As I addressed staff across our four offices this past week for our quarterly staff meetings, I realized how much positive change has happened at KLR and the industry at large, and how much will change in the years to come.

Preparing for the future will depend heavily on applying technology in most areas of business, and maintaining a lively, motivated and productive staff.

A few thoughts....

I attended a conference put on by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for the top 100 firms in the US this past month and came home with a lot of good insights into the future of the industry, which I was eager to share with my colleagues.

• Employee engagement is a huge initiative as of late- Effectively retaining employees will depend on innovation, investment in technology and career development highlighted by education and training. My colleague and fellow partner John Surrette has implemented a “Rising Leaders” program which will assist colleagues in growing their careers to eventually become KLR partners. John and his committee have chosen 14 colleagues as “rising leaders” for the initial year of the program.
• Robotics- Within three years, 40% of accounting work will be done by robots.
• By 2020, one third of the skills that will be needed to keep up in the accounting industry are not recognized today. Technology will require those in the profession to master new skills, knowledge and standards as an increasing number of clients look to us to provide technology insight to help them in their businesses.
• 21% of companies use blockchain (the world’s leading software platform for digital assets) and this is only expected to increase.
• Cybersecurity- posture training is becoming more popular of late, to tackle the ever present cyber fraud issue. It involves simulating malicious emails and sending them out to employees to see who is most likely to open them, and who is therefore, most susceptible to a hack.

To sum it up, 2020 will bring a lot of changes to our industry, but if you’re not changing, you’re not growing, right? By continuing to evolve as an organization, we’re staying ahead of the curve, and I’m delighted to be part of a firm that is never satisfied with being satisfactory.

Until next time,
Alan