The Future of Accounting - Building Community in the Digital Age

Speaker 1: 0:02

Ellie, you know that earlier on in my life I played a bit of music yes, drums.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Yes, absolutely, I love drumming.

Speaker 1: 0:12

Looking in the future, I'm going to write a song about a tortilla. Well, it's not a song, it's more of a rap.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Yes.

Speaker 3: 0:22

Yes, applause, yes, applause. That was good.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Yes, it was a thinker and I got it. Yes, straight off the bat. Well done good time.

Speaker 1: 0:32

So that was the next iteration of my uh future jokes, because we're talking about the future. The future freaks me out, the future of our industry yeah, and today we're talking about the future of the accounting community, of not just an individual but the collective of the community and how we communicate and how we support each other.

Speaker 2: 0:49

What's it going to look like? Will it still be one? So I think that's a pretty hot topic.

Speaker 1: 0:55

And we do have a special guest who's going to?

Speaker 2: 0:57

play like our special expert correspondent. Yes, the wonderful Heather Smith from the Cloud Stories podcast you see her everywhere. She's involved heavily in community, so we thought who better to go to and ask a few questions. On my head, I know, so we're going to hear from her as well.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Excellent.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Let's just roll on into it.

Speaker 1: 1:18

I'll push the big red button of the theme song.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Thank you for pushing the big red button.

Speaker 1: 1:32

You're welcome.

Speaker 2: 1:33

The button has been pushed.

Speaker 1: 1:34

Now we're talking community. When we're talking 20 years in it, we're talking future.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Yeah, but I liked what you did with the last podcast we spoke about. Let's talk about, maybe, the community of 10 years ago, 20 years ago, pre-covid, because I don't think we were as connected as what we are today and technology has brought us new connections through these facebook groups and other online tools yeah, so we are able to be connected with people around the country, around the world now whereas, you know, 10, 20 years ago, we were more connected with our locality.

Speaker 1: 2:07

And so I might look at this as a positive and a negative. Because of the digital communities we're able to be a part of, there is no real requirement for us to be connected with the people in our backyard and in our localities. So it means that, yes, great, we can connect with people out there, but also we're not stepping out of our door to engage with people that way?

Speaker 2: 2:28

No, but this is where I'm finding community leaders are stepping up and doing those local, the local stuff, bringing the locals, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:35

Because 10, 20 years ago you'd be a part of your local tax group thing, yeah, and you'd gather together once a month and you'd sit around and talk about that and I feel like I saw a lot more accountants consistently catching up to talk about business whereas now I see them online talking about it a lot, and I think what happens when it's online is maybe yeah, maybe there's a bit of like oh, I can just say what I want, because the negative nearly I don't have to deal with someone.

Speaker 1: 3:02

If they start complaining, I'll just like not open a computer or unmute them, as opposed to if I say that like a lunch you wouldn't.

Speaker 2: 3:08

Yeah, some of the things you say online you wouldn't say to somebody you wouldn't, and so it does bring out different behaviors, but I think it shows that well for me definitely post COVID, there's definitely been a deeper connection into the community and I know a lot more people. Um, on a more deep level, that.

Speaker 2: 3:26

I have purposefully seen face-to-face to build those connections than there was for me 10 years ago, and so when I'm looking like, what does the future look like? I'm hoping it's deeper. I am hoping it's a deeper connection. I am hoping that we'll be able to find ways outside of the socials and other ways to have that human connection.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Yeah, and we've seen a lot more. I think specialty community elements come up too, so Early Adopters Hub, which is like a group of really early adopting accounting firms that are getting together.

Speaker 2: 3:55

Yep, I'm involved in an AI one. I'm involved in a women influencers one.

Speaker 1: 3:59

So there's lots of little groups kind of popping up. I'm not involved in any, you're not. I mean early adopters have, I am, but I need to find plumbing shop ones you'll have to create your own community co-working space. But no, but for me, like my, my community has like really pushed the boundaries of backyard, you know, state, country, because, um, I've been lucky enough to be able to travel and and create some really strong connections with people overseas, some people that I've actually never met in real life still, and so that's really interesting.

Speaker 2: 4:26

It's gone like it's gone a global element. So, like you know this, wrong connections with people overseas, some people that I've actually never met in real life still, and so that's really interesting. It's gone, like it's gone a global element, so maybe that's what will be like the future is more global Could be.

Speaker 1: 4:34

So let's think about in 20 years time. Is my accounting community all human?

Speaker 2: 4:39

Well, that's a really relevant question. There might be a bot one and a human one, and I, I think there is. I still believe there's going to be a distinction between them. Yeah, um, and maybe there's joint ones and maybe there's not, and it could be. Let's bring this up, the conversation of outsourced 10 years ago to where outsourced is today. Yeah, so, you know, I, I believe it has it's more acceptable these days to do outsourcing than it was, say, 10 years ago, so maybe how we see AI and tech and how that interacts in our community will be wildly different. Could?

Speaker 2: 5:11

be you know diversity inclusion? Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 5:14

I just wonder right now like we might go to our group of accounting peers to have a conversation around stuff. Do we go to our group of AI bot peers to have a conversation?

Speaker 2: 5:23

You know when we go and talk to them, vent it with them. Yeah, we go.

Speaker 1: 5:26

And talk to the psychiatrist or the counselor or whatever it is. Do we just go in and have those conversations with technology Possibly, instead of with humans? Or a bit of a mixy mix somatosis. So does it become less human? Or because of the increasing element of technology and maybe the challenge of regulatory change and everything like that, we are continuing to really lean into the human side of things to remind us of who we are and what we value the most.

Speaker 2: 5:55

I think it's going to be a myxomatosis of all of those in the bath.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Is that a?

Speaker 3: 5:58

word. No, I've made it up.

Speaker 1: 6:00

I like it.

Speaker 2: 6:00

Yeah, thank you, and I think some people, like I mentioned before, some people will feel more comfortable leaning into the tech and some people will feel more comfortable leaving into the human and some people will want a bit of both, um, and so I think it really depends on who you are.

Speaker 1: 6:12

So, but from a community element. Right. So, right now, if we think about engaging within our community, we've got facebook groups, we've got in-person kind of meet up, like you know, tax kind of things we've got webinars.

Speaker 2: 6:24

We've got conferences, yeah, we've got local, we've got overseas conferences, we've got podcasts and we've got all that kind of stuff yeah, in 20 years time, do we think anything that we currently do today from a community element won't exist? Oh gosh a webinar is going to be a thing anymore well, that's a really great question and it's kind of got me stumped.

Speaker 3: 6:46

Possibly not possibly yes, I, it depends, on the layers of interaction that we want it depends on how are we going to educate ourselves.

Speaker 2: 6:56

I think it's just another layer, like people like to, because I find those conferences and podcasts and webinars they're educational for me or I'm wanting to listen in to hear something in particular. So it depends how we consume our content. It depends how we consume our education and everybody has a different preference for that Yep. So I think it'll still be multifaceted. There might be more. I mean, when you think about podcasts, were they around 10, 20 years ago?

Speaker 1: 7:25

Yes, but not like that.

Speaker 2: 7:27

today Is it going to be the MySpace of the world, you know, and there's all this new social stuff popping up, like surely there'll be new social platforms on which that we interact, for instance, Do you get on TikTok much mate? Look, I don't. No, I'm one of those 40-year-old women that gets my TikToks through Instagram reels, so I get it, maybe a few months late.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Gotcha 40, right oh stop it, you know. So I think I look at this from a conference perspective and I look at conferences and particularly the last couple of years of conferences, coming in a post-COVID world and how challenging it has been to put on larger scale immersive, enjoyable, frequently attended events. Yes, smaller stuff let's catch up for dinner with 10 to 15 to 20 people.

Speaker 2: 8:20

No dramas.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Let's get 40 people in a room on a think tank A little bit harder, but let's try and get in a room on a think tank I that a little bit harder, but no.

Speaker 1: 8:25

but let's try and get a thousand or five thousand people to rock up to this thing difficult and and I and I liken this because running a plumbing shop now I I'm seeing the difference between things that are physical, that you need to touch, feel and experience, versus the things that are digital, that you just need to understand the technical application, how it works. And so in our industry, there is no need for me, other than the desire to, to physically be in the room of where the thing is happening, whereas if I am looking at a bath that I'm going to buy, I might want to look at it, I want to sit in it, I want to touch, I'm like okay, how is this one made? Compared, like. So there's a lot more of a reason for me to be physically in the space to examine and compare other things, but you don't think people will adjust.

Speaker 2: 9:07

Don't you think that through virtual technology, virtual reality, that people will be able to adjust to that, so that you'll have a yeah, but they're not going to be in person, it's just going to be.

Speaker 1: 9:17

Yeah, it'll be virtual, a digital virtual conference, that's right, or yeah?

Speaker 2: 9:20

where you can feel and touch and you know, like because the virtual reality is coming out, will make you feel like you're actually there, you know, so there'll be virtual reality conferences, potentially, where you feel like you're next to the person you know and you'll be able to feel all of those things, or even go into a plumbing shop.

Speaker 1: 9:37

So I've got my VR headset here. I was joking about chucking it on and letting you go on a roller coaster.

Speaker 2: 9:40

I think I'm slightly concerned about it, but like you'll be able to be taken to places and you'll be able to get the touch and the feel of things that potentially you won't. I mean, I look at online shopping. I wouldn't have done online shopping 10 years ago, even though it would have been available, because I still wanted to try it on, whereas nowadays I do and I think you know it's where you're at on the journey and how comfortable you are with it.

Speaker 2: 10:00

You are with it, but virtual reality, ai, augmentation, all of those things like deep fakes, and this is where, from a community perspective sorry, I'm just going to change it slightly- you're going mate, you just keep rolling yeah, with community there is going to be things like bots that pretend to be humans or deep fakes where you're not sure if it's real, like all of those things will be challenges, for instance, that we'll need to overcome in the community.

Speaker 1: 10:23

Yeah, I think the community element is huge. So the conferences, the in-person stuff, I think there'll be much, much less of that and I think the organizations Better for the environment, though. Better for the environment?

Speaker 2: 10:37

yes, Is it better for the human interaction and possibly not, possibly not, and this is where I think we might go heavily into something and autocorrect.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Yep.

Speaker 2: 10:45

You know where, and I actually think, from a social perspective, we're most probably going to autocorrect. I think the generation coming through, where they're living and breathing, it's too much Yep, and I think there'll most probably be an autocorrection at some point.

Speaker 1: 10:56

Yep, I look at like there's definitely a lot of value in that, I know, for me, I at times find myself exceptionally time poor, yeah, and so you know the likes of online shopping is significantly easier.

Speaker 2: 11:08

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:09

But at the same time I'd much rather wander into an office works. Yeah, I still do food shopping. I'd much rather do that.

Speaker 2: 11:15

The smells the taste, but with the virtual experience, with the VR that might be coming like, I think that that adds another layer that might potentially reduce that need to actually be there and then but you're still getting you know what you need from it, from the vr. So I think it's just that extra little step, that extra little bit you know who we should ask what they think, heather, so we mentioned at the start.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Um, oh, my heather is joining us and she's she's going to share a bit of her thoughts on what she sees 20, 10, 20 years time. What community could look like?

Speaker 3: 11:47

absolutely, share with us, heather what does the future of the accounting community look like in the next decade and beyond?

Speaker 3: 11:56

It is now and forever will be human, authentic human connections.

Speaker 3: 12:03

But what is going to happen, and what is already happening and we'll see more of it, is that businesses do not appreciate the importance of community, will throw in bots to offer cookie-cutter responses and media blasts into the community, which is an ineffective way of connecting with the community and leaves them to move away from that community and move away from that community and lose trust in that community.

Speaker 3: 12:33

What I would like to see, as a community leader, is the platforms to surface information for me so I can better understand the community and meet their needs. So if they are having issues in particular areas, it would be really good if that could be surfaced so we're able to address it, and those issues can be issues with the taxation office, those issues can be frustrations over a piece of software and those issues could be sort of mental health and wellness. It would be really wonderful if we could actually see people interacting in and they appear to actually be in some form of trouble that we're in a position to actually reach out and offer them that support or connect them with relevant people who can offer them that support In a voluntary community leadership role. It's not something that I can necessarily do, but I can imagine that as time goes by, these platforms will know so much about us that they will be able to predict the paths that we're going down.

Speaker 2: 13:45

Thanks so much, Heather. That was so incredibly insightful and some of those things I hadn't even thought about before.

Speaker 1: 13:51

so I don't think all that much, so probably most of it, most of it. I'm not much of a thinker oh, come on.

Speaker 2: 13:58

Come on, you're a deep thinker.

Speaker 1: 13:59

Don't even pretend that you don't know don't have a single thought at all these days. I used them all a few years ago, got an award for it, got none left so we've talked about what we think the future of accounting might look like.

Speaker 2: 14:09

What excites you the most about that?

Speaker 1: 14:13

From a community element. I think what excites me is the continual accessibility to the people that I need to be.

Speaker 2: 14:21

The knowledge font.

Speaker 1: 14:23

Yes, the font of knowledge, the people who know stuff that I would love to know. I like that. The other thing that I think does excite me is there will continue, and I believe there always will be, people who are fighting for the human interaction element of it all.

Speaker 1: 14:37

Yeah, I do believe that too, and I think what that means is we'll see cooler and more interesting experiences from an in-person element. You know, like stuff that we've done with the Rumble where it's like let's get away to the bush and hang out. He with a rumble where it's like let's get away to the bush and hang out and do so, rather than everything being like oh, we're just going to rock up to a hall and someone's going to talk on stage and we'll go have a beer afterwards. I think we'll see interesting ways of how we still gather people together. There'll be trials and tribulations through it all, but I think and I'm excited about what that will look like.

Speaker 2: 15:05

Yeah, I'm excited about the vr aspect to to kind of get this new technology to look and feel.

Speaker 1: 15:11

You say but you won't even put my head.

Speaker 2: 15:12

I most probably will, and I'm hoping that that will reduce the mental load. But the global aspect for me, like really tapping into global and not being afraid of global. I think, you know, when we're able to sit in a community, catch up and there's a tech that allows us to understand each other's languages real time, and that's a tech that allows us to understand each other's languages real time and it's so close, you know, to be able to connect, um, culturally, uh, with other people and I I think it'll bring us this deeper yeah, the cultural thing that actually is really interesting that you flagged, that is that there's definitely.

Speaker 1: 15:45

You know there's.

Speaker 2: 15:45

You know, country by country, there's always a slight different approach to how we do, what we do and what not and I think, being able to bring us more aligned and more together, not necessarily to do the same thing, but to be able to support each other Just understanding and that diversity, that inclusion and all of that I'm super excited about and I really want it to be around deeper connection, to be more thought through, to be more valuable, to be more appreciated rather than just forgotten or it's just that's the way it's always been like it needs to have an element of appreciation yeah, okay, it's exciting.

Speaker 1: 16:20

I think it's exciting like I don't know. You know, I like people yeah I like people. Um, I also look at like you know, like what, as a community or a group of people, we've desired, and like we've gone through a very heavy experience, like it's all about the experience and a very experiential kind of time frame with us. I think we're coming out of that.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Do you?

Speaker 1: 16:43

I think we're starting to come out of that into something a little bit different, and I don't quite know what to call it just yet. And I don't quite know what to call it just yet. But I feel like maybe people have over-obsessed over the experience to a point where it's kind of getting a little bit worn down and people are wanting more.

Speaker 2: 16:56

I love that perspective. It's something I thought about before.

Speaker 1: 16:59

Authenticity is probably not the right phrase of it, and maybe it is An auto-correction. Yeah, Well like you kind of said before, we need to balance stuff out. We've gone too far to lessons from Andrew running a plumbing store.

Speaker 2: 17:12

Lesson number 562.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Twenty years ago, it was all about function over form. It was all about does it do the thing that I need it to do? And then we had television shows around renovating. We had Instagram and social apps where we're sharing imagery of everything that's beautiful and all of a sudden, people are wanting the things that look amazing and they're less concerned with how function functional they are. And so all of a sudden they get a shower head that doesn't really clean them as much it looks good because I'm going to post it on insta and so let's look at that in our accounting communities as well.

Speaker 1: 17:46

are we looking at the experience as opposed to what I get out of the experience? I felt really good in it, yeah, but am I smarter?

Speaker 3: 17:53

Am I more empowered?

Speaker 1: 17:54

Am I more capable? Are my people better at what they do, or was it just real cool? And as someone who has focused a lot on experience, I'm challenged by that in the future.

Speaker 2: 18:04

So it has to have the experience but also the action, the insight, the deliverable Yep.

Speaker 1: 18:09

So I wonder if people are going to start cutting through the shit.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Well, do you know who I want to hear from?

Speaker 1: 18:13

Who Heather?

Speaker 2: 18:15

I want to know what excites her about the future of the accounting community. Go on Heather.

Speaker 3: 18:25

Let us know. What excites me about the future of the accounting community is for the community to realize that accounting is a global language and, now that many of us are working online, we actually have the opportunity to travel and to meet people through the communities and then travel and meet them in real life. And this is something that I am very much living and hope to be living for the next few years in the opportunity of actually travelling to overseas conferences and seeing how they have absorbed accounting and how they are working in accounting there and just having these very exciting, mind-opening conversations with accountants in different countries. But also through the communities, connecting with people. I stayed with e-commerce specialists in Denver, colorado, who I met through community. I stayed with the host of the accounting podcast in Scottsdale, arizona, who I met through community.

Speaker 3: 19:29

I've had people who have come and stayed at my house who, again, I've met through, and we should mention the small business brains trust community. I've recently launched a group called the global women's accounting influences group. One of the criteria of that group is an open guest retreat policy, whatever that means to you, but it's the encouragement of let's meet globally through these communities and connect when we have the opportunity when we are traveling which expands our minds so much and brings so much back into the work that we can do with our client base. So I think that's an uber exciting part of our global accounting communities.

Speaker 1: 20:21

It's good to know what she's excited about. Absolutely we should all be excited about things.

Speaker 2: 20:25

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 20:27

That's what gets us up, but if I'm honest when it, comes to community, I think there are probably more things that I'm scared about nervous about, uncertain about.

Speaker 2: 20:35

This is the freaky future stuff.

Speaker 1: 20:36

This is the human stuff right? So let's look at the world we live in right now. Let's look at how people are, what they're having to do to cope and to deal with every day the mental health. The mental health element, and a lot of what we talked about was potentially removing more of the in-person and bringing in more of the digital element, the virtual element and, you know, less sunlight.

Speaker 1: 21:00

Like even all this kind of stuff, stuff that's really healthy and stuff that's really important. And so, whilst we might feel more supported to some extent, we might feel less heard and less appreciated to another other extent. You know, we might. You know what medications are we now taking? Because all of a sudden we're in virtual reality and we're in all this stuff all the time you know what, what stuff it'll have an impact to our bodies, our physicality?

Speaker 2: 21:23

100 it will, absolutely. And then what does that? Mean with our community, then well, I think leaders will need to step up. So people that have that really leadership, that real empathy, that real community spirit will need to guide, um and kind of oversee and heather mentioned around. You know the data analytics, the data that is sitting within all of these communities, and, as a leader of that, being able to interpret that data to actually help, I think that is an enormously amazing thing that could potentially happen.

Speaker 2: 21:52

But the thing that scares me is that can be manipulated and in the wrong hands Totally right, that's power because knowledge is power and you are sitting on an enormous amount of data and power and if you're oversharing, somebody's got too much power and data on you. And what about the trolling, the whinging, the deep fakes like what's real, what's not, what's authentic all of those things kind of come to the fore.

Speaker 1: 22:12

How do we ensure there's good that's coming out? And I mean, you look at community groups and you say, well, the majority of community groups you're not paying to be a part of, but the people who are running those community groups might actually have to do a significant amount of work to maintain them.

Speaker 2: 22:27

So maybe you have to pay for it. Pay for your spot rather than being free.

Speaker 1: 22:30

And there's always been paid elements, but they're the ones you're paying like $1,000 a month to be part of a coaching club, kind of thing as opposed to and that's more around coaching education, whereas community is really around-.

Speaker 2: 22:39

Middle ground. It is middle ground. It's a bit of both. But then if you're paying to be a part of something.

Speaker 1: 22:43

It would regulations around it. What can people share about? When can they share about it? How do they share?

Speaker 2: 22:49

about it? Who's going to govern it? We're having those issues now in these community groups, so like.

Speaker 1: 22:54

There's your business plan right. Just get a couple of thousand accountants in a community, charge them five bucks a month.

Speaker 2: 23:10

There's some decent that's 10 grand a month for you to like invest your time in or hire someone to look after it and then so into that community in a way like a subscription-based thing, and I was just reflecting back on our services model. I reckon, just touching on this again, we could go more to subscription-based stuff, so add the community in there like a service yep.

Speaker 1: 23:23

So it does like I am more nervous about our community in the future than I am probably about anything else, and I think it's simply because of the way that people are choosing to remove themselves from the community. Because they can just do it digitally, they're now having bites of things rather than eating the full meal. They're not exposing themselves. I mean, yes, they might be able to expose themselves to more, but they can choose to not expose themselves to certain things and not to be around certain stuff and you can also really pull your feed into just what you want to see, and it does allow this real silo effect.

Speaker 1: 23:55

The number of times I've had conversations people are like did you know? I'm like no, I didn't know. How do you know? Oh, it's all over Facebook, I'm like it's all over my Facebook.

Speaker 3: 24:02

Yeah, it's your.

Speaker 2: 24:02

Facebook and that's that thing and.

Speaker 1: 24:06

You see what you want to see. You hear what you want to hear.

Speaker 2: 24:08

Exactly right, and that is amplified. It's like an echo chamber.

Speaker 1: 24:13

And for our industry to be great, we need to ensure that we're getting a broad variety of knowledge.

Speaker 2: 24:19

So, like if something's changing with it, but that's where the global staff might help. Yeah, could be. Could be. I'd love to know what Heather thinks on this one.

Speaker 1: 24:25

All right. Well, Heather, what are you scared tremble in your boots.

Speaker 2: 24:31

You'll be out of sleep at night.

Speaker 3: 24:36

Looking into the future of the accounting community. Is there anything that we need to be worried about? The accounting community gives us such an important sense of belongingness that it can dull us into oversharing information and the community can end up knowing so much about us. We need to have boundaries in place and do our due diligence when we perhaps are collaborating with other members. Otherwise we're potentially setting ourselves up for fraud or scams.

Speaker 3: 25:11

The other thing when it comes to communities is you need to be careful that you're not partaking in an echo chamber or group think. Sometimes we can be on a mission moving ahead in the same direction, which can be wonderful, but moving outside the community and hearing from other communities can help us see things from diverse, different experiences and insights. So being worried about oversharing information, potential scams and that groupthink and echo chamber are things that I am concerned about that we should be worried about within a community and who else is accessing that data? Is it, uh, contained within the private group or do other organizations? Are other organizations accessing that data and how is it being?

Speaker 1: 26:12

used. Well, look, things can be scary yeah but they're not always scary. We talked about good talk about exciting we talked about yeah, but what we're going to talk about is what can we do today to be more prepared? And I think in community we've talked a lot about this on the podcast over the years like this is season six now, which is crazy. We have a community of our own.

Speaker 1: 26:30

That's kind of bonded around the podcast, which is great. We see a lot of them out and about at conferences, we connect with them digitally and that kind of stuff as well. So like it's awesome, it's really cool. But like today, what can we be doing for the community of the accounting industry to continue to be more prepared for the future?

Speaker 2: 26:50

what do you?

Speaker 1: 26:50

think what do you?

Speaker 2: 26:50

think. Well, I think it's to have some personal accountability, to be a part of the community and to give and receive and not to um take too much and to value it and to support, uphold, um try and hold the whinge factor, um. I think those are really super critical things to do and to value and appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 27:14

I you know, those are just simple things that we can do now yeah, I think if you're someone who is a leader, moderator, creator of those of those community groups, as well, as to ensure that there is like a an even distribution of thought comments and whatnot so like I don't have a problem with people whinging or complaining about something, as long as that's not what we always hear.

Speaker 2: 27:34

Yeah, and at the same time, so like I don't have a problem with people whinging or complaining about something, as long as that's not what we always hear.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Yeah, and at the same time, so like it illuminate. One of our values is speak truth in life. Let's be real about where we are, but let's not be stuck in it. The life element is things might not be great, but let's think positively about the future yeah, but conversely, if things are really great, don't get too cocky and egotistical because it might all come tumbling down, and I think if you're a leader and moderator of that, I would really encourage you to look at how you go about doing that.

Speaker 1: 27:57

Um, I would suggest that there's far more value in there than just a free community as well, if you've got a decent bunch of people and if you're able to create an environment there. I think monetizing it is not the the way I'm saying in terms of like from a greed perspective, but monetizing it in a way which ensures you can have a good quality community in a consistent, ongoing basis, I think is a thing absolutely, I think that's an action we can do.

Speaker 1: 28:18

Um, and I think the other thing as well we talked a lot about, you know, shifting from in person to digital um, I would encourage you to make sure that you have a group of people that you do in-person stuff with and so that, as time goes on, if all of a oh, I used to always see Ali when we went to this conference, but the conference doesn't happen anymore, that you don't lose. That it's like well, it wasn't that I saw Ali when I went to the conference. It was that, you know, once a year or three times a year, ali and three other people and I would gather and we'd just go to each join them.

Speaker 2: 28:47

Yeah, be a part of it contribute, but what if I don't wanna? Well, you don't have to if you don't want to you should, but don't complain about it later that's a good point.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Like right, you're going to complain about something, but you've done nothing to make it a good thing, so I like that. Get involved, like you know, find ways to understand how a digital community and digital environment could be beneficial. What do you need to learn? Where do you need to learn? How do you need to learn it?

Speaker 2: 29:18

Perfect.

Speaker 1: 29:19

Heather. What do you think, heather? What can we be doing today to be better for tomorrow?

Speaker 2: 29:27

Amazing, what a knowledge.

Speaker 1: 29:31

I mean Heather's always good value. I always see her like Q&A and stuff.

Speaker 2: 29:34

She loves the community Loves the community and you know what a shining light in the community.

Speaker 1: 29:40

And you know, during COVID she's got purple hair, Pink and purple hair. It's very shining.

Speaker 2: 29:44

She stands out in the crowd.

Speaker 1: 29:45

She does.

Speaker 2: 29:48

In a wonderful way. So thank you so much, heather. We've got to wrap this baby up.

Speaker 1: 29:53

We do, and as always we're going to go and we're going to thank our sponsors.

Speaker 2: 29:57

Absolutely Couldn't do what we do without them.

Speaker 1: 29:59

They're amazing, big fans of them, ali, thank you.

Speaker 2: 30:02

Thank you, it's been amazing.

Speaker 1: 30:03

Let's get ready for our next adventure shall we Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 30:14

Let's do it. Hi Account adventurers, Ali here, and I'm coming to you with something that's absolutely revolutionized the way we at All In handle our day-to-day operations. And guess what? Our friends at Illuminate are also singing the praises for this absolute game changer. So let's dive into the world of FYI, which is document management and process automation. Imagine a tool so powerful it transforms your practice's weakest link into its strongest asset.

Speaker 2: 30:38

Document management, a universal Achilles heel in our industry, has completely turned around for us by using FYI. Gone are the days of endless searching for documents and worrying about document security. With FYI, peace of mind comes standard. Thanks to their ironclad document storage solutions and search functionalities that make finding what you need as easy as pie Plus, with total visibility across the practice. Everyone stays in the loop, ensuring that absolutely nothing slips through the cracks. How important is that? But FYI isn't just about storing and finding documents. It's about supercharging your productivity, integrating seamlessly with favorites like Fusign and XPM. Fyi takes your XPM workflow to the next level. Imagine saying a permanent goodbye to those time-consuming manual processes and welcoming in an era of automation tailored to work smarter, not harder, for you and for those of you with a keen eye on security, as am I. Fyi has got you covered with enterprise-grade protection, boasting reliability that exceeds 99.99% of the time and that means no downtime, so you can sleep easy knowing your data is safeguarded with the best in the biz.

Speaker 2: 31:47

And now let's talk about FYI Elite, the new kid on the block. It's a revolution in how you manage chargeable hours, billing flexibility, advanced whip management and customisable invoice approvals. So get ready for tailored insights and dynamic dashboards that offer you real-time visibility into your performance, alongside automations that are nothing short of revolutionary for your practice management. So if you're ready to step up your accounting game and leave mediocrity in the dust because who isn't? It's time to consider FYI and FYI Elite. Join us and the brilliant minds that illuminate in embracing the future of accounting. With FYI, you can head over to their website at fyiapp to propel your practice towards unparalleled efficiency and success. Get on it, world efficiency and success. Get on it.

Speaker 2: 32:41

Hey, team Ali, from All In here, and I want to talk to you about something that's not just close to my heart, but also crucial to the future of our industry. We are in the midst of an accounting talent crisis, but fear not, because I found a beacon of hope in Tower Global. Tower Global isn't just any outsourcing firm it's a leading global accounting staffing solution. That's been an absolute game changer for me.

Speaker 2: 33:00

In a time when finding skilled accountants feels more like searching for a needle in a haystack, Toa steps in as the magnet we've all been waiting for. With over a decade dedicated exclusively to the accounting industry, Toa Global has connected more than 3,700 accountants and bookkeepers in the Philippines with firms that desperately need their expertise. It's a match made in accounting heaven, helping over 1,000 firms grow on their own terms. So what sets Toa apart? It's their unmatched ability to tap into elite offshore accounting talent, bringing on board individuals who are not just skilled but passionate about making a difference in the world of numbers.

Speaker 2: 33:38

So if you're feeling the pressure of the talent shortage, consider how a partnership with TOA might just be the solution you've been searching for, and take it from me and Andrew from Illuminate. We've navigated these challenges firsthand and we've integrated TOA Global's elite talent into All In and Illuminate, and it's been transformative. It's not just about filling positions. It's about enhancing your team's dynamic with professionals who bring fresh perspectives and robust skills to the table. So if you're ready to turn the tide on the accounting talent crisis and propel your firm to new heights. I encourage you to visit toaglobalcom.

Speaker 4: 34:16

Discover for yourself how TOA can help you grow not just in numbers, but in capability and impact wasn't that a fun adventure, my friends, thank you so much, so incredibly much, for hanging out with us today. Ali, you've been amazing. Andrew, you've been all right. How good is it to be able to have adventures together it so is, and you know what.

Speaker 2: 34:48

Keep following us. We are all over the socials at accounting adventures. Check us out on the website. Give us a bit of a like. You know how much we love that stuff.

Speaker 4: 34:58

The best thing about the adventure is the people that we do it with. So thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for hanging out with us, and please bring all the ideas, keep them coming. We can't wait to share more cool adventures with you. We love you guys.