curiosity for piloting new technologies,” said Michael Cerami, EVP, CPA.com, who presented Steve with this year’s award. “The result is highly repeatable and scalable growth for his firm and significant value for his clients.”

Chaney was recognized onstage at Digital CPA, CPA.com’s annual conference for progressive practitioners focused on technology and its impact on the accounting landscape.

Ashley Francis, CPA, Owner, The Francis Group and Kitchen Table Automations, was named runner-up for the award. Francis has established herself as a leading expert in practical application of artificial intelligence and automation for tax services. She makes an impact through her passion to elevate the profession by sharing her knowledge via social media and speaking opportunities.

To find out more about what sets this year’s nominees apart, visit the CPA.com Digital CPA Innovative Practitioner Award page.

About CPA.com
CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

Future-focused event draws record attendance.

LAS VEGAS (Dec. 4, 2023) – Harnessing the power of GenAI, transformation of practice areas, building capacity and a sharp focus on leadership and talent strategies are the key themes being discussed at this week’s 2023 Digital CPA conference, the premier event for forward-thinking accounting professionals.

The rapid emergence of GenAI-enabled solutions was front and center for CPA.com president and CEO Erik Asgeirsson who believes the technology “presents enormous opportunities for the accounting and finance profession. In fact, it’s hard to imagine an aspect of our lives that won’t be impacted by this generational technology,” he noted.

“In previous DCPA meetings we have unpacked some of the more basic components of AI such as machine learning and RPA, both of which offer increased productivity and incremental value. It was only a few days before last year’s DCPA conference that ChatGPT launched, and we talked about it from the main stage. Who could have imagined the rate of adoption and the impact it would have one year later? It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” remarked Asgeirsson. “GenAI offers firms transformational capabilities—the potential to completely reimagine how we deliver value and business insights while also increasing capacity to do so. Done correctly, it expands the depths of the trusted advisor relationship.” DCPA23, taking place this week in Las Vegas (as well as virtually), is the most widely attended in the conference’s more than decadelong history and brought together more than 1,400 future-focused practitioners and innovators to explore the latest insights, strategies and technologies to forge the future of the profession.

Four key themes emerged from the event:

1. Harnessing the power of GenAI and other advanced technologies. Already we’re seeing an abundance of accounting-focused technology providers embedding GenAI, as well as other emerging technologies, into their solutions to enable accounting and finance professionals to create efficiencies, enhance analyses and deliver the higher value business insights clients are looking for. Practitioners who embrace the possibilities will be best positioned to maximize the capabilities.

   At the same time, the enormous amount of data fueling AI brings another level of considerations and risks for companies. “As part of our role as a trusted profession, it’s critical that we develop and embrace standards to instill confidence in the reporting and assurance of the financial and non-financial data,” explained Barry Melancon, president and CEO of the AICPA & CIMA. “This is a priority for our standard-setting committees, but we must be agile in this pursuit to keep up with the speed of this technology. We shouldn’t be afraid to embrace this technology, but we must be diligent in our commitment to adopt it securely.”

   The AICPA and CPA.com are delivering education and resources to help guide members during this time of rapid change. As part of its multi-part GenAI initiative, CPA.com released a GenAI Toolkit featuring practice-specific use cases and a security checklist to help firms build smart, safe AI strategies. Additional efforts in 2024 will include an AI-specific cohort as part of the AICPA and CPA.com Startup Accelerator, an AI Symposium that will bring together subject matter experts, firm leaders and AI solution providers to discuss the impacts of this technology on the profession, and the release of additional use cases and resources.

2. Continued transformation of practices areas. Cloud technologies have been a significant enabler fueling the success of client advisory services (CAS), which remains the fastest growing service area for the profession. Firms are continuing to embrace capabilities in areas such as business insights, spend and expense management, financial planning and analysis and other key areas to make the shift to advisory services and deliver more value to clients. AI will continue to accelerate these capabilities within CAS, which in turn will also help firms move into other advisory services that clients increasingly need. But to maximize the opportunities within advisory services requires more than just implementing a technology solution—it requires an intentional approach that begins with an aligned, firm-wide strategy and vision.

   CPA.com’s CAS 2.0™ methodology and framework provides firms with a roadmap to drive long-term growth and practice transformation. This methodology underpins CPA.com’s CAS Professional Services resources, tools and offerings tailored to firms no matter where they are on their journey. Adding to the array of offerings, CPA.com launched this week the CAS 2.0™ Practice Development Coaching Program, which delivers a comprehensive, guided approach to help firms empower, educate and accelerate their CAS practice's growth.

   Technological innovation is also creating an unprecedented opportunity for the audit to shift from a strictly compliance-based engagement and linear process to one that provides more client value through deeper insights and more comprehensive risk management. AICPA, CPA.com and technology partner Caseware are helping firms realize this opportunity through the Dynamic Audit Solution (DAS), a fully integrated, cloud-based solution that enhances the efficiency, quality and client-value of financial statement audits through a risk-focused, data-driven approach.

   Powered by transformative methodology developed by the AICPA, in partnership with leading firms and audit practitioners, DAS is fundamentally changing the way audits are performed, which has remained largely unchanged over the last century. CPA.com can help firms assess their readiness and offers comprehensive implementation consulting, training and data and migration services to prepare for a technology-driven shift. According to Asgeirsson, adoption of the transformative DAS audit platform will require change management strategies across the firm.

3. Building capacity. Firms continue to experience capacity challenges due to a complex set of circumstances that include pipeline challenges, aging demographics across the U.S., a tight labor market and other contributing factors. However, many firms are mitigating these pressures by accelerating technology adoption to automate increasingly more tasks, leveraging outsourcing partnerships across the different practice areas, and rolling out new compensation models and talent strategies, all to offset these trends and build capacity.

4. Leadership. Culture, skills and change management are critical to firm success, and in periods of rapid change, the need for leadership and development is even more heightened. Leading-edge firms are undertaking significant change management strategies and taking an innovative, people-first approach to managing their practice that is creating a competitive advantage and positioning them for long-term viability and growth.

To learn more about CPA.com’s efforts to enable firms’ digital and advisory transformation, visit www.cpa.com. You can also stay connected with the DCPA community throughout the year by subscribing to the new Digital CPA podcast, available anywhere you get your podcasts.

About CPA.com
CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.