This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers analyze the state and future of their industry. Read all the posts here.

The old 80's party tune from Timbuk 3 aptly describes the state of the accounting profession in 2014 - "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

Accounting was ranked as the third best career by US News and World Report's 2014 Best Jobs issue. With an unemployment rate of half the national average (3%) and a growth rate of 13% for the next ten years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics's most recent report, demand for accounting professionals is at an all time high and projected to continue into the future.

Jeannie Patton, AICPA vice president, academics, professional pathways and inclusion, sums it up well in the AICPA's 2013 Trends in Supply & Demand for Accounting Report: “A strong supply of accounting graduates is essential to serve the complex demands of a rapidly changing business environment and meet the needs of CPA firms of all sizes for top quality talent. It’s well known that the U.S. capital markets also rely on the work of CPAs to ensure that investors have access to reliable and transparent financial statements.”

This bright future is backlit by the increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. The biggest issue from CPAs is information overload and the challenge of keeping up. The last decade has brought massive federal laws and regulations in Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, and the Affordable Care Act along with a proliferation of taxes and regulations at the state and local level. Many of these new rules and regulations are implemented through the tax system and the IRS, creating a constantly changing maze that CPAs need to stay on top of.

The next biggest issue is actually a series of major shifts in the business landscape -- I call it the "shift change" -- as the largest generation in the workforce (baby boomers) begins to retire and hand over their leadership to the next generation(s). The environment has changed to the point that it reminds me of a quote by President Woodrow Wilson in 1912: “We are in the presence of a new organization of society. ... The old formulas do not fit the present problems; they read like documents taken out of a forgotten age.” In other words, what got us here won't get us there. These five fundamental shifts are causing us to rethink business (and accounting) as usual:

Technology - The rise of social, mobile, analytics/big data, cloud (Thornton May's SMAC Stack) Generations - A generation gap, generation lap, and 2 for 1 (Boomers to Xers). Workplace - Work is no longer a place we go, but what we do; it's open, collaborative, and flexible. Leadership - A recent Harvard Business Publishing study found 68% of business leaders believe that their organizations DO NOT have the right leadership to achieve their strategic goals and cope with the current business environment. Learning - L > C (rate of Learning must be greater than the rate of Change). Flipped classrooms, participation and engagement are the new normal.

Of these shifts, the primary driver is without question, technology. This was confirmed in the massive future research we participated in with the AICPA and the CPA Horizons 2025 Project. This project looked at the major trends and issues for the future and identified a vision, purpose and values for the future CPA. The CPA of the future will be the most trusted advisor that helps people and organizations shape their future, assuming that they can master the pace of change, specifically the changes in technology.

The exponential growth of technology (remember Moore's law) is causing a "Cambrian explosion" of sorts as hundreds of new accounting and business applications show up on the accounting landscape at a dizzying pace.

So, is technology and the shifts underway an opportunity or threat to the accounting profession?

Yes!

Technology truly changes what is possible in accounting and yet is requiring the rapid learning, unlearning, and re-learning of new applications and new skills as these systems move from stagnant, historical systems of record to dynamic, future-focused systems of engagement. In fact there is a whole new breed of "digital CPAs" emerging who are leveraging these technologies and other business applications to add value to businesses in many new ways.

Chris Ekimoff, manager of investigations and forensics for the internal audit department at Hilton Worldwide put it this way: "The advance of technology has taken a lot of the executing of tasks ... out of the hands of accountants and into the hands of machines. That has made accountants fit more into the role of trusted business advisors."

Many accountants who are struggling to keep up are finding success from the collaborative nature of the CPA Profession and its organizations. Many of the software solutions providers are working together with the profession to help accountants get the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in this period of rapid change.

In addition to the new technology skills, the skills needed for CPAs in the future from the research are:

Leadership: The ability to develop and share insights and the aptitude to mobilize and inspire others to action. Leadership is about finding possibilities and developing people, utilizing their strengths, and shaping the future. Communications: Able to give and exchange information with meaningful context and appropriate delivery and interpersonal skills. It includes the ability to make thinking visible to others in a way they can easily grasp. Strategic thinking: A future-minded and flexible mindset that thinks critically and creatively. The ability to link data, knowledge and insights together to provide quality advice for strategic decision-making. Collaboration and synthesis: Being effective at engaging others and working across boundaries to turn challenges into opportunities, including the ability to consider the whole picture (past, present, and future context) and create alternatives and options for the future. Being tech savvy: Anticipating technology changes and how they can benefit others. Being adept at standardizing data for transparency, efficient exchange, and visualization.

So, the future for accounting is indeed bright. As for those who are struggling with keeping up, the bad news is that like waves, the rapid pace of change will continue. As Jon Kabat-Zinn once said, "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf."

If we stick together as a profession and collaborate and share, we can learn how to ride these waves and continue our journey as the most trusted advisors to businesses and individuals. Now put on those shades!

What do you think about the state of the profession?

Want more insight about this industry? Follow our Accounting channel.

Enjoyed this post? Read what other Influencers had to say:

Photo: Tom Hood