Connect with us

Accounting

Think of yourself as a life planner before accountant or financial advisor

Published

2 years ago

on

Whether you’re doing financial planning for clients or referring them to advisory firms, the traditional approach is to assess a client’s risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon to arrive at a magic “number.” In other words, how much will your client need to save for a house, for their child’s college education or for retirement (by what date) in order to live comfortably without a paycheck? Or if they’re already retired, how much can they afford to draw down from their nest egg every year to live comfortably without worrying about running out of money?

Seems logical, right? Get to know your client’s financial information and goals and then use your software to run the numbers. But more and more advisors are questioning that logic and maybe you should too.

Enter “life planning.” Here you help clients create the ideal life for themselves first — and then work backward to help them get there financially. 

George Kinder, founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning and generally regarded as the father of life planning told me on my podcast recently that too many financial advisors, from accountants to financial planners, take the math-first approach for developing solutions for their clients. Instead, he said they should be doing deep listening and building trust with clients to help them construct their ideal life. Only when that’s established should the math and money decisions be introduced.

Don’t mistake Kinder for a touchy-feely new age guru. He’s a Harvard-educated math and economics student who began his career as a tax preparer. Kinder saw the IRS code as a challenging puzzle, one that demanded both precision and creative problem-solving to master. He also appreciated the flexibility of being a tax professional, which allowed him to work intensely for a few months each year making enough money to pursue his artistic and creative interests the rest of the year. Yet Kinder felt there was more he could offer. Beyond the numbers, he found joy in the intimate, personal connections he formed while helping clients navigate their financial lives.

Life planning, the best of financial planning

Kinder has trained thousands of advisors in 30 countries over the years. He found many to be great financial thinkers, but they suspected they were missing something by focusing only on the numbers. “In the early days when I started life planning, nobody really knew how to shift that thinking,” shared Kinder. “Today we have psychology of money and behavioral finance, but I think that life planning is the best of the [new thinking] because of the way it’s structured,” he explained. “We aim at what a person would really love to be doing with their life and then determine how to get them there.” Of course, some clients don’t know how to answer that question, he cautioned. That’s where you come in.

Kinder believes life planning focuses on what a client really wants out of life — not how much money they want to have. Compared to traditional financial planning, Kinder said life planners use deep listening techniques to build an incredible level of trust with clients. He feels that’s extremely valuable because “nobody trusts anybody” in the money world. “We train people how to be really trustworthy in everything they do,” said Kinder. Deep listening and building trust, he maintains, is the key. Only then can you help clients work toward realizing their dream of freedom. “That’s when they get excited about painting the picture and working toward living that dream,” said Kinder.

Movie of your ideal life

Like Kinder, I get excited about being the director who shows clients the ideal movie of their life. On the flip side, I’ve found that many people believe that money is their obstacle to living their ideal life. But in most cases, said Kinder, it’s not. It’s about getting over who you are, your relationship with yourself and, then mapping out  that life that you want.

According to Kinder, when clients see you’re really there for them — and not just a numbers-driven advisor or analytics-focused planner — that will either excite them or move them deeply. Often they’re carrying a “secret sorrow” that they need to move past before achieving the dream of freedom. As life planners, Kinder said clients are frequently living not for themselves, but living for their parents, or their job, or their spouse. That’s not freedom.

Three transformative questions

 In order to overcome those perceived obstacles, Kinder has developed three transformative questions that high-performing life planners use: 

1. If money were no issue how would you live your life? What would you do?

Encourage clients to explore their aspirations and desires without financial constraints, leading to clarity on their true priorities.

2. If you only had five to 10 years to live, how would you spend your time?

This helps clients focus on meaningful experiences, relationships and life goals that align with their values. It really helps them prioritize what’s most important to them and the relationships with people who are dear to them.

3. If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you regret not having done?

Kinder believes this profound question helps uncover deep-seated regrets or unfulfilled dreams, serving as a guide to crafting a more purposeful financial and life plan. It’s not about making amends or taking care of unfinished business. It’s about getting to the heart of who your client wants to be. Ask them what they think people will remember them for or whether their career or pursuit of money really was really as important as they thought it would be.

EVOKE process

Normally when people go into a financial planner’s office, they’re given a list of goal questions to answer. Then the planner moves on to: “Let me show you what we do.” And then they take out the spreadsheets and calculators, etc. By this point, said Kinder, it’s no longer about the client. “It’s not touching their heart. It’s just about the numbers.” Instead, Kinder advocates the EVOKE (Exploration, Vision, Obstacles, Knowledge, Execution) process.

As a planner, he said it’s about really being there for the person sitting across from you. 

  • E is about deep listening, building trust. 
  • V is for vision– setting the dream. 
  • O is about delving into obstacles and perceived barriers that are getting in the way. 
  • K is for the knowledge that financial planners utilize — spreadsheets, portfolio construction and math. 
  • E is the execution making it happen. 

If the EVOKE process goes well for a client, Kinder believes they get excited and can start executing right after the first meeting! Kinder believes therapists, spiritual counselors and life coaches all bring something important to the advisory table, but “nobody puts it all together the way a financial life planner can.” He said that’s where helping clients envision their ideal life comes in. Kinder breaks it down into the ideal day, ideal week and ideal month.

Mapping the ideal life

  • Ideal day: Visualize what a perfect ordinary day looks like, including work, leisure and personal activities.
  • Ideal week: Expand the visualization to a balanced week that integrates passions, relationships and relaxation. That could include working a reasonable number of days or hours if a client still enjoys their work.
  • Ideal month: Consider how vacations, creative pursuits and extended personal goals fit into a broader timeframe.

My new book, A Holistic Guide to Wealth Management for Accounting Professionals, has more envisioning exercises and life planning techniques for CPAs to use with clients.

As advisors, I’ve always believed we sit in a privileged position. People share intimate details about their lives with us that sometimes they can’t even discuss with their spouses or close friends. Ultimately, we are that confidante for them, a sounding board to help them make better decisions, not only with their business and personal finances, but with their life.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Accounting

AI-Driven Automation and Continuous Accounting Frameworks

Published

7 days ago

on

August 15, 2026

By

The accounting profession is undergoing a fundamental structural transition as enterprise finance departments shift from periodic month-end closes toward automated continuous accounting models. By integrating specialized machine learning algorithms directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, chief accounting officers are transforming financial reporting from a retrospective exercise into a real-time operational asset.

The Shift from Periodic Close to Continuous Financial Reporting
Traditional accounting workflows heavily relied on manual data reconciliation, spreadsheet calculations, and multi-week closing cycles at the end of each fiscal period. In contrast, continuous accounting frameworks utilize automated software agents to process, validate, and post transactional data in real time as business activities occur.

Automated bank reconciliation tools cross-reference incoming bank feeds, invoice records, and purchase orders automatically. By resolving transactional variances instantly throughout the month, corporate accounting teams eliminate the traditional workload spikes associated with quarterly and annual closes.

Machine Learning in Audit Trails and Anomaly Detection
Advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning tools are redefining internal audit and financial control environments. Automated systems analyze 100% of general ledger entries, identifying anomalous transactions, duplicate payments, and unauthorized journal entries in real time.

Rather than relying on random statistical sampling, corporate internal auditors can focus their attention on high-risk flags automatically surfaced by algorithmic monitoring platforms. This continuous risk assessment strengthens internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) and significantly reduces fraud risk.

Evolving Roles for Accounting Professionals
As routine data entry and manual reconciliation tasks become fully automated, the skill set required for accounting professionals is shifting toward data analysis, system design, and strategic business advisory.
– Systems Governance: Accountants are increasingly responsible for monitoring algorithmic accuracy and managing data integration pipelines.
– Business Partnership: Finance professionals leverage real-time financial dashboards to advise operational leaders on margin management and working capital allocation.
– Regulatory Compliance Management: Accounting teams utilize automated platforms to ensure compliance with dynamic tax codes and international accounting standards.

Core Implementation Recommendations
1. Deploy Automated Reconciliation Tools: Integrate continuous transaction processing modules into existing enterprise ERP architectures.
2. Establish Algorithmic Governance Controls: Implement strict internal testing protocols to ensure automated accounting rules comply with GAAP/IFRS standards.
3. Reskill Accounting Teams: Invest in training finance staff on data analytics, workflow automation, and predictive financial modeling.

Continue Reading

Accounting

Global ESG Reporting Standards and Double Materiality Compliance

Published

2 weeks ago

on

August 9, 2026

By

Corporate accounting departments face expanding reporting expectations as international sustainability disclosure standards achieve regulatory enforcement across major global jurisdictions. Chief Accounting Officers (CAOs) and corporate controllers are establishing rigorous internal accounting controls to treat Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics with the same data precision, auditability, and governance as traditional financial statements.

Regulatory Harmonization Under Global Sustainability Frameworks
The implementation of standardized sustainability reporting frameworks—notably rules established by international sustainability accounting boards—has created unified expectations for public and large private enterprises. Corporations must report standardized metrics covering greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2, and material Scope 3), energy utilization, workforce demographics, and supply chain governance.

In Europe and other participating international jurisdictions, double materiality principles are mandatory. Under double materiality, organizations must report both how external sustainability risks impact corporate financial performance, and how internal corporate operations affect surrounding environmental and social structures.

Integrating Sustainability Metrics into Core ERP Systems
To provide auditable non-financial data, enterprise organizations are integrating specialized carbon accounting and ESG management platforms directly into core ERP systems. Automated data collectors capture energy utility invoices, logistics fuel consumption metrics, and vendor compliance records in real time.

Establishing automated, traceable data pipelines ensures that non-financial reporting is supported by clear audit trails. This structured approach allows external financial auditors to provide reasonable assurance on sustainability disclosures during annual corporate reporting cycles.

Financial Impacts and Capital Market Disclosure
Accurate ESG reporting directly influences corporate cost of capital and institutional credit ratings. Commercial lenders and institutional asset managers systematically incorporate sustainability metrics into risk pricing models. Companies that demonstrate transparent, verifiable progress in operational energy efficiency and climate risk mitigation benefit from expanded access to green bond markets and lower debt pricing.

Action Steps for Accounting Leadership
1. Implement Double Materiality Frameworks: Conduct comprehensive assessments to identify material financial and operational sustainability metrics.
2. Build Auditable Non-Financial Data Pipelines: Automate ESG data collection within core accounting software to ensure data integrity.
3. Align Sustainability with Annual Financial Filings: Prepare non-financial disclosures concurrently with financial statements to satisfy regulatory audit expectations.

Continue Reading

Accounting

Modernizing Internal Controls: Machine Learning and Continuous Monitoring in Auditing

Published

2 weeks ago

on

August 5, 2026

By

Internal audit departments and corporate risk managers are modernizing internal control frameworks by shifting from periodic sampling techniques to continuous monitoring and machine learning analytics. As operational data volumes increase across enterprise organizations, automated control testing ensures financial integrity, prevents corporate fraud, and streamlines annual audit engagements.

The Limitation of Periodic Audit Sampling
Historically, internal and external auditors evaluated internal controls by reviewing random samples of financial transactions—often analyzing less than five percent of total ledger entries. In complex enterprise environments, periodic sampling methods carry inherent risks of overlooking localized financial misstatements, unauthorized disbursements, or operational control breakdowns.

In 2026, progressive internal audit functions are utilizing automated continuous monitoring platforms that evaluate one hundred percent of financial transactions in real time. Continuous control auditing systems continuously monitor general ledger entries, procurement approvals, and expense reimbursements across all operating subsidiaries.

AI-Powered Fraud Detection and Anomaly Identification
Machine learning models trained on historical corporate financial data excel at identifying subtle transactional anomalies that indicate potential fraud or operational error. Automated systems instantly flag duplicate invoice payments, unapproved vendor creation, unusual journal entry timing, and unauthorized override of authority thresholds.

When an anomaly is detected, the automated auditing platform generates an instant risk alert, allowing internal audit teams to investigate root causes immediately. Early detection prevents minor operational errors from escalating into material weaknesses in financial reporting.

Streamlining External Audit Preparation
Continuous internal control monitoring delivers significant benefits during annual external financial audits. External audit firms can review continuous audit logs and automated control testing documentation, reducing the time required for manual field testing.

This integrated approach lowers overall audit compliance fees, reduces administrative burdens on corporate accounting staff, and provides senior management and audit committees with real-time visibility into the organization’s overall risk profile.

Core Implementation Guidelines
1. Transition to 100% Data Testing: Replace legacy sampling methods with automated continuous audit monitoring systems.
2. Deploy Anomaly Detection Algorithms: Implement machine learning models to identify unauthorized transactions and operational control overrides.
3. Align Internal and External Audit Workflows: Coordinate continuous control testing protocols with external auditors to optimize annual compliance cycles.

Continue Reading

Trending