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Balancing the Future Ep. 5 - Impossible to Ignore: AI in Accounting with Christopher Johnson
201 Plays3 months ago
Efficiency, productivity, and revolution in how we do business: that’s the craze of Artificial Intelligence. But inherent to these big rewards are also big risks. Join CPA, entrepreneur, and SOC reporting specialist, Christopher Johnson, as he dives into an analysis of AI in accounting. He shares insights on the uses of AI within the profession, ways to ensure that it does not compromise data safety, and his outlook on the continuing integration of AI technology.
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Transcript
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
00:00:09
Speaker
My name is Christopher Mitchell. I'd like to thank you for joining us today.
AI's Impact on Accounting
00:00:12
Speaker
And today we're going to be talking about artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence by way of what that means as it relates to the accounting profession and going a little deeper as to what that looks like as it relates to particular solutions that are being offered.
Christopher's Compliance Experience
00:00:27
Speaker
I am very familiar with this familiarity from the sense of I've been doing this kind of work from a compliance and governance perspective for about 20 plus years. Got my own firm. I consider myself an expert at it, but I'm not an expert when it comes to AI. I think we're all new to what that looks like and what that
Introducing Chris Johnson
00:00:46
Speaker
means. I'm excited because we've got Christopher Johnson that is joining us today. I'm going to call it Chris. We're two Chris's. I'm having a conversation about AI today and Chris is an expert at what he does. He's an expert in a lot of different ways. He but once worked with Ernst & Young and then he got and left and started his own firm and has had a tremendous amount of success. But I think what's ah more relevant than anything is that he helps clients with SOC, SOC reports. And I know you've heard it in the past, it's been probably SSAE
00:01:21
Speaker
16 to 18, and probably way back in the day when I was delivering on this solution, it was a
Chris Johnson's Career Journey
00:01:27
Speaker
sad 70. So we're going to spend some time talking through this and just relaxing and having a good conversation. So welcome, Chris. And please, sir, as we go through this, share something that I missed, because I'm certain I didn't capture everything in your bio the right way that you would like. So I ask that you kind of elaborate on that. So I'll turn it over to you, sir. Well, thank you, Chris. um You did a great job. I think you hit most of the points there, ah for sure. um So yes, I started my career with Anderson Young. Worked in the IT audit risk advisory team at the time. I think it might have been called something a little different, but we supported ah integrated audits. So financial audits needed an IT team.
00:02:08
Speaker
I was on the team that came in to validate the security around the systems that were used for financial reporting. After leaving EY, I worked at some regional firms, and that's when I was introduced to the world of SOC reporting, systems and organization controls. And all that entails a SOC report, which are reports that speak to the security and privacy practices of organizations so that their customers and their stakeholders can have some assurance or some reliability about their security practices and the ability to protect data. um So you know I learned a lot working at some of these other regional firms that I worked at during my career and decided that it was time for me to step out on my own and start my own CPA firm. As a CPA you have the opportunity to step out and start a firm of your own and I've been doing that and
00:02:53
Speaker
have been severely blessed to have some success at it.
Starting a Business and Overcoming Challenges
00:02:56
Speaker
So um I'm very excited for this opportunity to discuss ah you know my role doing SOC reports, supporting our clients, but also talking about artificial intelligence, which I know is a very hot topic right now for everyone to learn about, understand and where we're going with, and I think it's going to be a great conversation.
00:03:14
Speaker
So I have one question to get us started. And that question is you are an entrepreneur, you're out there, you have your own business. um I think for many of us that have that are in the profession, we may be working for a big four firm, we may be working for a smaller shop, but I think it takes a courageous person to step out and do it on their own and do it their way. And what I mean by that, if you might just sharing, you know,
00:03:40
Speaker
Why all of a sudden you decided to to take that step?
Motivations and Support for Entrepreneurship
00:03:44
Speaker
Because when I look at leaders, I look at them in a lot of different ways. I mean, we can emulate those leaders, especially those that are successful. And given where you are in your career, I know you're younger than I am. um So when I look to you, I mean, I look to you as a true leader in what you've been able to achieve and accomplish. So why, why did the decision to step out and and do it on your own? your own Well, thank you for saying that. First and foremost, I appreciate ah the the kind words. um Why? you know there That's a good question. And it stems from the fact that I've always wanted to have my own firm starting back from when I was in school. And maybe it was a bit outlandish of a goal at the time. um But it was prompted by the fact that
00:04:28
Speaker
There is the statistic that there are less than 1% of African-American CPAs that hold the CPA designation. When I heard that statistic when I was in college, I thought to myself, this is something that I want to achieve. And I want to be just one person.
00:04:46
Speaker
who continues, who contributes to changing that statistic. And it also kind of evolved into, you know what, I think it would be great for me to also just go ahead and have a CPA firm. But I joke about with my wife a lot. And I say, you know, the vision of what I thought it would be is totally not what it is today, although it is something good. So, um you know, I'm appreciative of being in the spot that I am today. But I will tell you that I could not have done it without the support of my wife. She's been there for me.
00:05:15
Speaker
100% of the time, making a decision like that has a lot of different impacts on our finances, on our marriage, our relationship, about my parenting, and she's just been a true champion. So I have to give a lot of credit to her because I'm just not that great but myself. um But yeah, yeah, that's that's really the motivation behind doing it.
00:05:36
Speaker
I have fantastic and thank you for sharing that. And in fact, none of us are a good solo so exactly partner in this, in this exercise.
AI Transforming Business Processes
00:05:45
Speaker
All right. Let's jump directly into AI. you know Okay. I've heard a lot of good things about AI. Uh, we started talking about transformation of a business and we started talking about transformation using technology. If you're not transforming using technology, I don't know what you're doing. You can be streamlining, streamlining processes, rethinking strategy or what have you, but technology is a part of that equation.
00:06:07
Speaker
So when I think about AI, which is like the next coming, I can remember when the internet rolled out, believe it or not, way back when. And we were all trying to get on the internet using 386 technology and it was a slow process and you can avoid anything. And I think about where we are today and we're talking about AI and we're talking about the chat GPTs and all these other generative models that are rolling out to make us successful with our businesses.
Implications and Risks of AI in Accounting
00:06:36
Speaker
When I say AI, what comes to mind for you and our profession? Oh, so what comes to mind when I hear AI in our profession, it's kind of hard for me to speak for the profession because I am an accountant that works in information technology. I work in the IT t space primarily in information security. So when I think of AI, I kind of look at it at a very broad lens. I understand Just the research, and I'm still learning a lot about AI, as you mentioned earlier, um just kind of the different types of AI that are out there. I do believe that a lot of people hear the term AI today and equate equate that to chat GPT and Claude and Gemini and some of these generative AI products that are out on the market today that are gaining tons of popularity. But if you really deep dive into AI,
00:07:32
Speaker
We've been using artificial intelligence for a long time now, and it's been being used by some of the largest corporations and organizations in the world. And it has not looked like the chatbots that we're seeing today. um So when I think of AI, I think ah a lot of different things such as robotic process automation, and I think of machine learning.
00:07:53
Speaker
I think of language learning models, I think of chatbots, which are things like chat GPT, which I think a lot of people connect to now because it's just the craze of chat GPT, chat GPT, and you know, cloud or whatever the other chatbots are out there. So um I think that AI is new. It's hot. It's trending. And I think what a lot of people need to understand is that it is not very new. It's just gaining more popularity because some of the the use cases for AI are now becoming more generalized and available to the general population.
00:08:30
Speaker
Awesome, awesome. You know, when I think about AI, I think about the speed in which we are able to do things, the efficiency and the productivity. And I think about the databases that come in, come into play and the models that will be used in order to navigate these new waters or this new terrain. But I also think about the risk.
00:08:49
Speaker
yeah There's a lot of risk associated with AI. And I wonder if you could spend a few moments just kind of talking to some of those risks that are in play. Because I know from a security perspective, I think there may have been Samsung may have just experienced something. I don't want to put it out there. I don't want to freak anyone out just yet. But some of their information managed to get out in a different way when using a model like this that they didn't want exposed. So yeah there's some things happening with it from a security perspective already. What do you think?
00:09:18
Speaker
um It's super important for us to understand when we talk security and the model of AI and how it's going to be used go forward.
Understanding and Mitigating AI Security Risks
00:09:27
Speaker
I think it's important to understand that as a global economy, as a global economy yeah society, we're still trying to grapple with finding appropriate talent for just security itself.
00:09:44
Speaker
appropriate understanding of security, appropriate understanding of technology. um Leading AI out of the equation, there have been headlines that have talked about there being a serious talent gap in terms of just information technology professionals to start.
00:09:59
Speaker
Right, the technology that's coming out that's not in a AI powered is still moving at a very fast pace, and we still need a lot of people to come into these um professions these different roles in terms of security.
00:10:17
Speaker
and privacy professionals to just bridge that gap first. And then when you add AI on top of that, because AI is technology enabled, it's almost like adding gas to a fire. right Because everybody's eager to use AI. We know that this is going to change the world in so many different ways. And you have a lot of organizations that want to implement very quickly without understanding those risks. right understanding, hey, if you have a weak technology infrastructure that's vulnerable and you're building AI on top of that, you still have a weak technology that's ah infrastructure that's capable of being exploited, that's capable of a hacker coming in and taking your data if you don't do the right security practices. So you have underlying risks associated with your technology.
00:11:13
Speaker
And then you have specific risks associated with the use of AI. And if we wanted to talk about what some of those are, we're talking about Really, um the data that's being used, is that data reliable? Is it being tampered with? Are the machines, the computers that are being used to operate that artificial intelligence being secured appropriately? Do you fully understand the risk associated with the infrastructure and those things? And then also,
00:11:45
Speaker
Not to mention the data, understanding what data is being used. is How is that classified? Is it confidential? Is it ah personally identifiable information, which is like your first name, last name, social security number, address, things that you don't want there out in the public? Do you really understand what that data is? And and also, do you understand how the people within your organization are using that data?
00:12:07
Speaker
Do they understand the risks associated with the data that they're using or how they're using artificial intelligence, which may be secure or may not be secure? So there's a lot of different things to consider when it comes to risk. And I think it's important that organizations, I think it's important that professionals such as accountants and CPAs always try to understand those risks and keep learning because it's going to be a collective effort to to really try to grapple them and understand the appropriate responses to mitigate risk, right, to reduce them down. Or or we try, and in our world of risk management, you can never eliminate risk, right? What you can do is try to understand it and reduce it down as much as possible. So um yeah, there's a lot of different things to consider. And somewhat and and the things that I've mentioned are just a tipping point, right, of of what is real risk and security risk for artificial intelligence. So definitely something that we need to be thinking about.
00:13:03
Speaker
as we continue to use and grow into a world that's more AI-forward and powered. I read an article not too long ago, or maybe it was a report by Gardner, okay and they were talking about the most powerful role in the next five years.
Role of CPAs in Cybersecurity and AI
00:13:18
Speaker
Influential role within any organization will be the CSO role, information security officer role. so When I say that and some of the things that you've mentioned as it relates to risk and security,
00:13:30
Speaker
What are your thoughts i mean when i say that to you and you and and i know you probably do that for some of your clients in some form or fashion. What does that mean to you. you know ah So yeah, so the the services that we offer to our clients are a risk and compliance team, but the lines get very blurred with that virtual CISO role. And in some cases we are serving as a virtual CISO. And what does that mean to me? It means that I have to always attempt to feel like I know everything that's going on when it comes to security and privacy. And I will say that I definitely do have a very good understanding, but I will be the first one to tell you that I don't know everything.
00:14:11
Speaker
And um I think my clients understand that, they know that, and they are happy that they have a professional who is willing to be honest with them about that, and then we can work together to understand what the right answer or response is. So um I've also seen those articles about the CISO role. I've read an article that said the CISO is probably one of the most stressful roles that you can have right now in this day and age.
00:14:37
Speaker
And I think it's not just limited to the CISO. I think it's the whole C-suite, right? But the CIO as well, ah the CPO, the Chief Privacy Officer, um all of us have a growing responsibility to try to advise our management teams, are our C-suite teams, our clients, and understand what they need to know. What do they need to know to protect their business? What do they they need to know to grow their business? What do they need to know to protect their stakeholder in interests? And um it's definitely going to be something that I don't see
00:15:12
Speaker
becoming less important, being a CISO, right? As a matter of fact, I encourage a lot of people that I talk to who ask me questions about what should I do in terms of me being an accountant or CPA? I say, I think that you should look into cybersecurity. I think you should look into information technology.
00:15:30
Speaker
they've actually just made changes to the CPA exam right with the CPA evolution initiative and they've changed and they removed the section from the CPA exam now you can go for three disciplines and then one of those different disciplines is information systems and controls so although you when you pass the exam you'll be a CPA and nobody will really know that you have taken that specific section it will be something that you kind of can hold your hat on as a discipline um in terms of the type of CPA you are. um and One of the things that's funny is when I talk to people and I say, hey, I'm a CPA. The first thing you know they think is, oh, so you can do my taxes. And I go, actually, I'm not that kind of a CPA. And then I got to explain to them that I actually work in data security. And they're always very intrigued because they've never heard of a CPA who works in information security.
00:16:21
Speaker
So um I think the role of a CISO is going to be increasingly important, but I also think the role of CPAs are going to also be very, very important, especially with the emergence and the growth of AI.
00:16:34
Speaker
You know, one thing that you mentioned, and that is the uniqueness of your skill set. and Okay. Your CPA, you know, you obviously understand the it t side of things. Okay. As we continue to evolve and we try to deliver solutions for our customer base, you need to be specialized. You have to have that experience and an expertise. I heard this many years ago, someone said, well,
00:16:57
Speaker
You know, technology is taking over the world. Absolutely. like So when I think about those that are coming into the profession and they're saying, well, I'm going to do tax, I'm like, well, you, yeah, you'll do tax, but it'll be different. you'll use the tool, you'll use AI, you'll have to sort through that data in a different way. You know you you need to be familiar with the functionality to have success ah within this profession as we move forward. I'm excited for what Becker's doing and others and making sure that we're aware of that and how the exam is evolving to make sure that they're taking that into consideration. But it's not a one one type fits all type of equation anymore. It's not just the absolute piece. It's just, it's different.
00:17:36
Speaker
I think that's an important thing that you just brought up, Chris, because I think what I'm hearing is it doesn't matter what field of accounting you decide or to go into, whether it's tax, whether it's audit, whether it's financial reporting analysis, whether it's consulting, technology is going to have an a role, right? I think that's a truth that we've already accepted though, right? But the new, like the new message is AI is going to be a part of that role.
Adapting to AI in Accounting
00:18:03
Speaker
right One of the things that you know is the first question that comes up in a lot of people's mind and not just in the accounting profession is, will AI take my job? right And and you know the the the funny thing that I say to that question is, I think for some people, yes, I think for some people it will.
00:18:21
Speaker
I don't believe it will be accountants. yeah I don't believe it'll be accountants. But what I do think is that there are some things that we do as accountants that will be replaced with artificial intelligence and and in improved um computer, the use of computers and machines and robotics and AI in general.
00:18:41
Speaker
um So it's definitely something we need to make sure we consider. And as you mentioned before, becoming a specialist is going to be much more important now because organizations are going to start looking at additional software and then AI to see how they can increase productivity and lower costs. And if they can do that in an effective manner without having to hire people, because people will also carry liability, right? You have to you know potentially have insurance, right? for For anybody you may employ, you have to pay certain um ah taxes on those on people that you use in your organization. But when you come when you have software, you don't have to do those things, right? So that's an opportunity
00:19:22
Speaker
to as hard as that sounds, right? It's an opportunity for an organization to say, ah you know, hey, maybe we can cut some costs here and increase efficiency. And that's a winning formula. So um yeah, yeah, definitely. Some things to consider in terms of what's my official intelligence. All that I've read as it relates to AI is that um Those that have the ability to mine the data that can review the data, it's not a data entry process anymore. Meaning if I'm doing journal entries, you know, if I'm reconciling accounts.
00:19:58
Speaker
It's the person that at a very, at a higher level can go through and sift through the minutia and make heads or tails as it relates to risk within the business. So it facilitates the overall process. I think it requires that we educate ourselves in a different way because we have to prove out, you know, and understand things in ah in a different manner than we have in the past. And that's just the way the world works. I wish that we, not I don't know anybody who would come to me today and say, I wish we didn't have the internet.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah. Because there was a point in time when we didn't know about the internet, by the way. Right, right, right. Okay. And then when we got exposed to it, then we were like, oh my goodness, all this data is at my fingertips. How am I going to use that? How am I going to mine that? yeah How am I going to become more efficient at my business and the way I operate using that? So it's the same with AI. So when I think about AI, and I think about more specifically,
00:20:50
Speaker
what you're doing and delivering reports and reviewing environments. How is that going to change your business? Because when I think about your methodology, your approach, and how you go about doing things, and I want to understand how that evolves, and I know you probably can't go into a lot of detail, but what do you think may be some of the opportunities for your business?
Understanding SOC Reports
00:21:12
Speaker
Well, I think I first maybe just for our viewers want to just break down what it is that I do, right? So what we do is help organizations with SOC, S-O-C, Systems Organization and Controls Reporting. So that's a report that speaks to the security practices of an organization that is holding your information.
00:21:37
Speaker
you may use an online service or you may receive some type of service or product from a company. And as a part of using their product or service, they need your information, whether that be your name, address,
00:21:52
Speaker
ah health records, um i trying to think ah just confidential information, right? There's a lot of different types of data that are out there that organizations are using. And you want to have some assurance that when you give them that information, that they're going to protect it. um There have been a lot of stories about data breaches, which we all understand and know. And You need to know that if you are relying on them to use your data, and you in some cases, you may be relying on them to support something you're doing in your organization, um you need to get some assurance. You need to get some confirmation that they're doing the right things. And a SOC report is a report that is an independent evaluation from a CPA
00:22:42
Speaker
to that dozen audit of the security practices or the what they call system availability practices, which means is your product or service up and running and can be available for use. The confidentiality practices. So are you doing appropriate things is to make sure my data remains confidential like in encryption or ah making sure you have appropriate procedures for deletion of data or not to disclose data?
00:23:07
Speaker
um privacy, there's certain rules that you need to do to make sure that you are adhering to privacy laws and regulations. At CPAs we do an audit of those security practices and then once that audit is complete,
00:23:22
Speaker
we issue a report called an SOC report that those organizations can then share to their customers and say, hey, we had a CPA come in, look at all of our processes, and they provided an independent opinion that says you can trust that we're doing the right thing for security and privacy with your data.
00:23:41
Speaker
And that's valuable to the customer, it's valuable to the C-suite, it's valuable to investors to understand a comprehensive understanding of security and data privacy practices. So that's what we do in terms of SOC reporting.
00:23:53
Speaker
um When it comes to AI and the influence of SOC reporting, I think, you know, ah CPAs and accountants doing SOC reporting are definitely not going to be exempt.
AI's Impact on SOC Reporting and Integrity
00:24:05
Speaker
I think that the industry of SOC reporting and risk and compliance activities is going to be just like any other industry looking to identify ways that artificial intelligence can improve the services that we offer make things more efficient make things more affordable.
00:24:25
Speaker
all the same considerations that are happening with a lot of other industries. But the one thing when I think about how it's going to change the ability for CPA to do SOC reports or the things that organizations need to consider when it comes to SOC reports is this piece that we, I haven't seen a whole lot in my career and I know it's out there and it's a part of the SOC reporting framework, which is called processing integrity.
00:24:52
Speaker
I think that processing integrity is going to become much more important in in terms of CPAs having to consider that as a part of the SOC 2 report. You have a SOC 1 report. So there's different types of SOC reports. The SOC 1 report supports the financial statements, whereas the SOC 2 report is more of a security-focused report. I think it will have an influence on both. But I think the biggest thing that will be more important is the processing integrity piece, which we don't see a lot of.
00:25:21
Speaker
Typically, when you get a SOC report, you'll see it cover what they call service commitments for security or availability and for confidentiality. Sometimes you'll see it add privacy as well. But another service commitment is called processing integrity. And sometimes you'll see that. But I think we'll see it a lot more with AI. Why do I say that? Because artificial intelligence It requires that we rely on generated information at times or rely on a bunch of machines crunching big data so that we can understand it and make business decisions on it. But can we rely on that data?
00:26:00
Speaker
is the data that went into the AI algorithm or model trustworthy. Because if you put non-trustworthy information or bad information in, you're going to get bad information out. And if you decide that you're going to make decisions off of bad information, you're going to make bad decisions.
Need for Independent AI Evaluations
00:26:19
Speaker
So we're going to need someone to go in and do more independent evaluations of these artificial intelligence products.
00:26:28
Speaker
of these companies that are coming out with new ways to use ai so that way we can understand whether it can be relied upon and i think that's where. I as a profession is a risky compliance professional that's going to be very important for us, but i think as cpas and accountants as a whole that's what we're definitely gonna play a big role in the story of ai.
00:26:49
Speaker
You know, when I think about solutions that are being offered, meaning tools that will aid from a SOC perspective, and you hear about the cost of doing it, and it's significantly less than the way you probably do it using your methodology. And one ah and where I'm going with this is there's no shortcut.
00:27:07
Speaker
when it comes to review and understanding and making sure the data is accurate. And I think that's the challenge for the business of accounting, because we're in the business of completeness and accuracy and validation and making sure things are in proper order. You don't get around that because I feed it into a black box and it kicks me out a report at the end of the day that says that everything's OK. Doesn't work that way.
00:27:30
Speaker
I've been in this business too long. And even if you use any of the generative models out there today, you may ask a question of it, but did you ask the right question? You have to know enough to know if it's the wrong answer. And that's weird. Our skill comes into play because they're relying on us to come in, meaning our clients to come in and evaluate and assess and make sure things are in proper order. So We're not going anywhere. When I think about less bodies, I think, yeah, maybe there's a few, there's a quicker way to get to the end result. Meaning you can help me understand the risks that are in play. You can understand, help me understand what I should be looking for. But my experience, my expertise, my knowledge of the business is going to allow me to explore things in a different way to arrive at a different conclusion. And I think that's where the trouble lies because I know there's no shortcut.
00:28:23
Speaker
yeah there's a there's a There's absolutely tools that can aid me in this process, but there's no shortcut. So for all of you out there to think, my job is going away tomorrow. It's not okay. It's not going away. Your effort is not, it's not going to be any less and understanding and the wisdom and the knowledge that you have. Cause you'll need to apply that, especially in our profession, as you are signing off on reports and, and so forth, you understand the risk at hand. So, uh, it's up to you to make that decision. And I don't know any professional out there that has a certification that's going to say, Oh yeah, that black box made the right decision. And I'm going to go with it. It just doesn't work that way. They're trying. I know they are. I think they're also finding that that doesn't work very well right now. And I think that's another thing that people will need to understand is kind of the life cycle where we are with artificial intelligence. We're still very much in the beginning phases of the overall life cycle, which they right now call the narrow AI.
00:29:22
Speaker
a site like part of the life cycle. And when people say, are we going to be replaced with artificial intelligence? I think what they're talking about is this next phase, which is kind of the whether they call it strong or or general AI, where artificial intelligence is able to operate on its own without us having to put the data there. They can just kind of make their own conclusions about the end. And it can look like they have the ability to make judgment calls. Right. And I think The general consensus among the ai community is that we're still a ways off from even being in that space right now now artificial intelligence requires that human input the data and that we train the models and that we still understand it and I think another thing too is that people have to.
00:30:07
Speaker
Remember that we can't always just trust what it's doing, right? There's a lot of people who are not who are not professionals, who are not accountants, who just are just getting an understanding of what AI is and they think they can just fully rely on a chatbot like chatgpt.
00:30:22
Speaker
But if you really look at chat GPT, as much as it good does some good stuff, you can't just take it for what it is. You know, you have to tailor it. You have to you have the it's a good starting point. and It's a great tool, but but you shouldn't take it for face value. So um definitely something that people need to make sure that they keep in mind in terms of where we are with the use of artificial intelligence. And I think that's definitely where, you know, I don't think the accounts are going to not play a role. I think actually our role is going to group continue to increase.
00:30:52
Speaker
right, as they're talking about regulation over AI, right, they're talking about how to find the right guidance, the right frameworks in AI, I think accountants are going to play a role role in how to make sure that we're doing the right thing going into the future.
00:31:07
Speaker
So when when ah when you talk, when you mentioned that, and I think there are fewer of us now, this given state of the profession and where things are headed, how do you feel about that? Knowing there are less of us and you know, the work's not, there's not any less work out there. I mean, there's still a need for us. What, how do you feel
Addressing the Accountant Shortage
00:31:25
Speaker
about that? Just knowing where you are in your career. And I say, there's going to be less of us. Does that, does that frighten you? Or I mean, what, what type of emotion do you have around that?
00:31:34
Speaker
Personally, it doesn't frighten me. I mean, i'm I feel like I'm at this phase where I'm already in in the club. So if there's less accounts, then I'm more valuable, right? oh But it definitely is something that as a passionate accountant, I want to see change and I want to Educate and bring awareness to the benefits of being an accountant and and the different things that you can experience if you choose this profession. It's something that has definitely changed my life for the, yeah you know, in a positive way. And Chris, um one thing I had mentioned that I do is I have a ah YouTube channel called CPA diversity.
00:32:09
Speaker
where I provide education and awareness about the benefits of being an accountant. So um it's something that I want to see more of. I think there's a lot of opportunity. And when I think about people who are looking for a good profession to go into,
00:32:25
Speaker
Accounting is a great one. There's so many experiences you can have. Me being an accountant, I've been able to travel the world. I've been able to meet and work with great people. I've been able to see the insides of some of the most popular companies out there in the world and how they operate. And I think these are opportunities that are sitting and available for people. But I think we have a lot of stereotypes, a lot of misinformation about what an accountant is and and what we do, which tends to draw some people away from it. But there's a big push. There's a big effort to change that story. And I think in time, we will do that.
00:33:02
Speaker
Hey Chris, when not when I'm thinking about tools that are available, because as this continues to evolve, artificial intelligence and what resources are at our disposal, I know that there are some some things out there and I've seen some some some stuff that's being offered in articles that I've researched as it relates to AI and kind of where
Learning AI and CPA Exam Importance
00:33:23
Speaker
it's going.
00:33:23
Speaker
So there is an um opportunity for a user to go out and find this. And I was wondering, just given yeah all the research that you've done, I mean, have you encountered anything? Have you anything come to your attention that you would want to share with the with the broader audience as it relates to tools that are at their disposal?
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, um if you are looking to learn more about AI and kind of expand your understanding, I think ah Google is a very good place to start. So Google had a lot of people think Google is just a dot com or search engine, but and they may have started off that way, but they actually made the decision a long time ago to become an artificial intelligence company. So they offer a free course on AI that I think is really good and is of no charge to anyone who wants to take it. So I would probably say that's a good place to start, but then also to just
00:34:17
Speaker
taking you know the internet and using the internet as a tool to just explore and try to understand, look for articles, look for videos that will tell you more about what artificial intelligence is, try to understand where we came from in terms of artificial intelligence, knowing that the things you see now like chat GPT is not the full story, right? Let's try to understand some of the history and where we are to how we got into where we we are.
00:34:45
Speaker
um If you're a professional, you know as a CPA, you have to take CPE courses and there are a lot of ah vendors who offer CPE courses that you can also use because they offer courses for learning more about artificial intelligence. So I think it's just about taking the initiative to go out and find reputable sources that are offering courses and training and articles and communications around artificial intelligence. And then I think from there, you know, you have the internet at your disposal, right? You can find the right path and you'll be very well versed in and understood in all things AI. You know, I asked this question of a lot of folks that come on and have have a conversation with us and that is as a leader and I view you obviously as a leader in the profession and you have your own firm.
00:35:39
Speaker
What should I be doing? I mean, I start thinking about steps that I can take to be more successful in the profession. And I know you've made steps. What should I do? I know learning is one. I want to continue to learn. But is there anything else that you want to share with the audience to say that as a leader within the profession, this is what has helped me arrive at the position that I'm at today?
00:36:01
Speaker
um Absolutely. And I think it's appropriate for this forum, which is if you are, I can speak only from my experience, but if you are someone who wants to be an accountant,
00:36:12
Speaker
The game changer for me was passed in the CPA exam. That's what it is. and And I know this is a Becker podcast and it might seem like, oh, we're trying to sell products, but no, seriously. um Everybody knows and everybody is familiar if you're in the accounting space that the CPA exam is a rigorous exam that tests your knowledge of the accounting profession and all of its different facets, whether that be financial accounting and reporting, auditing, regulation, tax compliance. And now what we have is,
00:36:42
Speaker
ah financial reporting and information systems and controls with the CPA exam. Passing that exam for me opened the opportunities for me to be where I am today.
00:36:56
Speaker
in transparency, I was always a pretty good student, but I didn't have everything I needed to be able to get the opportunities that I was seeking. And I had a moment where I said to myself, I have to figure out a way to make myself more marketable, more valuable as somebody who wanted to have big four experience, but I graduated from a school that wasn't very popular, right? So um I said, I'm going to pass the CPA exam. And I studied for a year, passed the CPA exam. And literally the month I passed the CPA exam, I got offers from PwC, I got offers from EY, and I took the offer from EY to start my career. And from there, not only just passing the exam helped me
00:37:44
Speaker
to get the opportunities i was seeking but it also gave me ah tons of foundation to work off of when i walked into those rooms when i walked into those groups at at ernst and young and all the firms that i worked at subsequent to that And also there's a lot of benefits because when you're the one person in the room who has those letters, you stand out because you're someone who has demonstrated that you know a little bit more than somebody else in the team, right? So I definitely have to, if I have to give some specific advice, it's get that CPA license, go for it, do whatever it takes that you have to do to
00:38:25
Speaker
study for the exam um when it comes to studying. My recommendation is always practice tests, read, do whatever you got to do. Make sure you're taking that practice this test over and over and over until you feel super confident and then go take the test. Give yourself very little chance to fail. And um I think that that's a game changer in terms of how to be successful in accounting.
00:38:49
Speaker
But again, putting another hat on as an entrepreneur, um if you want to you know be successful in in general, you know there's a lot of just good principles, having a great attitude, having the ah willingness to want to learn. right And also working with smart people right that helps you to learn new things and understand. So um I think those are that those are some things that I would definitely recommend to anybody who's looking to be successful.
Concluding Thoughts on AI in Accounting
00:39:17
Speaker
um and be successful as an accountant. Fantastic. and and Chris, as we wrap things up today, accounting for today is all about making sure we're transparent and we're sharing with this audience in a different way. I think podcast is an excellent way to do that, to share this ah share information as it relates to the profession and how things are transforming right in front of our our eyes. AI is not going anywhere. I can imagine that AI in 20 years, we'll be looking back saying, what?
00:39:46
Speaker
what has happened the same way we do with the internet. But um what I want to do is thank you, because it's been an absolute pleasure at having you be a part of this and having you be a part of this conversation. So ah thank you. And I tell the audience, be on the lookout for the next segment, because I'm certain that we'll be sharing something of interest to you. So thank you, Chris, again. You're welcome. And thank you as well.