CPAs and accountants are in a great position to benefit from a heightened need for certainty in the future, according to Barry Melancon, the president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs.

“When you think about our society, we’re a mess — we don’t trust politicians or businesses or the media or the Internet,” Melancon told attendees at this week’s Digital CPA conference in Seattle. “But we trust accountants.”

With businesses and society at large trying to navigate a period of massive technological and economic upheaval, they will be looking for assurance and certainty around an ever-growing range of data.

“If we think about systems broadly and the information that businesses produce, that information footprint is very big, and financial statements are just a piece of that,” explained Melancon, who is also president and CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. “If we can think about the totality of that system environment, and all the assurance needs in there, we can move into a position where we can serve the needs of more and more users of that information.”

“We can be the profession that helps deliver trust through this period of rapid change,” he added.

As examples, he cited the growing numbers of companies that are engaged in integrated reporting around a broad range of information sets beyond just the financial — from environmental impacts and social issues to intellectual property and human capital — as well as the exploding threats around cybersecurity.

“Cybercrimes are predicted to cost the world $6 trillion by 2021,” he explained. “You only have to look at the news to see that, in terms of cybersecurity issues, we’re in a period of low trust and insecurity. It’s ours to lose to be the provider of cyber assurance services.”

Some work required

“Our profession is so well-positioned around trust — but we’ll only keep that if we continue to evolve around the question of what value is, and what is valued,” Melancon warned.

What’s more, the profession will need to make some changes itself.

“How do we redefine ourselves so that the footprint of our profession is aligned with a society being rapidly changed by technology?” Melancon asked.

Embracing technology will be a big part of that, he suggested: “Digitally mature companies are three times more likely to report significant higher profit margins and revenue growth. Who are we to imagine that doesn’t apply to CPA firms?”

He noted the ongoing CPA Evolution project that the AICPA is working on with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy to get state regulators to agree on a redefinition of what a CPA is, and what they need to know.

“The profession has traditionally had two disciplines — audit/accounting, and tax. But we really need to have technology be a third discipline,” Melancon explained. “Rather than just layering technology on top of audit/accounting and tax, we need to rethink everything we need to know. What really is necessary for accountants, and how do we make room for everything? We all need a baseline in audit/accounting and tax, and now we need to add a baseline in tech.”

The body of knowledge that CPAs are required to master has grown fourfold since 1980, he noted, and that will require the profession to be more flexible in what it expects accountants to learn, while also requiring the accountants themselves to be ready to upgrade their core knowledge more frequently.

“We have to unlearn what we know, and be able to relearn,” he said. “We have to be willing to unlearn our biases, so we can learn anew — all 400,000 of us in the profession. And we have to do this quickly, because the world is moving so quickly.”

While there are those within the profession who are resistant to change, Melancon is confident that their numbers are dwindling, and that the rest are up to the necessary challenges.

“We’re a lot more agile than we give ourselves credit for,” he said. “We fall into the trap of saying, ‘Yeah, we’re conservative.’ There has been a change in attitude in the past 12 to 18 months among the 44,000 firms in the profession, from ‘Are you sure we really need to change?’ to ‘How do we change?’

“The profession is about to change immensely,” he predicted, “and that’s a good thing.”

Asgeirsson Cites Momentum of Change in Assurance, Client Accounting and Tax Planning

SEATTLE (Dec. 11, 2019) – Artificial intelligence and other transformative technologies have ushered the accounting profession into an age of innovation, and the momentum of change continues to build, the chief executive of CPA.com said in a morning keynote at the Digital CPA Conference.

“While technology is enabling these changes, CPA firms must align their business strategies and skills and training to succeed,” said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, the technology subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs. CPA.com is uniquely positioned to help as major changes come to assurance and tax practices, just as they already have transformed client accounting services over the past decade, he said.

With the help of several panelists from leading firms and solutions companies, Asgeirsson gave an overview of changes in the three core accounting practice areas and discussed the role CPA.com is playing in each.

Accounting services

Significant advances are being made in client accounting, thanks to both the automation of accounting inputs, such as expense management data, and the increasing sophistication of post-accounting analytics, Asgeirsson said. Along those lines, CPA.com today announced an expansion of its expense management program with Expensify to include a smart business card., which automatically verifies receipts, does reconciliations and allows real-time reporting.

“Every dumb card creates work for you with every swipe,” said David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. “A smart card is about doing all that work for you. It knows what to do after that swipe.”

Audit services

The AICPA and CPA.com, with their technology partner CaseWare and leading CPA firms, continue to build out the Dynamic Audit Solution initiative, which is developing a transformational audit methodology and a state-of-the-art technology platform to evolve the audit of the future, Asgeirsson said. On Tuesday, the AICPA and CPA.com announced an expansion of their OnPoint A&A Suite, with two new applications available now – OnPoint Collaborate and OnPoint AnalyticsAI – and a module for employee benefit plan audits coming in spring 2020.

Tax services

The do-it-yourself tax preparation market shed some three million users in the United States last year, as more filers recognized the value that CPAs and other professional preparers bring to a field of growing complexity, Asgeirsson said. For the first time this year, for example, the IRS added a question about financial interests in virtual currency to its Form 1040 Schedule 1 and stepped up enforcement efforts in this area.

To help CPAs in this category, CPA.com earlier this week announced plans to roll out a crypto asset tax tool for professionals with Lukka, a crypto asset software and data solutions provider. The alliance with Lukka stemmed from a broader examination of the impact of blockchain on the profession by CPA.com over the past 18 months, Asgeirsson said.

“We’re doing this because we feel like it’s an important category, and this is a starting point for firms,” he said.

Asgeirsson also gave an update on the AICPA and CPA.com’s rollout of the .CPA top-level domain, which will allow CPAs to connect with their clients online with increased trust and security. Early registrations for the restricted domain, only available to licensed CPA firms or individual CPAs, will begin next year, with general availability in the latter half of the year. CPAs can sign up for updates about the registration process at https://domains.cpa.

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

The Expensify Card's Enhanced Reporting and Control Features Allow CPAs to Provide Deeper Insights to Clients

SEATTLE (Dec. 11, 2019) – CPA.com announced today that the Expensify Card, Expensify's free corporate card for firms and companies of all sizes, has been added to its lineup of innovative solutions for CPA firms. The Expensify Card creates an uninterrupted, end-to-end receipt and expense experience for users, and CPAs can leverage its spend control features and real-time reporting to better advise clients.

"The expansion of the Expensify program to include a 'smart' business card will make expense reporting even more seamless," said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com. "Having a smart business card that automatically feeds data into the expense management and financial tracking systems creates value for firms and clients and is another good example of how pre-accounting inputs are being automated."

Features and benefits of the Expensify Card include:

• Real-time insight into client cash flow with daily settlement of all purchases
• Cards that go over their unapproved expense limits turn off to control exposure
• Automatic expense verification so approvers only review non-compliant line items
• Digital, IRS-guaranteed eReceipts for almost every purchase – no more paper receipts
• An instant notification after swipe if the cardholder needs to add expense details
• Continuous reconciliation of expenses, aided by Expensify's direct integrations with all major accounting packages
• No more waiting 30+ days for approval – once confirmed, clients can roll out virtual cards to their employees immediately

Small and medium-sized businesses have long been underserved by traditional corporate cards. Small businesses in particular often lack the credit history and growing revenue required for corporate card approval, which limits the number of options CPA firms can recommend to their clients in this sector.

"CPA.com is the leading resource for CPAs and firms of all sizes who are interested in providing business advisory services to clients and helping them adopt smart, innovative technology to transform their business," said David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. "That's why we're thrilled to expand our partnership with CPA.com to not only bring Expensify to CPA firms and their clients, but now the Expensify Card as well."

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company's core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world's most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

About Expensify

Expensify is the world's most widely used receipt tracking and expense management platform. It's won acclaim for an easy user experience and bi-directional integrations with all major accounting packages, including fellow CPA.com-endorsed solutions Bill.com and Sage Intacct. Like CPA.com, Expensify also focuses on CPA education with their CPE-accredited ExpensifyApproved! Partner Program, aimed at training CPAs on receipt and expense management best practices.

The American Institute of CPAs and its subsidiary, CPA.com, have expanded their OnPoint family of products built on the CaseWare Cloud platform. Three standalone solutions will be added to the OnPoint A&A Suite – OnPoint Collaborate, OnPoint AnaltyicsAI, and OnPoint EBP.

The AICPA and CPA.com have been forward thinking on artificial intelligence, and how it will shape the accounting industry in the near future, specifically the audit function. The OnPoint A&A suite is driven by AI, offering intelligent client collaboration, automated data acquisition, transaction testing of general and sub-ledger activity, and standardized, out-of-the-box engagement templates. AICPA guidance and methodology are embedded throughout the suite’s solutions.

OnPoint PCR, a smart, cloud-based solution that helps accounting firms conduct preparation, compilation and review engagements, was launched last year; and was named an Accounting Today 2019 Top New Product.

OnPoint Collaborate, which is new, is a firm and client collaboration solution for document gathering, which is hoped to free firms from email which is often less secure. OnPoint Collaborate provides ready-made provided-by-client (PBC) templates and a secure, centralized location to store client files and manage document requests. This capability already generates queries for client documents within OnPoint PCR. OnPoint Collaborate also integrates with CaseWare Working Papers.

OnPoint AnalyticsAI, also new, is a customizable tool that uses data analytics to determine risk in transactions reviewed within an engagement. OnPoint AnalyticsAI automates data acquisition and uses artificial intelligence to better identify anomalies and risk across entire data sets, driving powerful insights for auditors. Multiple tests can be run on transactions automatically, and the type of tests can be configured based on the type of review.

Coming soon is OnPoint EBP, a module for employee benefit plan audits performed under ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C). As with OnPoint PCR, key features will include tailored inquiries and document requests, intelligent templates, status tracking in real-time and embedded AICPA guidance and methodology. OnPoint EBP will also include diagnostics and standardized testing templates.

The OnPoint A&A Suite is part of the Association’s broader effort to evolve auditing for the profession. The AICPA has been working on an initiative around what it calls the Dynamic Audit Solution, also built on the CaseWare cloud platform, in development to transform audit methodology.

The OnPoint suite expansion was announced at the Digital CPA Conference, CPA.com’s annual event for firms interested in accounting innovation.

New Tools Built on CaseWare Cloud Platform

SEATTLE (Dec. 10, 2019) – The American Institute of CPAs and its subsidiary, CPA.com, today announced the expansion of their OnPoint family of products built on the CaseWare Cloud platform. Three standalone solutions will be added to the OnPoint A&A Suite – OnPoint Collaborate, OnPoint AnaltyicsAI, and OnPoint EBP – to aid growth-minded firms in improving efficiency, building trust and delivering insights to clients.

Driven by artificial intelligence and data analytics, the OnPoint A&A Suite offers CPA firms secure, streamlined collaboration with clients, automated data acquisition, transaction testing of general and sub-ledger activity, and standardized, out-of-the-box engagement templates. AICPA guidance and methodology are embedded throughout the suite's solutions, providing a seamless experience for users.

"AI data-driven analytics are transforming the value that CPA firms can deliver to clients," said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com. "We are seeing the reinvention of all major practice areas, from assurance to tax planning to client accounting services. The expanded OnPoint Suite will give CPAs new tools to automate data acquisition, analyze risk and simplify engagements."

OnPoint PCR, a smart, cloud-based solution that transforms how accounting firms conduct preparation, compilation and review engagements, was launched last year. It's received strong reviews from firms and won a CPA Practice Advisor 2018 Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award and was named an Accounting Today 2019 Top New Product.

Two of the new OnPoint applications are available now:

• OnPoint Collaborate – A robust firm and client collaboration solution for document gathering, which eliminates the need for less-secure email communications when exchanging information. OnPoint Collaborate simplifies the "provided by client" (PBC) document collection process and provides ready-made PBC templates and a secure, centralized location to store client files and manage document requests. This capability already generates queries for client documents within OnPoint PCR, making it a powerful tool for connecting CPAs to their clients. OnPoint Collaborate also integrates with CaseWare Working Papers.
• OnPoint AnalyticsAI – A customizable tool that uses data analytics to determine risk in transactions reviewed within an engagement. OnPoint AnalyticsAI automates data acquisition and uses artificial intelligence to better identify anomalies and risk across entire data sets, driving powerful insights for auditors. Multiple tests can be run on transactions automatically, and the type of tests can be configured based on the type of review.

The OnPoint A&A Suite will also soon include OnPoint EBP, a module for employee benefit plan audits performed under ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C). As with OnPoint PCR, key features will include tailored inquiries and document requests, intelligent templates, status tracking in real-time and embedded AICPA guidance and methodology. OnPoint EBP will also include diagnostics and standardized testing templates to help firms improve quality with less effort.

"Our partnership with AICPA and CPA.com is allowing our organizations to deliver solutions that answer the demands of firms large and small," said Ross Hampton, CaseWare's head of marketing and sales. "The CPA profession is experiencing unprecedented change, and the CaseWare Cloud platform that powers the OnPoint suite is driving this transformation through innovative offerings that meet the demands of the profession."

The OnPoint A&A Suite is part of a broader effort to evolve auditing for the profession. The AICPA and CPA.com are working with leading CPA firms on the Dynamic Audit Solution initiative, also built on the CaseWare cloud platform, which is developing a transformative audit methodology that will enhance the efficiency, quality and value of audits.

The OnPoint suite expansion was announced at the Digital CPA Conference, CPA.com's signature event for firms interested in accounting innovation.

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company's core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world's most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

About the American Institute of CPAs

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is the world's largest member association representing the CPA profession, with more than 429,000 members in the United States and worldwide, and a history of serving the public interest since 1887. AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education and consulting. The AICPA sets ethical standards for its members and U.S. auditing standards for private companies, nonprofit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination, offers specialized credentials, builds the pipeline of future talent and drives professional competency development to advance the vitality, relevance and quality of the profession.

About the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) is the most influential body of professional accountants, combining the strengths of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to power opportunity, trust and prosperity for people, businesses and economies worldwide. It represents 657,000 members and students across 179 countries and territories in public and management accounting and advocates for the public interest and business sustainability on current and emerging issues. With broad reach, rigor and resources, the Association advances the reputation, employability and quality of CPAs, CGMAs and accounting and finance professionals globally.

About CaseWare

At CaseWare, we develop cutting-edge software solutions for accounting firms, corporations and governments. We continually work to produce a stream of successful product improvements, innovations, adaptations, and extensions that will change the future of audit, financial reporting and data analytics. Our CaseWare Working Papers, IDEA, and Cloud platforms are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to change the way we think about and work with data.

The result: measurable returns on efficiency, quality, and value for firms and their clients. Leading the industry of over 30 years, more than 500,000 users in 130 countries and 16 languages use CaseWare Solutions.