Recent research from the AICPA says that the business environment for CPAs and their clients will be characterized by “unprecedented, massive and highly accelerated change” through 2025. To thrive in this new age of hyper-change and growing uncertainty, it is now an imperative to learn a new competency–how to accurately anticipate the future. This session will show how to anticipate these trends and move from being a crisis manager to an opportunity manager. At the end of the session participants will set actionable steps to elevate and accelerate their organization’s strategy.

1. The
An'cipatory
Individual
and
Organiza'on
Tom
Hood,
CPA,
CITP,
CGMA
@tomhood

2. Download today’s slides at …
www.SlideShare.net/thoodcpa

3. Your Learning Journey

4. Vote for a question
Respond to Poll
Ask a Question
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and join the
conversation:

5. The # 1 Challenge

6. 0 2 4 6 8
Poor reputation
No personal relationship
Inadequate staff to meet needs
Not using state-of-the-art technology
Fees were too high
Expertise of former CPA was lacking
Referral to a new firm from someone
CPA had poor responsiveness
CPA didn’t give proactive advice, only reactive service
Why SMBs Leave Their CPA / Accountant

7. The
Faster
you
go,
the
Farther
Ahead
You
Have
to
Look

8. www.blionline.org
Source: CPA.COM Insight into the CPA of the
Future Study 2014
Only 8% of CPAs are Future Ready
Future Ready is the capacity to be
aware, predictive, and adaptive of
emerging challenges, tech
innovations, and trends and changes
in business, population, and social
environment.

9. “You can’t stop the waves, but
you can learn how to surf.”
– Jon Kabat Zinn
Oceans of Opportunity

10. 5 Steps to be Future Ready
1. Context
2. Certainty
3. Capacity
4. Competence
5. Core Beliefs

11. Context

12. “We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will
fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike
anything humankind has experienced before.”
- Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum

13. 'If the rate of change on the outside
exceeds the rate of change on the inside,
the end is near.’
– Jack Welch

14. In the next five
years we will
TRANSFORM
How we market,
sell ,
communicate,
collaborate,
innovate, and
educate.
– Dan Burrus

15. More Uber cars than yellow taxis on the road in NYC

17. Gradual then Sudden

18. Race Against the Machines?
Source: Frey & Osborne –The Future of Employment – Oxford University

21. What does the future hold?
Technology is changing and disintermediating many trades
and professions
• Medical, Legal, Accounting
Patterns and Trends
• Automation replacing routine tasks – higher order (soft skills and analytics)
necessary to survive
• Alternative options to services and knowledge – automated or otherwise – Tax
and Audit implications
• Globalization, specialization and consolidation changing the landscape.
• Domain expertise matters

22. Are you using the language
of the future or the past?
Are your office &
technology in the future or
the past?
Will students feel they are
time traveling back in time?
Do you know what
your clients are facing
now and in the future?

23. The
Faster
you
go,
the
Farther
Ahead
You
Have
to
Look

24. Certainty

25. Borrowed from the US Army War College,VUCA was coined byThe Institute for the Future to
describe the rapidly changing and complex business environment since the Great Recession of
2008.

26. Can you predict the
future?

27. • Linear & Exponential Change
• Cyclical Change
• HardTrends vs SoftTrends
Certainty

28. HardTrends
Four HardTrends:
1. Government Regulation
2. Technology
3. Demographics
4. Globalization

29. 12,000 CPAs, 75,000
Comments over 15
years

30. Relationships & Collaboration

31. Disruption and RONI
The gap is widening, faster!
Source: Clayton Christensen, “Innovation Killers”
We think this
is trade-off

32. Capacity

33. TheTop 6 Ways to Create Capacity in
your Firm
• Maximize software tools you have
• Use the latest and most efficient technologies
• Workflow Process Efficiency
• Focus on your best ‘A’ clients
• Communicate your services (cross-sell)
• Engage your people

34. #FutureReady!
…is the capacity to be
anticipatory (aware, predictive,
and adaptive) of emerging
technology and trends in
business, demographics, and the
social environment impacting your
organization and industry.!
Source: CPA.COM Insight into the
CPA of the Future Study 2014
92%
of
CPAs
Not
#futureready

35. Competency
Disrup'ons
before
they
disrupt
Problems
before
you
have
them
Customer
Needs
before
they
have
them
New
Opportuni'es
before
the
compe''on
An'cipate
Source:
Daniel
Burrus

36. www.blionline.org

37. ANTICIPATION
Strategic
Thinking
External
Awareness
Vision
Con'nuous
Learning
Innova'on
Crea'vity
Problem
Solving
Priori'za'on
Business
Acumen
Decisiveness
Influencing/Persuading
Emo'onal
Intelligence
Consensus
Building
Collabora'on
Inspira'on
Risk
Management
Anticipation –The Critical Competency
• Anticipating and reacting to the
nature and speed of change.
• Acting decisively without always
having clear direction and
certainty.
• Navigating through complexity,
chaos, and confusion.
• Maintaining effectiveness despite
constant surprises and a lack of
predictability.
Source: Conference Board Global Leadership Forecast 2015

38. Core Purpose Values

39. CPAs are trusted advisors who help
business and organizations shape their
future. Combining insight with integrity
they deliver value by:
• Communicating the total picture with
clarity and objectivity;
• Translating complex information into
critical knowledge;
• Anticipating and creating opportunities;
• Designing pathways that transform vision
into reality.
Source:AICPA: CPA Horizons
2025 Report

40. Integrity
Competence
Lifelong
learning
Objec'vity
Commitment
to
excellence
Protect
the
Core
CPAs…Making
sense
of
a
changing
and
complex
world

41. 5 Steps to be Future Ready
1. Context
2. Certainty
3. Capacity
4. Competence
5. Core Beliefs

42. V
A
L
U
E
Adding Insight forAction
Information
Wisdom
Knowledge
Data
Compliance
Reliance
Source: CGMA DIKW Pyramid
V
A
L
U
E

44. Calendar -The No. 1 App
Spend just one hour per week in the future…

45. Hood's
greatest
aribute
isn't
that
he
consistently
glimpses
the
future
more
quickly
than
the
rest
of
us
(though
he
does).
It's
that
he's
able
to
bring
it
back
to
the
present
and
serve
as
its
Freless,
inspiring
and
effecFve
champion.
– Accounting Today
Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA
• CPA
Prac'ce
Adviser
Accoun'ng
Hall
of
Fame
• Named
the
Second
Most
Influen'al
in
Accoun'ng
by
Accoun'ng
Today
Magazine
2013
2015
• Top
150
Influencer
by
Linked-­‐In
• Top
25
Influencers
in
Learning
HR
by
HR
Examiner
• Top
25
Public
Accoun'ng
Thought
Leaders
by
CPA
Prac'ce
Adviser
• Working
on
Learning
Management
with
AICPA/CPA2Biz,
Cloud
Curriculum,
Performance
Management
/XBRL,
Leadership
Genera'ons
CEO
Maryland Association of CPAs
(MACPA) www.macpa.org
Business Learning Institute (BLI)
www.blionline.org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhood/