Future-proof | A Podcast For Tomorrow's Accounting & Finance Pros

Robbie Kellman Baxter has written the book—quite literally—on the Membership Economy and subscription-based business models. This is the way the world is going. In fact, it’s already gone. And it’s only a matter of time before it makes its way into the CPA profession and starts impacting accounting and finance. In some ways, it already is.Robbie recently released a book called “The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave.” And doesn’t that sound appealing? She talks about what a successful subscription model might look like for our profession, how generational differences might come into play here, and how leaders can decide whether they’re ready to make this type of move — and if they are, what the logical first steps might be.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Learn more: robbiekellmanbaxter.comRead: “The Membership Economy: Find Your Superusers, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Rec

The work of associations is right in the name: It’s about connections, it’s about relationships, and it’s about networks. These are the things that associations are designed to provide, and this is the time — a time of true crisis — in which those things are more important than ever. To explore all that an association can do, we sit down with Tom Hood, President and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. He discusses how the work of associations shifted significantly in the face of the pandemic, how members have benefited, and how that work will help members map out a post-pandemic strategy that ensures their relevance going forward.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Learn more at macpa.orgLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tomhoodFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Mark Koziel has been one of the most prominent voices at the American Institute of CPAs for nearly 15 years. He is executive vice president of firm services for the AICPA and a fixture on Accounting Today’s annual list of the most influential people in the profession. He’s been at the forefront of the profession’s response to the COVID-19 crisis—advocating on behalf of CPAs everywhere when it comes to Paycheck Protection Program loans, the designation as essential workers, and what our clients need from us going forward. We ask him for his perspective on the state of the profession and what the firm of tomorrow may look like.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:https://www.allinialglobal.comhttps://www.aicpa.org/about/leadership/mark-koziel-bio.htmlhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mjkoziel/CPA Firms Down, But Not Out, From Covid-19, Survey FindsFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Inclusion remains a huge problem in our profession. As of 2016, just one percent of CPAs employed by public accounting firms were Black. And 0.3 percent of partners at those firms were black. Meanwhile, roughly 13 percent of our country’s population is Black. And the numbers for other people of color weren’t much better. We want our profession to look like the public it serves, but it isn’t close — and it isn’t making much progress, either.Our guests this week, Avonette Blanding and Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, offer some poignant insights that might help us take the first step. Avonette is chief financial officer at Maritime Applied Physics in Baltimore, which designs and builds advanced technology systems and vessels for the Defense Department. She is also the incoming chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs. And Kimberly is executive director of finance thought leadership at Oracle. She is a past chair of both the MACPA and the American Institute of CPAs, and just the second chairperson of the Association of

What should we be doing with our money, with our investments, when things are as unpredictable as they’ve been lately? There’s a lot of advice out there — some of it good, some of it bad — and we wanted to speak to someone who knows what he’s talking about to sort it out.Lyle Benson is president of L.K. Benson & Company in Baltimore and a MACPA member who has been at the forefront of advancing planning services for individuals within the profession. He’s served with the AICPA’s Personal Financial Planning Division Executive Committee, the National Accreditation Committee, the Baltimore Association for Financial Planning, and he is also chair of the Media Task Force of the AICPA's PFP Section. He joins us to talk about everything we need to be considering right now: Cash on hand, investments, estate planning, and financial planning — especially as it relates to uncertain and chaotic times like this.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:www.lkbenson.comLinke

Daniel Burrus is all about one word: Anticipation. How can we anticipate future trends, how can we spot them early, and learn to take advantage of the opportunities those trends provide us? He has written about this skill in his bestselling book “The Anticipatory Organization.” He has built a learning system that’s designed to help us learn how to become more anticipatory. In spite of all of the anticipatory planning and guidance, we are currently struggling through a period of time that few of us could have anticipated — a global pandemic. So what do we do about it? Dan says there are anticipatory lessons we all can learn from this crisis. He says too many people are merely reacting to what’s going on, and not enough people are anticipating what’s to come and how they can take advantage of that on the other side.What should we be doing now to make sure we come out of this crisis stronger and more capable than we were at the start? Dan has several suggestions, and now is the time to be listening to them.

Before the coronavirus, we talked about disruption as something we had time to prepare for — advances in technology, future laws and regulations, and what will happen when all of the Boomers are gone and the Millennials take over for good. These are things we knew were going to happen, but it seemed we had time to prepare for them.David Bray was one of those people talking about disruption. In January, the AICPA brought David in front of its Executive Roundtable in New York City to talk about disruption and digital transformation and technological advances. He joins us to talk about how we work and do business, and how all of that is changing because of this crisis — and the roles accounting and finance professionals will play in all of that. He also discusses how this crisis has significantly accelerated the disruptions we’ll feel as a result of new technologies like AI, the Internet of Things, and 5G.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:"We can more rapidly resp

We are all facing trying times right now — whether you’re working from home, out of a job, or still working in public in the midst of a pandemic. This is a time when humans need to connect more than ever. We’re going to talk about all of that — how to make sure your teams are holding up, that they’re well, that they’re productive, and that they have all the resources they need in this very difficult environment. Facilitating that conversation is Richard Silberstein, the managing partner of SIG (Silberstein Insurance Group). They are experts in human resources and HR technology solutions, corporate wellness, compliance, employee communications — everything you need to keep the wheels greased at your business.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Silberstein Insurance Group: https://www.silbs.com/https://blionline.org/blog“How the coronavirus crisis has elevated the role of HR chiefs in the C-suite."Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Emmanuel Gobillot is one of the world’s leading experts on leadership. He’s the best-selling author of a number of great books, including “Leadershift,” “The Connected Leader,” “Follow the Leader,” and “Unleash Your Leader.” He has also recently co-authored a book specfically for this moment in time: “Crisis Leadership: Principles and tactics for success when your world turns upside down.” There aren’t many leaders out there who can help their teams grow and thrive and feel more capable in the middle of a crisis — and we have a lot to learn from those who can.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:emmanuelgobillot.com51. Building Tomorrow's Leaders Today | with Emmanuel Gobillot & Katherine Thomasjohnolearyinspires.comFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Lack of self-confidence is a key reason why many of us don’t get what we want —  that promotion, that raise, that speaking gig. Our guests this week are trying to change all of that. They are Kate Boorer and Fiona Pearman, two leading Australian business experts who have joined forces to write a book aimed at helping people “own their talents, face their fears, and create their futures.” That’s the sub-head of their extraordinary book Core Confidence. We discuss why that happens, and what we can do with these building blocks to re-tap into that core confidence and walk away with a positive mindset.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Core Confidence: Own Your Talent, Face Your Fear, Create Your Futurehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kateboorerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/fionapearman"Yes, Impostor Syndrome Is Real. Here's How to Deal With It""Imposter syndrome: women’s silent career killer"Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media

This week we’re talking about the Paycheck Protection Program. A provision of the CARES Act — the massive coronavirus relief bill that was signed into law on March 27 — the PPP is a loan that’s designed to be an incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.We know some of our listeners may be applying for it, and if you are, you probably have a few questions. So we sat down for a conversation with two people who can help put this all into proper context. Erik Asgeirsson is the president and CEO of CPA.com, the technology arm of the American Institute of CPAs, and he is going to give us some perspective on the massive and almost unprecedented legislative undertaking to get this bill passed, as well as recommendations for the types of documents that lenders are looking for under various circumstances during the loan application process. And Tom Hood, the president and CEO of the Maryland Institute of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, is going to talk a bit about the role that CPAs

The world has been slowly transitioning towards remote work, but we are suddenly in an era where many of us have been forced to adopt remote work practices in a very short time. Some of us weren’t ready for this, and we could all use a little guidance in making the leap. Here to help us through that is Greg Rittler, the founder of Blue Ocean Ideas. We learn what it takes to lead a fully-remote team like this under very difficult circumstances, and he has some great insights into how to lead a remote team in an era of crisis — lessons that many of us need in this profession.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Blueoceanideas.comMACPA.org/COVID-191. Welcome to the World of Exponential Change: Becoming an Anticipatory Organization | with Daniel BurrusFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

Amidst all the chaos of the coronavirus, we are all trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in our day-to-day lives. One way people are trying to maintain as much of the status quo as possible is through remote work. Our guest this week, Tina Garza, has some great guidance for businesses and employees alike when it comes to working remotely and returning to business as usual.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Accountingprose.comlinkedin.com/in/cristina-tina-garza-small-business-superhero-b5622124/The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Become the World’s Largest Work-From-Home ExperimentCOVID-19 Has My Teams Working Remotely: A Guide for LeadersFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

The coronavirus has caught everyone’s attention, and not in a good way. Most of what you read out there largely falls somewhere between paranoia and panic and — given the reliability of the “news” we see in our social feeds — that’s not good for anybody. Jennifer Elder of the Business Learning Institute has compiled a list of questions that business leaders can use to help their organizations prepare for the potential impact of the coronavirus. And now is the best time to do it because things are likely to get worse before they get better.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Coronavirus: How prepared are you?Experts Simulated a Coronavirus Pandemic Last Year and It Killed 65 Millionwww.centerforhealthsecurity.org/Event201www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/recommendationswww.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/videosFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

When you’re talking about life in an exponential age, there are few skills that are as important as anticipation — the ability to spot future trends early, before they become truly disruptive, and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.One person who truly understands the importance of anticipation is our guest today, Rita McGrath. Rita is a longtime professor at Columbia Business School and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. She’s considered one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, and her latest book, Seeing Around Corners: How To Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen, offers an interesting perspective on the concept of anticipation. She joins us to talk about how her thoughts fit into what the MACPA is doing with Daniel Burrus and share insight into how we can all become better anticipators.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Learn more: www.ritamcgrath.comRead: Seeing Around Corners: How To Spot Inflectio

Bots are the name of the game this week. They are all the rage, and they’re setting their sights on the accounting and finance world. No one knows that more than our guest this week. Jody Padar built her “Radical CPA” brand as chief executive officer of New Vision CPA Group near Chicago. But then, in January she was named vice president of strategy for Botkeeper. We ask Jody about the potential of bots to transform this profession. As a future-focused accounting and finance professional, this is a conversation you need to pay attention to.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Learn more: www.botkeeper.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jody-padar-18a9711/Start mastering these Future-Ready skills now by visiting MACPA.org/future-learning-frameworkFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

When we had a whole show highlighting blockchain last year, the hype around it was sky-high. It was supposed to transform our profession and, in fact, many professions. It seemed like there was no problem that couldn’t potentially be solved through the use of blockchain technology. Now, things have cooled off a bit, but people in our profession are still very interested in how blockchain might transform what we do.Keith Nichols, General Manager for small to mid-size firms with Thomson Reuters, is one of them. Keith was previously Thomson Reuters’ managing director for government, which meant he had significant say in the global strategy and business operations of the government practice with the Tax and Accounting business at Thomson Reuters. That meant he was recognizing blockchain’s potential to disrupt things like governmental tax transactions, land registries, and things like that. He’s been watching this technology for a while now, and he has some pretty interesting insights into the real potential

We spend a lot of time talking about exponential technologies and the disruptive impact they’re having on our world — but today’s guest turns the tables on the mindset and focuses, instead, on the importance of exponential thinking. Jeffrey Rogers is the Principal Facilitator at Singularity University, which is a global learning and innovation community that uses exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-rogers-ab368658/Read: “How Will You Measure Your Life?”Watch: "Jeff Rogers: Exponential thinking and creative resolution | SingularityU Brazil Summit 2019"Start mastering these Future-Ready skills now by visiting MACPA.org/future-learning-frameworkFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media

In this episode, we’re talking about innovation in CPA firms — and, no, this isn’t the punchline to a knock-knock joke. It’s happening, believe it or not, and on a pretty serious scale.Joining us to about it is none other than Jonathan Kraftchick. Jonathan is the partner of assurance services in the Raleigh office of Cherry Bekaert, where he is known (informally) as the firm’s Innovation Partner and heads up the firm’s Innovation Team. Jonathan has some great insights into what innovation actually looks like in practice within the stereotypically non-innovative environment of a CPA firm, and understanding what innovation looks like is an important first step towards being innovative.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Twitter: twitter.com/jkraftchickLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jkraftchick"Jonathan Kraftchick Named Triangle’s Funniest Accountant"Start mastering these Future-Ready skills now by visiting MACPA.org/future-learning-frameworkFuture-Proof is a pr

We spent last week talking about federal tax issues that you might need to know about as we head into this year’s Busy Season. This week, we’re going to do the same thing — but on the state tax side of the ledger.So we sit down with Peter Franchot, comptroller for the state of Maryland. We also asked some of our MACPA members what questions they have for the comptroller, and we got a ton of responses. We were able to ask a few in this episode, but we hope to share answers to even more of your questions on the MACPA blog soon.To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.Resources:Prepare for tax season at MACPA.org/taxStart mastering Future-Ready skills now by visiting http://macpa.org/future-learningFuture-Proof is a production of Crate Media