Bots, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Accounting & Audit

What does the 4th Industrial Revolution mean to finance, accounting and auditing?

This tweet from the World Economic Forum last year sums it up quite nicely, "...we will experience endless waves of disruption, and complacency will be the kiss of death."

I would add to the above tweet that with this disruption also comes oceans of opportunity for those who know how to see through the fog of uncertainty and ride these big waves of change.

The latest announcement of Apple's 5G iPhone illustrates this point. The difference between 4G and 5G is a 100 times increase in speed - a two hour movie download would move from 26 hours on 3G to 6 minutes on 4G to 3.6 seconds on 5G. What happens to AI, Blockchain, Big Data and the IoT (Internet of Things) when this type of exponential increase in bandwidth occurs? How will this impact accounting and auditing? And let's not forget the other two digital accelerators of storage increases and processing power that are exponentially increasing in concert with bandwidth.

Earlier this summer we were asked to present an update on Data & Technology to the PCAOB's Standing Advisory Group and they were concerned that only the largest CPA firms (Big Four & Top 10) would have access to the technologies like AI, Bots and RPA, Machine Learning and other exponential technologies since the announcement event of KPMG's work with IBM Watson on March 6, 2016. They were surprised when we provided an example of one of our 'small firms' in Maryland using AI in auditing for almost a year - less than eighteen months after the KPMG announcement! (see Bloomberg article - Small Firm Blazes Trail in AI for Audits).

That is the point about this exponential pace of change as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In our strategic partnership with Daniel Burrus and Burrus Research, we surveyed over a thousand CPAs, auditors and finance professionals to find the top trends they felt would have the biggest effects on the Profession. They identified Artificial Intelligence and cognitive computing, Big Data, Cyber-security, Robotic Process Automation (RPA & Bots), Blockchains and Advanced Cloud Computing among the top ten.

Turns out that all of these trends are #HardTrends or future facts according to Dan Burrus. That means they will happen whether we like it or not and they will continue to increase at exponential speeds. The question is what are the new opportunities around these exciting developments? and what is the cost of complacency or the RONI - Risk of Not Investing?

We will be exploring these questions and all of these technologies at our Artificial Intelligence in Accounting and Auditing Conference on December 5th and our CPA Summit on December 6th live in Towson, Maryland and virtually via simulcast.

And if you want to learn how to see farther than your competition and turn these disruptions into opportunities, learn how to become The Anticipatory Organization?: Accounting and Finance Edition. This revolutionary learning system will jump start your ability to anticipate and learn critical competencies like strategic thinking, external awareness, vision, continuous learning, innovation, creativity, problem solving, prioritization, business acumen, decisiveness, influencing/persuading, emotional intelligence, consensus building, collaboration, inspiration, risk management, and immediately apply it to your own situation at work.

It is your choice, do you want to be the disruptor or wait to be disrupted?

TOM HOOD, CPA.CITP.CGMA is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the CPA Profession and the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA). Tom is also the founder and CEO of the Business Learning Institute, the innovation and learning affiliate of the MACPA, a leading talent development and strategy organization for CPAs, finance and accounting professionals in the US. They provide customized, competency-based curriculums and a portfolio of “success skills” and technical programs designed for the Finance and Accounting Profession.