The pandemic pushed us forward. Let’s keep evolving
A close friend of mine had a slight stroke, and it changed his life for the better. He immediately made changes to his lifestyle, eating, and exercise habits. Today, he is healthier, happier, and more productive. All of these changes were things he kept making promises to do “someday,” but that turned out to be a very risky idea.
Before the pandemic, much like my friend before his stroke, members of our profession would often say they’d make changes “someday.” We had vague concepts, ideas, and experiments for how we’d change, but didn’t act on them.
The pandemic, though, has pushed us forward, causing us to make genuine transformation. I believe we are healthier today because of it. Here is why this is a defining moment for us:
Until the pandemic propelled us forward with a workforce serving clients remotely, our profession struggled with this vision. Yes, a few firms or teams operated virtually, but our profession was mostly clinging to being in the office as much as possible. Suddenly, we are on equal footing with consulting and professional service firms who were way ahead of our profession’s efforts to completely integrate flexibility into the workplace. Our team members are empowered to integrate their careers and personal lives and will not want to return to the old model.
Many firms are experiencing growth and/or improved margins. I participate in two top 100 managing partner roundtables, and these firms are consistently reporting higher margins with reduced expenses while capturing growth on new services. This has also been true in our firm. I found it very interesting that several of the participating firms who are active in mergers and acquisitions reported the value of firms is going up with new market pressure to put some cash upfront for the firm being acquired. Has the pandemic made our firms more indispensable and valuable? I think so.
Reality check
The pandemic forced many of us to examine some of the excuses we made for only changing at an incremental pace. Until it hit, we, as a profession, were simply not moving fast enough to grow our relevance in the 21st century. We were, like my friend, living a comfortable lifestyle but not the healthiest one. Our accountability as partners and owners was not grounded in the reality of the hard trends we are facing from a competitive landscape. We were not making the significant investments in people, focus, and technology to anticipate and capture new opportunities from digital transformation.
This is a defining moment for our profession. Why should we not plan for and expect significant organic growth based on the transformation that has occurred? Isn’t the market screaming for our skills, knowledge, acumen, experience, and resources? This is our moment. Let’s be the most emphatic, most creative, most powerful, most anticipatory profession we can, and move with urgency from essential to indispensable!
— Joey Havens, CPA, CGMA, is the executive partner at HORNE LLP, where he leads the 1,000-employee firm’s strategic visioning for culture, growth, and client experience. Learn more at hornellp.com. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Courtney Vien, a JofA senior editor, at Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.
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