As an accounting firm coach, consultant and mentor I’m privileged to see inside a lot of firms and talk to owners about what’s on their mind. Here are some of the common themes I believe will occupy the minds of accounting firm owners in 2025.
- The opportunities, challenges and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The sheer volume of media references to AI make it impossible to ignore. And for good reason. Let there be no doubt that AI will have a very significant impact on accounting firms over the next few years and beyond. I believe every firm owner really does need to rapidly build an understanding of AI within their firm. There are many opportunities to have faster, smarter ways of working which will help at least to some extent, deal with the challenges noted in 3. Below. To help I’ll be writing more articles on AI this year but for now you might want to look a few earlier articles I wrote on the topic:
Observations on AI and RPA in accounting firms – Planet Consulting
Using Generative AI Note takers in your meetings – Planet Consulting
How accountants are using ChatGPT – Planet Consulting
Why accountants should pay attention to ChatGPT – Planet Consulting
- Cyber threats and security
This is never going away and requires constant vigilance. This month and next in some of my group meetings I‘ve invited an IT guru to give a refresher on the various elements of building a cyber safe firm. It seems like it is easy to get complacent. One of the concerns emerging is the use of AI by “the baddies” for even more sophisticated ways to hack our systems, steal identities and data and generally cause havoc. I’m very interested to understand more about how we can combat the increasing sophistication of fakes – whether it be voice or visual. When you take a call from a client who says he or she has forgotten their TFN and could you remind them of it, how do you know it’s really them? Far fetched? I no longer think so.
- Attracting and retaining the right people
I can’t see 2025 bringing much change in respect of this. It is not affecting all firms to the same extent but I believe it is somewhat of a crisis we have. I’m particularly concerned about the ability of regional firms to attract and retain great people. The attractiveness of accounting as a profession has declined and we should all be very concerned. There are multiple reasons and we are not powerless to act. That is why I’ve got a free webinar on Monday 17 February at 4pm NSW/VIC/ACT time, with two key General Managers at CAANZ to talk about this. We are going to explore the significant research CAANZ has completed to understand the decline in attractiveness of our profession, what it is doing in response and how you can contribute.
Register for this free one hour webinar here:
Here are 4 connected articles I’ve written for firms on attracting and retaining the right people:
- Doing more with less and managing stress
In 2024 the people shortage pushed firms to find ways to do more with less. Most accountants were hanging out for their Christmas break and many said to me “I’m just tired / warn out”. Luckily. AI might just provide some answers for this, which is why it is so important to explore more. I wrote an article last month about an approach to reviewing processes within firms. If you missed I recommend having a look now! Something useful from Elon Musk for accountants – Planet Consulting
- Regulatory annoyances
Think ATO and TPB, both of whom seem to have moments where they just want to make it harder for a diligent accountant (as nearly all are) to look after clients with a minimum of fuss. We may see, further developments in anti money laundering regulation (I understand we lag behind places like the UK and New Zealand), and privacy to name two more areas. If you are a CAANZ member make sure you are on the list to receive their tax updates which will often refer to the latest on some of these issues.
- Succession
This is something I get asked about a lot and with a significant number of accounting firms owned by people in the 50+ age bracket, that is hardly surprising. So there will be many firms where this will be on the agenda for 2025. You do need to plan well ahead, particularly if you are looking for internal succession. See articles I’ve written on succession:
Observations about succession in accounting firms – Planet Consulting
Succession via an external sale – some things to keep in mind – Planet Consulting
- Premises and flexible work arrangements
The offering of flexible work arrangements was a strong trend accelerated by COVID and different firms ended up in different places. Some firms have everyone back in the office and are not offering flexibility in terms of the location for working and say they are not being asked for that flexibility. Other firms however are saying the opposite – that flexibility in terms of location and also hours is being both asked for and offered. My view is that in a candidate short market, being able to offer flexibility is attractive to many potential team members. That said, I am noticing quite a few firms revisiting their policies and a little more emphasis being placed on the benefits of being in an office together.
For firms in some markets it seems that 2025 could also be a great time to look at premises options. I have had a few clients in the last 6 months report big reductions in rent thanks to landlords more anxious to do a deal.