The Future - It Is Us

CPAs get a tool to help them make their vision on reality. For those of you who believe time travel is impossible, more than 3,400 CPAs are willing to prove you wrong. These voyagers fast-forwarded to the future in the initial phase of the CPA Vision Process--a massive grass-roots effort by the accounting profession to reposition itself for the challenges it will face in the 21st century and the first time any American profession has engaged in a visioning project of such magnitude. Bound into this issue of the Journal is a special report, CPA Vision 2011 and Beyond: Focus on the Horizon, detailing why the process was launched and how the profession came together to identify an exciting and invigorating future for all CPAs. The report is not merely an after-the-fact account of what happened. It's a tool to help CPAs in all segments of the profession tackle a very different future and determine how they'll fit into it. WHY VISIONING? As the century concludes, it's clear that the massive changes in the business world will only accelerate as technological innovations, unexpected commercial alliances, industry transformations and a host of powerful social forces continue to permeate the global community. In this environment, the CPA profession has focused with objectivity and analytical insight on its own challenges: * The number of new non-CPA competitors not bound by the profession's code of ethics is increasing rapidly. * The perceived value of the corner-stones of the profession--audit and tax compliance--is declining. * The world is growing more borderless all the time and people all over are demanding new, more complex and real-time financial advice and services. * Fewer and fewer young people are selecting the CPA profession as their life's work. * Very few CPAs are aware of how diverse the members of the profession are in terms of skills, ideas and focus, and how much potential they represent. * Technological developments are rewriting the rules of business and threatening to leave behind all who do not stay current. THE PROFESSION RESPONDS Confronted with such issues, the profession could have chosen to wait and see what unfolded, carrying on business as usual. Instead, CPAs decided to embrace change and used the CPA Vision Process as the mechanism for creating a future in which they would be in a good position to turn the challenges of the new business world into opportunities. A coalition of the AICPA and CPA societies of all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands spearheaded the process to come up with a realistic assessment of what the future is likely to hold for the profession and to define how CPAs can best maintain and expand their roles as leaders in commerce, business and finance. Phase 1 of the CPA Vision Process included * Research and development. * Future Forums. * The National Future Forum. * A transition to the strategic planning and implementation phase. Each stage led toward the ultimate goal of a Core Purpose and Vision Statement created by and for CPAs. REPLACING MYOPIA WITH FORESIGHT Research and Development. In this stage, the CPA Vision Process pinpointed the forces most likely to have an impact on the profession in the early part of the next century and divided them into six areas: political, economic, social, technological, human resources and regulatory. The first research was conducted to obtain a baseline snapshot of the profession today. Included were phone interviews and focus groups designed to elicit views about the CPA profession. A cross-section of CPAs, users of CPA services, leaders inside and outside the profession and students were contacted. Here is a sampling of the findings: * In focus groups held across the country and across all segments of the profession, CPAs affirm that trust, credibility, quality and flexibility are key elements of the CPA designation. …