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In this podcast series, Derek Distin, Vice President of Community at Rightworks, sits down with several of our RightNOW sponsors to discuss the state of the accounting profession and its future.
The RightNOW 2025 is the ultimate mid-year conference for accounting and tax pros. It will be held May 19-21 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Register today at www.rightworks.com/rightnow2025.
Hey, we are back with another series of right now podcasts
as we lead up to our right now event in Nashville.
This coming may like so many things, we've continued
to evolve our flagship event throughout the years,
and in the same vein, we've been able
to grow our series of podcasts.
And this year I'm, I'm, I'm beyond elated
to have the wonderful talents of Rob Brown joining us, uh,
joining our family of podcasts this year.
For those of you within the profession,
Rob is probably no stranger to you.
He is the host of the Accounting Influencers podcast
amongst his many other ventures,
and he'll be lending his talents from across the Atlantic
Ocean to us as we extend the experience of right now
beyond the walls of the room.
Rob, I am super happy to say this. Welcome.
Thank you, Derek. I'm intrigued by
how Americans put the word super in front
of most things to supersize.
Super excited, super happy, super stoked.
So on behalf of the British
and the UK contingent, I am super happy
to be involved in this venture.
Well, we are rather excited
to have you joining us this year, Rob.
Um, tell us a little bit more about yourself.
Well, I, uh, yes, qualified as a phys ed teacher actually,
and in England, because it gets cold,
they give you a second subject.
So in order that you're not teaching hockey
or soccer on the cold playing fields
of England in your fifties, they say
have a backup second subject so
that you can come into the classroom in the latest stages
of your career and still be in education.
So I chose mathematics. I was comfortable with the numbers.
And actually after I finished high school,
I did take a qualification in accounting.
So I am part qualified, but by a circuitous route.
I ended back in the accounting world.
So after I taught for a few years in the UK
and four years in Hong Kong at an international school
teaching maths, I, uh, took a master's in, in HR really,
and thought, what am I good for as a teacher?
What can I do outside teaching?
Because honestly, Derek, I felt like I was
coaching kids to pass tests.
I dunno what the system is like there in the us,
but there is that, isn't it?
You've got GPAs and, and things like this and your SATs,
and, uh, I just felt like I wasn't educating.
So I came out, I took a master's
and I fell into a role where I am.
I started a training company
and I'm training really technically smart people, bankers,
accounts, lawyers, architects, survey, various people like
that, engineers how to sell themselves, how
to be a little bit more confident,
and how to talk about what they do with some authority,
with some enthusiasm.
And that company lasted for 20 years.
And I, I fell into accounting really,
because these were the people from what I could see
that were most keen to learn, knew
that they were the gatekeepers of business.
They all really, really cared.
They had a wide variety of clients
and they needed to service them and look after them.
They needed to develop people skills.
They needed to talk up what they were doing so
that people valued them more.
We could talk a lot about the downward pressure on
compliance fees and how
that historical backward looking focus
of accountants is not really valued by today's world.
And so they've had to adopt this mindset of
let's be more consultative, let's be more
advisory in our role, and
that needs better communication skills,
better selling skills.
So I found our shortage of an audience
with accountants in that.
And to this day, as I work almost exclusively
with accountants and accounting firms
and networks, I see a profession that is
standing on a pivot point right now with so many challenges
that you will speak about, I'm sure.
But, uh, so many opportunities,
but we need to tell a better story.
There's so many good things going on,
but we don't big it up enough, do we?
So I probably hit a lot there with your question.
Well, that's a, uh, it's actually a great segue into
what was going to be my next question,
but you've begun to answer it a little bit.
So, you know, one of the things that I have, um, the,
the pleasure or the responsibility, depending on
how you want to phrase it, uh,
as we lead into the right now event, is I get a chance
to interview a lot of the, the industry support.
So let's call it the vendors, the software makers,
et cetera, who are supporting this profession.
And that's awesome.
We have a ton of views and opinions
and thought leadership that comes from
that aspect of the industry.
But you are speaking more to, uh, the professionals,
the practitioners.
Is that what we can expect from your
series as we move forward?
Yes, very much so. They are the audience, aren't they?
Uh, my Accounting Influencers podcast is
geared towards professionals in practice that need
to be more influential in their roles.
And that brings with it a whole lot of benefits.
But when you're more authoritative, when you've got a voice,
you're more relevant, you can garner the, the culture,
you can shape your team a lot more.
You can get more change, uh, executed.
So there's a whole lot of benefits.
So we will take pieces of the news, like private equity
or AI or the return to office mandate.
So whatever's going on and say,
and this is how you can apply it in your role.
So accounting people, we know they can learn.
They're very coachable. They've taken really arduous exams
to get to where they need to be.
And so they're very proficient in that regard.
But we know that the skills that got them here,
technical skills are just an entrance to the game.
They need to have selling skills, presenting skills,
persuasive skills, technology skills, advising skills,
questioning skills, and a whole load more.
So we're asking a lot of them,
but yeah, I I I'm on their side
and I want to help them be better in their role
so they can affect more change.
And the big part of it really is getting accountants
themselves to tell a better story about the great stuff
that they do because, have you heard of
that phrase proximity bias, where you get so close to
what you do, you don't see it as remarkable
accountants do an amazing job,
but it seems quite mundane to them at times.
And so when people ask them what they do,
they're almost apologetic that they are a CPA,
so they could tell a better story.
We could all tell a better story about accounting
because we know it's struggling to, to recruit people.
And we know that 75% of CPAs are at
or close to retirement age.
So what's gonna happen there?
Let's sing out for the accountants.
They are the, uh, superheroes without
capes in many respects.
And goodness stu, throughout the pandemic, weren't they?
The people that were keeping the lights on for all of us?
Yep. They were absolutely part of
what we would consider the essential services.
Um, you mentioned there that, um,
table stakes almost being able to do the job.
Yeah. Focusing specifically on the accountancy, being able
to do the job is, is table stakes.
You have to be able to do that just to stay in business.
But I think, I think what you're driving at is that in order
to elevate yourself in order to progress, to move forwards,
to be, to take that next leap
to whatever it is you wanna do in your career
with your firm, with your business, et cetera,
you really have to be able to tell a story.
You really have to be able to be in the room
and have a presence in the room, whether it's a digital room
or a physical room where
everybody's sitting around together.
Would you say that that's a fair assessment?
It is, but not all accountants want that. Let's be clear.
There are some people that, that just love getting their
head down in a dark room with a spreadsheet
and crunching the numbers and that what's
what really drives them.
And good luck to them. They don't want a personal brand.
They don't wanna put out thought leadership.
They don't want to be an ambassador for the firm.
They just wanna look after the clients and get the job done
and counting the tracks.
People like that. And that's fine.
However, there is a cohort that
have responsibility, particularly in leadership roles,
to be ambassadors for the brand of accounting
because they recruit, they're responsible
for growth in a firm,
and it's up to them to be telling the better stories.
So that's why I'm really excited about what Right works
and the right now event is doing,
because this is a, a flag in the ground to say
we're supporting accountants,
but not just with a one-off event
that might have some short-term impact,
but as an experience, as a community,
as a year-round engagement that creates
long-term sustainable behavioral change
and plug CPAs into a community where they
can identify with people like them
that are going through their struggles.
'cause it can be quite lonely. And giving them a program
of education and inspiration with its many facets.
We're doing some speed networking events too,
so we're bringing people together before and
after the event to say, Hey, look, you, you can do this
by yourself, but you can't do it alone, if that makes sense.
So exciting stuff with, with right now, 2025.
And the profession generally has a real opportunity to,
to upgrade here
and tell a better story for the good of everybody.
Yeah. One of the things that we like to say, sort of an
unofficial mission statement, uh, yeah.
Within right Works and community is, is we,
we want to elevate the profession. Yes,
It is great that you are shining a light on it,
amplifying it and bringing it to life
for the people out there that will be not just the speakers,
but the audience, the punters, the delegates
that they feel part of it.
Because don't we just wanna be part
of something bigger than ourselves?
We don't just wanna go up to an event, see something,
chop the top of our head off, put loads
of information in it, sew it back up again and leave.
That's not what we're about these days.
The events game is changing.
Uh, you've been on a a bonus podcast I did recently
and we, we talked about that, that, uh,
you've gotta produce a,
a more holistic experience for people.
So right now, 2025 is right on with that.
And I love how you're evolving
and pioneering really the event space for CPAs
'cause goodness they need it,
but they're also super busy people there.
I've got your super in front of that,
but they're extremely busy people.
Why should they take the time?
And you're giving them plenty of reasons to show up.
Yeah. We really want to extend the experience beyond
the conference walls, as we've said.
Yeah. We, we wanna make this an a not only an annual event,
but something that is continuous throughout the year.
Not only the information that you digest and take home
and then hopefully put into practice,
but also podcasts, also interviews, articles,
um, actions that you can literally take
that would not be able
to take were you not in the room for that conference.
So, on that question, we live in a society,
you're on the other side of the Atlantic right now.
We had a little conversation, uh,
prerecording about the difference in time zones Sure.
And daylight savings, et cetera.
Why is it so important to have live events
and to be able to attend live events in-person events
in today's day and age where literally I could talk
to somebody on the other side of the world
as if you are sitting in the room with me,
You can.
And the pandemic showed us that it's possible.
I wonder what would've happened if the pandemic could have
taken place in 1980 where there was no technology, no teams,
no zoom, there was fax machines, there wasn't email.
Pardon me? So why do we need live events?
Well, it's kind of old school,
but you can't beat looking into the whites of someone's eyes
and shaking their hands and giving them a hug.
There's a certain intimacy about that,
and that might be scaring a few accounting types,
but it's a bit like saying,
I can watch the live football game on television
and you'll probably get a much better view.
Mm-hmm. And you get the slow motion replays and the analysis
and everything else, but what don't you get?
You don't get the energy, you don't get the vibe,
and you don't get those impromptu conversations
because while it's going on, you're right.
Now, delegates will be talking to each other about
what happened on the stage half an hour ago.
You don't get that if you are watching from afar
or watching a recording, it's like going up to the top
of a mountain and seeing a great view,
but not being able to talk about it to anyone.
You can take a picture of it with your phone or a camera,
but when you're in the middle of it rubbing shoulders
with somebody, you can, you get immediate feedback
and you're bouncing ideas off.
And so much of what happens at a conference,
like right now is impromptu, it's not planned, is it?
It's not scoped out, it's not expected.
It's those serendipitous moments, moments
that really make a conference.
And you ask most people what their memories are
of an event like yours.
You might get one or two of them call out a great speech,
and I challenge 'em and say, well,
what was it about the speech was the one quote was the one.
And they can't often remember, no disrespect
to the speakers, but it is the overall experience.
It's how it made them feel. It's the friends that they made.
It's the conversations that they had.
And remember with the conference,
you've got speakers talking to an audience,
there's no talking going on apart from one person there.
So a lot of the engagement
and the memories come from when people are talking
to each other in the breaks and over the refreshments
and then the, the sleeves rolled up, masterclasses
and seminars and, and focus groups and things like that.
That's when the real work gets done.
That's where the real relationships get built.
So yes, it's all fashioned
and you have gotta perhaps jump on a plane
and get to Nashville and make the effort
and book your hotel and everything else.
But like the big game, there's no, there's no substitute
for being in the room.
I love the way you put it. That's
where the real action, that's where the real work.
Yeah. The real, uh, relationships are made. So Yep.
Call to action to everybody.
Um, if you haven't booked already, please make sure to
book your tickets, book your flights, book your hotel rooms.
We'd love to see you in Nashville in May.
And do you know what this, that, this is a phenomenon, uh,
of they say commitment is doing what you say you will do
when you say you'll do it, whether you feel like it or not.
And I'm just reminded of that, that example
where if somebody says to you, Derek,
we've got a party on Saturday
night, do you wanna come along?
And in the moment your answer is, yeah, sure, I'll be there.
That sounds great. But when Saturday afternoon comes along
and you've had a tough week of work
and you've been with your kids,
or you've done whatever on a Saturday,
the last thing you might feel like doing is going
out on that Saturday night.
But you made the commitment.
So I, I often say to people, we're talking to you now
and you're excited about right now, 2025,
and you're, you have all the intentions in the world
of buying new ticket and, and getting on the plate
and everything else, but when
that time comes closer, you're gonna get busy.
You're gonna have commitments,
things are gonna be thrown at you,
and you're gonna have plenty of valid excuses not to go.
So we want to see you there.
But on top of that, we would say don't let yourself down by,
by falling prey to that really commit,
put it in your calendar, put a circle around it
and guard that with your life.
Because this is gonna be, it's one of the go-to events
of the year, Derek, isn't it?
Yeah. And you go to a lot of conferences.
I go to a lot and I always feel
better coming home from them.
I've, I I've, I've posted about this before.
There's that even when you're in the room,
even when you know you should be there mm-hmm.
You wind up with that trepidation.
There's, whether it's imposter syndrome Yeah.
Or whatever you wanna say. But man,
when I come home from those conferences,
those in-person events,
it is just a totally different energy.
And you're exactly right.
The chopping off the head, filling it with information,
suing it right back up is good.
But it's the energy, the commitment that comes out
of having been there, talked to someone, followed up
with them, or they followed up with me, held me accountable
for what I asked them to do, that's
where the real change occurs.
Well, that's not a dimension to that too,
because you're right, there is an element of learning
because accountants, they need to stay current, they need
to stay relevant, they need to stay up to date technically.
And and from a regulation perspective, absolutely.
Tax laws are changing all the time.
However, there is another body of knowledge
that's coming at them in waves around technology,
around private equity, around new skills and selling
and pitching and advisory and cast
and whatever you wanna call it.
There's so much out there that they need to know.
And where do they go for that?
You can go online and do a bit of CPD, you can do a webinar,
but you still, you in your office.
So the lineup you've got at right now, 2025,
is very exciting
because that's been handpicked from the best in the business
to give people stuff
that whilst they could get somewhere else,
they'd never get it all in one place.
And they're gonna be in such a learning environment
where everyone's soaking stuff up.
And that is a place where you can get a year's worth
of learning over two or three days.
And, uh, that seems like a great use of your time to me.
A hundred percent agreed. You couldn't have,
you couldn't sell it better.
Rob, thank you very much.
Um, Rob, on that note, uh, I just wanna say thank you again
for your time, really also, thank you tremendously for,
uh, joining forces with us this year as we continue
to expand the, the experience beyond the walls.
Um, any, uh, any last thoughts or,
or, uh, closing comments?
Sure. I'm pleased that Wright works
and right now are embracing, I mean, it's Rob Brown.
I'm over in the uk so you, you might think,
what does an English guy got to do with this?
But there's a certain international
feel about the world right now.
We, barriers are coming down
and, uh, despite what Trump's doing and saying,
and, uh, we are a, a global marketplace.
So to get a different voice in that,
I've been really well accepted with my funny accent
and to just bring some different perspective and,
and a different way of looking at things.
That's the whole right now way, isn't it?
You are, despite the sunset of DEI initiatives globally,
you are including all kinds
of interesting people from all
kinds of different backgrounds.
And, uh, it's a joy what you're doing to bring all
of these people together for something
that will be really, really special.
So kudos to you and your team for doing that.
I'm just thrilled to be a part of it and,
and contribute to some of those conversations.
Do some of the interviews, talk to the speakers,
coordinate some of these speed networking events
to bring the community together,
and I'm sure them what it means to be in,
in the right now community.
Well, we love it, Rob, and we are so blessed
and thankful to have your talents with us this year.
Amen. Thank you, Derek.