Sin City Reality

There are at least two certainties I can count on when attending the annual AICPA ENGAGE conference in Las Vegas. One, I will walk in excess of five miles between my room – which invariably will be situated at the end of an unending hallway - and the conference center, and two, when I finally set aside some time to venture outside the hotel, the temperature will easily be in triple digits.

Well, according to the app on my phone, I walked 7.3 miles during the four-day meeting and the one afternoon I foolishly decided to walk the famed Strip, the Nevada heat welcomed me with a balmy 108-degree blast to the face accompanied by an official heat index of 124.

Hellish temperatures and marathon walking ventures aside, it was technology that took center stage in a venue where cheesy lounge acts and Elvis impersonators are more common than gambling chips. More specifically the impact that pending trends such as AI, block chain and machine learning will have on the traditional operating paradigm of a CPA firm.

At least five sessions that I attended spoke to the reality that much of what used to be referred to as Type 1 audit and tax work will give way to automation and those practices that gird for this massive shift will be the ones that grow and perhaps more importantly, survive.

But conversely, others that can’t or won’t recognize that that the practices of 2019 are no longer your father’s accounting firm will be like the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water, not realizing its being cooked as the temperature gradually rises.

And perhaps the most somber part is that even those that do admit to this quantum change often treat it as a medical condition, that being if you ignore it long enough, hopefully to will go away.

Case in point – there are two firms in the Northeast that I have been trying like the old Fuller Brush salesman to get my foot in the door. Without success. Each practice has an average partner age of 59 and needs a succession strategy more than a goldfish requires water.

But thus far I have not even received a “no thank you” email reply from either. In this job there comes a time when you simply must throw your hands up and walk away. Like anything else it’s nearly impossible to help someone who won’t help themselves.

I could remind them of the frog/pot parable, but then perhaps it’s easier to put the pot outside in a June Vegas afternoon for a live demonstration.