Accountant Today, Accountant Tomorrow. HELP!

We’re talking about the “Accounting Profession Paradox”. The paradox is that more than average job growth is projected in the accounting profession, yet the profession is at 98.5% risk of being automated. We’ve uncovered at least part of the truth and it’s very unclear where the growth is supposed to come from. So, I sat to all who are accountants today – be something else tomorrow! Wait, what?!? How can I just become something else tomorrow and should I even or will the Accountant merely go through a natural evolution over time?

Granted you can’t change significantly overnight and it’s more about starting a movement towards something and making a choice that you won’t become the “automated one”. 

So, how do I start moving? 

In very real and practical terms you start moving by looking up from your desk and seeing what’s going on in your department and the whole finance function. Likely projects are already on-going to change the function landscape and likely you have colleagues who lost their jobs to some of these projects in recent months. Now this is where it gets uncomfortable as my advice to you is… 

“…to start moving towards the change and becoming involved in these projects rather than moving away from them” 

Doing this will likely take you out of your comfort zone as essentially, you’ll be working to remove your own job. But isn’t it better to be the one leading or being part of the change than having someone do it for you? The added benefits are clear. 

• You’ll get insights into where your department and function is moving enabling you to start asking questions about what you can do to remain relevant to the company.
• You’ll get experience with change projects and believe me such people are always in demand.
• You’ll be someone who wants to contribute and make a difference even with your own job on the line.
• Even if your future with the company is sealed and you eventually will be let go you’ve both gained invaluable experience to start doing this at other companies and likely you’ve also learned about what steps you need to take in your accounting career to never be disrupted again.

This still feels uncomfortable to me. Are you sure it works?

Here’s my own story

There are no guarantees that anything you do will lead to success but I can share my own story about some of the projects I’ve been involved in and some of the choices I’ve made. May they serve as inspiration for what you could do even you’re not in a similar situation.

I have worked very little as a traditional accountant but started as a financial controller which I would still consider part of Accounting. The work I did involved controlling of numbers actual vs. part periods and highlighting main variances. We did a lot of improvement projects that I got exposed to early on. It became a part of the way I work. I went on to a business controller role since I wanted to get closer to the business. At the base of it my work was quite similar i.e. controlling actuals vs. past periods and now also budget. Again, I got involved in many improvement projects and in addition a lot of change projects. This was also the first time I got exposed to business partnering. It wasn’t clear to me at the time, but I had found my calling. I went abroad to become a Finance Manager heavily exposed to accounting tasks. It was also the first time I had the opportunity to create a plan for myself and the team for how we should work and what we could do better. I created the plan called “From Beancounters to Business Partners”. Beancounters because that was what we were called in the office. Business partners because that’s what I wanted us to become. This is where I devised the strategy I would still recommend everyone who asks what they can do to be successful in their careers to do. There are three simple steps. 

1. Optimize everything you can around the production of the numbers (bookkeeping, monthly close, etc.). There’s no value added in doing this work.
2. Start using the numbers to analyze business trends and create insights that your business stakeholders can use to make better decisions.
3. Start interacting with your stakeholders and figure out how you can help them solve their most important business challenges. 

Following a successful implementation of this plan I went back to Denmark in a business partner role where we did a lot of finance transformation – the classical stuff with offshoring but also business partnering transformation where I put the Finance Business Partner 2.0 concept into play. All of this led to my current role where I work with strategic and transformation projects at a corporate level covering the whole company 

So, what are my learnings? Always expose yourself to improvement projects along the line of steps 1), 2), and 3) above. If you can do this well regardless of which of the steps you’re involved in I guarantee you that you will not be out of a job anytime soon! 

Now it’s time to hear your story! Lots of people are following this series and wouldn’t it be wonderful if your story can serve as an inspiration for them too? Or if you feel you’re stuck not knowing how to future-proof your career let’s have a talk about it and maybe we can all help you make a breakthrough! 

This is the fifth article in the series where we uncover the “Accounting Profession Paradox” and if you haven’t done so already you can read the two previously articles below.

What Is The Accounting Profession Paradox?

Is The Accounting Profession Really Growing?

Blip. Blop. Accounting Robot. Are You Ready?

To Re-Invent Accounting We Must Go Back To School

For previous articles about robotics, accounting or finance transformation please continue to read below. You can also follow me on Twitter here.

Are You Ready For Robotics Process Automation?

Have You Met Your Robot Accountant Yet?

What Defines A Finance Master?

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

Do You Have A Finance Business Partner Mindset?

CFOs Are Going Virtual And Here's Why

This Is What Analytics Is All About!

Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Head of Global Finance Program Management Office at Maersk and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with more than 6,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to create a world-class finance function not least when it comes to Business Partnering. I am the co-author of the book “Skab V?rdi Som Finansiel Forretningspartner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 23.000+ followers.