CPAs face two foundational and interconnected challenges, experts have found, according to the Journal of Accountancy. While overseeing automation and other tech upgrades to core finance accounting and other business functions, they also face increased demands for key insights into the business's future path.

Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CEO of KET Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm, said that these demands have grown exponentially post-COVID-19.

The Journal noted that current success means combining specific new tech skills, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, with human relationship building. Developing these skill sets is a top requirement for job candidates, professionals and finance leaders alike.

The Journal conducted interviews in which executive leaders shared advice on upskilling and reskilling. The interviews outlined many core skills for modern finance leaders and their teams. These attributes are classified under three information boxes: “Key Technology Skills,” “Key Personal and Business Skills” and “Key Technical Skills.”

Experts have observed that it can seem impossible to select the right focus area for developing technology skills. The list of technologies and skills one can learn constantly grows, and with the demanding pace, these skills become rapidly obsolete. 

Technologies evolve faster than ever. However, Raef Lawson, executive director of the nonprofit Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence, said the key concepts of adaptability and a desire to utilize new technology to pursue bigger goals, such as strategic analysis, still resonate.

Speaking of evolving technology, Generative AI has drawn a lot of interest in recent years, especially since it has been incorporated into many business software products. The AICPA’s Future of Finance group has named generative AI as the second most significant issue for the profession behind digital transformation in general, said Tom Hood, executive vice president for business growth and engagement at AICPA & CIMA.

Hood added that familiarity with this technology, which can process and respond to a near-infinite range of natural language prompts, will become more of a core skill of accounting and finance professionals in the near future.

Generative AI can be used in research, specifically for executives. According to Don Tomoff, founder of Invenio Advisors, it can offer a quick lesson on business topics and summaries and analyses of memos and data.

Jennifer Warawa, North America president of the online payment, financing and accounts receivable automation platform QuickFee, said that practice and experimentation are essential because of AI's multiple possibilities and pitfalls.

But there are skills beyond technology. The Journal observed that technology is a tool for the fundamental mission of the accounting and finance professional, which is providing helpful information and advice regarding the business’s future. However, that necessitates skills and know-how outside of technology—this is strategic thinking.

Strategic thinking requires more robust business fundamentals. Lawson said that accounting and finance professionals will be able to contribute by learning topics such as revenue management, managerial costing and investment management, which the traditional accounting curriculum might not have.

In this vein, accounting and finance professionals can offer the cost information that other teams need to know, such as which customers, products and services are profitable. They can also help identify possible fresh sources of data to inform strategy, looking to remove the holes in the big picture that leadership is seeing. Turning insights into action requires the “soft skills” of planning, prioritizing, managing relationships, and communicating with others.

Hood stated that the need for “new skills” in finance and accounting is among the top three issues based on the AICPA’s finance and accounting leaders' surveys. "These ‘new’ skills involve boundary-crossing skills needed to navigate the changing nature and role of the corporate finance teams that we refer to as the ‘T-shaped professional," Hood said. An illustration in the Journal shows the skills of the T-shaped professional, a cross-section of skills that accounting and financial professionals need to develop to succeed in the modern business world.  Forming the horizontal part of the 'T' are the "wide" skills—leadership and sense making; anticipating and solving evolving needs; strategic and critical thinking/synthesizing intelligence to insight; communication and story telling; and integration and collaboration. The vertical part of the 'T' represents the "deep" skills—technical and functional knowledge and expertise, and data and tech savvy.

According to the Journal, continuous learning is the individual’s and the employers’ joint responsibility.

For individuals, Invenio Advisors' Tomoff recommended incrementally adding tech skills by exploring tools outside of core and common ones like Excel. Skills that are developed in the Microsoft family of tools, like Power BI, can also be applied to other data analytics and visualization software, he said. The crucial thing is to zero in on learning skills that will have clear applicability in the short-term.

Meanwhile, Hood said, firm leaders must use all means to provide opportunities and incentives for “new skilling” and explain how those new skills will contribute to career progression. These leaders should also encourage everyone to engage in experimentation, Tomoff said.

Ellison-Taylor noted that the best results emerge when company leaders have a clear picture of the future.