What does the accounting profession need to become, not just today, but five or 10 years from now?

That question was at the heart of the recent CalCPA Leadership Forum, which brought together members and thought leaders from across the profession to examine emerging challenges, explore opportunities and help shape the direction of the profession.

Technology, changing client expectations and new workforce demands are reshaping accounting. Firms are being asked to provide greater insight, respond faster, develop people differently and continue earning trust as the work itself changes.

With California often serving as a leader for the rest of the country—“What California does, everybody else follows,” as one participant put it—the Forum focused on four connected areas: Market Expectations, Rethinking the Talent Model, The New Professional & The Human Premium, and The Strategy of Innovation.

The goal was not to predict where AI or the profession is headed. It was to focus on what leaders should be thinking about and doing now.

The Forum was designed around conversation. Panelists established the context for each topic before participants moved into facilitated table discussions to explore questions, challenge assumptions and share their own experiences. Each session concluded by bringing those perspectives back to the full room.

Panelists included Ginnie Carlier, Chief Talent and Culture Officer, EY; Puja Dalmia-Ramasubban, Senior Tax & Accounting Advisor; Al Dea, The Edge of Work Podcast; Dan Hood, Editor in Chief, Accounting Today; Kacee Johnson, FinTech and Innovation Thought Leader; Matt Martin, Managing Director, PDM LLP; Dean Quiambao, Chief Relationship Builder, Armanino; and John Sensiba, Partner, Sensiba LLP.

Four conversations. One common thread.

The conversation began with the market and a fundamental question: What do clients increasingly need from the profession, and how can firms meet those expectations?

Clients have access to more information, more technology and more choices than ever before. At the same time, the decisions they face are becoming more complex. That combination is changing what clients expect from their advisers. The discussion explored how firms can move beyond simply delivering what clients ask for to understanding what they actually need and providing greater insight, clarity and confidence.

From there, the conversation moved inside the firm and the changing talent model. For generations, firms have relied on a professional pyramid built on a large base of early career professionals doing foundational work and gaining experience as they advance. As AI and automation take on more of that work, participants explored what happens to that model.

As foundational work changes, so does the experience people gain from doing it. Participants explored what that means for how firms structure teams, develop talent and prepare professionals for greater responsibility. The conversation also looked at how career paths may evolve and what established firms can learn from organizations being built around new technology and new ways of working from the start.

That led to the individual professional and the idea of a human premium. If technical information becomes easier to access and AI can perform more analysis, what makes a professional truly valuable?

Participants pointed to capabilities such as judgment, professional skepticism, ethical reasoning, communication, relationships and trust. These have always mattered, but they may become even more important as technology takes on more routine and analytical tasks.

The challenge is how to develop them. Early career professionals have traditionally built judgment and confidence through foundational work, client interactions, mistakes, coaching and repetition. If some of those experiences disappear or change, firms and educators will need to be more intentional about creating new ways for professionals to develop the capabilities that experience once built over time.

Finally, the conversation turned to innovation and a challenge facing firms across the profession: How do you move from experimenting with new ideas to changing how the organization works?

Firms are experimenting with AI, workflow automation, new service models and different approaches to staffing. But experimentation does not automatically lead to transformation. Participants explored the role strategy, culture and leadership play in determining whether an idea remains a pilot or becomes part of how a firm operates.

Across all four conversations, AI was a consistent thread. As technology becomes better at accessing information, performing analysis and producing answers, the profession’s value may increasingly lie in what professionals do with those answers. Helping clients understand what matters, asking better questions, exercising judgment and knowing when to challenge an answer may become even more valuable.

Asking the Questions to Build Better Direction

Understanding what is changing is only the beginning. The bigger challenge is asking the right questions about what those changes mean and using the conversation to help shape where the profession goes next.

Where is client value shifting? How will people gain experience as foundational work changes? What will distinguish CPAs when technical information is easier to access? Why are some firms creating meaningful change while others remain stuck in pilot programs?

There isn’t one answer to any of these questions, and the answers will continue to evolve. That’s why CalCPA is championing these conversations that help the profession shape its future. By bringing together different perspectives, challenging assumptions and exploring new ideas, we can begin to build better direction for what comes next.

And the Leadership Forum was intended as just the beginning of that conversation.

Looking ahead, CalCPA will explore each of the four major topics discussed at the Forum through a series of articles that dig deeper into the challenges, opportunities and questions beginning to take shape.

Those ideas and perspectives will also come together in a broader report examining what they may mean for the future of the profession. The report will highlight key themes and emerging questions while exploring how CPAs, firms, educators and other profession leaders can prepare for what comes next.

Most importantly, the work will help continue the conversation and identify opportunities for CalCPA to gather, support new ideas and help the profession turn change into meaningful progress.