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Some Guy Says CPAs Better Adapt or Die, And He’s Right

An interesting piece from Accounting Today tells us that basically this guy says CPAs have to adapt or die:

Accountants face irrelevance if they don't keep up with the continuing changes in technology, according to Jon Baron, managing director of Thomson Reuters' Professional Tax & Accounting.

In his opening keynote at the company's 33rd Annual Synergy Users Conference in Miami Beach, Fla., Baron encouraged attendees to focus on business agility and take note on how new technologies are pushing accounting firms to reinvent themselves. He pointed out how a culture where data is "available anytime, anywhere, on any device, and on any user interface" is the driving force as to why businesses and professionals are causing the accounting profession to "adapt." If not, they may have to "face potential irrelevance."

Baron emphasized the importance of firms needing to move beyond after-the-fact and compliance work and adapting to a world where there are more Internet-connected devices than people.

He goes on to push certain technology we're not going to push here because no one has paid us to do it but he makes a good point. It's the guys (and gals) on the forefront of new technology and new ways of doing things that will be eating up the clients in the future.

Discuss.