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Changing the way people think about accounting: A new approach to the industry

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For an industry that’s often stereotyped as stagnant, the world of accounting is changing at unprecedented speed: accounting industry trends include headline-grabbing topics such as AI, automation, ESG consulting, and remote work. 

One trend that is clearly only going to strengthen is the transformation of the CPA into an advisor, which requires a substantially different skill set than the expertise most students get in their accounting education. For new accountants – especially those working remotely – your success depends on understanding how to navigate these evolutions. 

Who better to give advice on embracing change than the person whose motto is, “Changing the way people think about accounting”? In a conversation with Jody Grunden, founder and partner of Summit Virtual CFO by Anders, I asked him for his insight into how young professionals entering the field can excel in a new role and build a stellar career.

Determine if remote work is a good option. While the benefits of remote work are substantial, it’s not an environment everyone thrives in. If you’re entering the accounting industry and considering pursuing remote positions, take stock of your work style and determine if a virtual office environment will suit you. As Jody advises, “As someone interviewing for a job, it’s important to ask, ‘Hey, is this something I really want to try?'” In truth, working from home is similar to working in the office. The main difference is that when you work from home, your day is more task-driven than time-driven. Maybe you’re not expected to “clock in” at 9 a.m. and stay the entire eight hours in the office before heading home, but your employer will expect you to complete the tasks you have for the day, even if the hours during which you work on them fall outside of the standard 9-to-5 timeframe.

Approach remote work like you’re working in person at your company’s office. As a remote employee, it may be tempting to roll out of bed and into your office chair. However, when you log on to your computer to start work in the morning, it’s imperative that you show up similarly to how you would in person. Even though you’re working from your home office, you still want to maintain a level of professionalism. Speaking of home offices, remote employees typically work best when they have a dedicated space to work, so try to make that happen. If you can, move your home office into a room with a door you can close so that you have a quiet space for when you need to hop on a call or have some “heads down” working time.  

Consider pursuing accounting jobs that include a consulting component. With the advent and ever-growing use of artificial intelligence and an increase in automating processes, task-driven jobs like accounting may fall victim to technology, causing clients to select software over service-based businesses. Jody foresees a change in the industry: “I don’t believe what worked for accounting firms in the past will be what works for them in the future.” He predicts, “Advisory will be the biggest thing that accountants need to understand and really need to work with and really be good at because that’s what clients are going to want.” With this in mind, I recommend pursuing positions that allow you to advise clients instead of solely putting together reports and financial statements. 

Hone your communication skills. Soft skills will be invaluable to the future of accounting in which CPAs are top-tier advisors. “The biggest thing you can learn right now is how to communicate, how to tell the story, and how to create those relationships with your customers and your team,” says Joey Kinney, my podcast co-host and CFO at Summit Virtual CFO by Anders. “If you don’t do that, it doesn’t matter how good you are at your job.”

Stay curious. Curiosity — the trait that led Jody to build a business that boasts $60,000+ per-year clients — can help you grow your career. The trick is to respectfully question why your team follows certain processes or uses specific approaches at your company to determine whether more effective or efficient methods exist. In doing so, you can devise alternative methods to streamline company operations or improve client outcomes. “That’s what innovation is,” Jody says, “trying to figure out how we can better something by just asking ‘Why?”” Even if you’re just getting started, commit to innovating in your role and — if you’re in the right environment — you’ll excel in your current position and propel your career forward.

Whether you’re applying for your first job at an accounting firm or are just starting to settle into your new role as a CPA at your chosen company, consider leveraging some of the suggestions above to ensure you start your career on the right foot.  

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Accounting

IAASB tweaks standards on working with outside experts

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The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board is proposing to tailor some of its standards to align with recent additions to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants when it comes to using the work of an external expert.

The proposed narrow-scope amendments involve minor changes to several IAASB standards:

  • ISA 620, Using the Work of an Auditor’s Expert;
  • ISRE 2400 (Revised), Engagements to Review Historical Financial Statements;
  • ISAE 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information;
  • ISRS 4400 (Revised), Agreed-upon Procedures Engagements.

The IAASB is asking for comments via a digital response template that can be found on the IAASB website by July 24, 2025.

In December 2023, the IESBA approved an exposure draft for proposed revisions to the IESBA’s Code of Ethics related to using the work of an external expert. The proposals included three new sections to the Code of Ethics, including provisions for professional accountants in public practice; professional accountants in business and sustainability assurance practitioners. The IESBA approved the provisions on using the work of an external expert at its December 2024 meeting, establishing an ethical framework to guide accountants and sustainability assurance practitioners in evaluating whether an external expert has the necessary competence, capabilities and objectivity to use their work, as well as provisions on applying the Ethics Code’s conceptual framework when using the work of an outside expert.  

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Accounting

Tariffs will hit low-income Americans harder than richest, report says

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President Donald Trump’s tariffs would effectively cause a tax increase for low-income families that is more than three times higher than what wealthier Americans would pay, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The report from the progressive think tank outlined the outcomes for Americans of all backgrounds if the tariffs currently in effect remain in place next year. Those making $28,600 or less would have to spend 6.2% more of their income due to higher prices, while the richest Americans with income of at least $914,900 are expected to spend 1.7% more. Middle-income families making between $55,100 and $94,100 would pay 5% more of their earnings. 

Trump has imposed the steepest U.S. duties in more than a century, including a 145% tariff on many products from China, a 25% rate on most imports from Canada and Mexico, duties on some sectors such as steel and aluminum and a baseline 10% tariff on the rest of the country’s trading partners. He suspended higher, customized tariffs on most countries for 90 days.

Economists have warned that costs from tariff increases would ultimately be passed on to U.S. consumers. And while prices will rise for everyone, lower-income families are expected to lose a larger portion of their budgets because they tend to spend more of their earnings on goods, including food and other necessities, compared to wealthier individuals.

Food prices could rise by 2.6% in the short run due to tariffs, according to an estimate from the Yale Budget Lab. Among all goods impacted, consumers are expected to face the steepest price hikes for clothing at 64%, the report showed. 

The Yale Budget Lab projected that the tariffs would result in a loss of $4,700 a year on average for American households.

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Accounting

At Schellman, AI reshapes a firm’s staffing needs

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Artificial intelligence is just getting started in the accounting world, but it is already helping firms like technology specialist Schellman do more things with fewer people, allowing the firm to scale back hiring and reduce headcount in certain areas through natural attrition. 

Schellman CEO Avani Desai said there have definitely been some shifts in headcount at the Top 100 Firm, though she stressed it was nothing dramatic, as it mostly reflects natural attrition combined with being more selective with hiring. She said the firm has already made an internal decision to not reduce headcount in force, as that just indicates they didn’t hire properly the first time. 

“It hasn’t been about reducing roles but evolving how we do work, so there wasn’t one specific date where we ‘started’ the reduction. It’s been more case by case. We’ve held back on refilling certain roles when we saw opportunities to streamline, especially with the use of new technologies like AI,” she said. 

One area where the firm has found such opportunities has been in the testing of certain cybersecurity controls, particularly within the SOC framework. The firm examined all the controls it tests on the service side and asked which ones require human judgment or deep expertise. The answer was a lot of them. But for the ones that don’t, AI algorithms have been able to significantly lighten the load. 

“[If] we don’t refill a role, it’s because the need actually has changed, or the process has improved so significantly [that] the workload is lighter or shared across the smarter system. So that’s what’s happening,” said Desai. 

Outside of client services like SOC control testing and reporting, the firm has found efficiencies in administrative functions as well as certain internal operational processes. On the latter point, Desai noted that Schellman’s engineers, including the chief information officer, have been using AI to help develop code, which means they’re not relying as much on outside expertise on the internal service delivery side of things. There are still people in the development process, but their roles are changing: They’re writing less code, and doing more reviewing of code before it gets pushed into production, saving time and creating efficiencies. 

“The best way for me to say this is, to us, this has been intentional. We paused hiring in a few areas where we saw overlaps, where technology was really working,” said Desai.

However, even in an age awash with AI, Schellman acknowledges there are certain jobs that need a human, at least for now. For example, the firm does assessments for the FedRAMP program, which is needed for cloud service providers to contract with certain government agencies. These assessments, even in the most stable of times, can be long and complex engagements, to say nothing of the less predictable nature of the current government. As such, it does not make as much sense to reduce human staff in this area. 

“The way it is right now for us to do FedRAMP engagements, it’s a very manual process. There’s a lot of back and forth between us and a third party, the government, and we don’t see a lot of overall application or technology help… We’re in the federal space and you can imagine, [with] what’s going on right now, there’s a big changing market condition for clients and their pricing pressure,” said Desai. 

As Schellman reduces staff levels in some places, it is increasing them in others. Desai said the firm is actively hiring in certain areas. In particular, it’s adding staff in technical cybersecurity (e.g., penetration testers), the aforementioned FedRAMP engagements, AI assessment (in line with recently becoming an ISO 42001 certification body) and in some client-facing roles like marketing and sales. 

“So, to me, this isn’t about doing more with less … It’s about doing more of the right things with the right people,” said Desai. 

While these moves have resulted in savings, she said that was never really the point, so whatever the firm has saved from staffing efficiencies it has reinvested in its tech stack to build its service line further. When asked for an example, she said the firm would like to focus more on penetration testing by building a SaaS tool for it. While Schellman has a proof of concept developed, she noted it would take a lot of money and time to deploy a full solution — both of which the firm now has more of because of its efficiency moves. 

“What is the ‘why’ behind these decisions? The ‘why’ for us isn’t what I think you traditionally see, which is ‘We need to get profitability high. We need to have less people do more things.’ That’s not what it is like,” said Desai. “I want to be able to focus on quality. And the only way I think I can focus on quality is if my people are not focusing on things that don’t matter … I feel like I’m in a much better place because the smart people that I’ve hired are working on the riskiest and most complicated things.”

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