From Our CEO: Reflecting On The AICPA Executive Roundtable

From September 24-26, Truewind participated in the AICPA Executive Roundtable in New York. Hosted by AICPA and CPA.com, this executive roundtable was an exclusive, invite-only event that brought together a small collection of the best and most experienced minds serving the accounting profession. Over 3 days, 70 industry executives exchanged ideas on how to better serve accountants and their clients.

The theme of the 3-day gathering was "Responsible AI." The prompt was, “Share either how your organization is approaching Responsible AI or answer the question, 'What is the #1 thing vendors in the accounting & finance space need to consider to develop and deploy systems that ensure Responsible AI governance?'” 

The following section was Truewind’s presentation on Responsible AI: 

Responsible AI

Every generation, we see life-changing innovations that create new levels of wealth and, more importantly, change the way we live our lives. Oil brought energy to power machinery. Steel erected skyscrapers that touched the sky. And electricity powered our homes. What did these breakthroughs mean for humanity?

It meant cars instead of horses, and no more manure on the streets. Urban living instead of sprawl, leading to a high concentration of community and business activity. Light in our homes, powered by safe electricity instead of flammable kerosene. And, this innovation kept going through the 1900s. Steel plus a little ingenuity from the Wright brothers brought us commercial airliners. A wonderful innovation. Why? It could ferry us around the world to meet loved ones and business partners.

The application of technology has always been about unlocking new possibilities, and then adapting them to better society, humanity, and the life we want to live. The internet reintroduced our world to us as a digital book, and mobile brought magical abilities to our fingertips. My friend’s mother from Vietnam described it best when she said, “I click a button on my phone, and in a few minutes, someone shows up and takes me exactly where I need to go. I don’t even have to say a word.” For someone who doesn’t speak English in America, that’s magical.

It’s not always so rosy, though. I think we can all think of some innovations that we wish didn’t exist. That may have harmed the fabric of society more than they helped. I won’t name names here but it’s a sobering reminder that we must be steadfast.

That brings us to AI. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: automation. Will AI replace accountants? I saw this meme on Reddit a few months ago and I think it says it all.

• First, we believe that Jevons paradox is at play here. Groundbreaking innovations create demand for the very thing they disrupted. For example, fuel efficiency gains in cars tend to increase fuel consumption because people are driving more.

  
  

• In the way Microsoft Excel created an explosion of demand for financial analysts, we believe AI will increase the demand for accountants.

  
  

• Second, just consider the fact that your clients want to talk to you. You. A human that they can look in the eye and ask a question to. These relationships are important and that’s not going away.

  
  

• As a species, we may rely on technology but at the end of the day, we put our faith in people.

  
  

On our website, you'll see that our mission is to help accountants get back the life that they got into accounting for. One of stability and balance.

To us, Responsible AI means bettering humanity. Bettering people’s lives. And for what we’re building at Truewind, it means using AI to better the lives of accountants, and in turn, helping the firm perform better. We believe AI is the technology that accountants have been waiting for and we’re excited to play a meaningful part in making this future happen.

Executive Roundtable

Day 1 - The Gathering

Our hosts gathered everyone at the Mandarin Oriental for an evening of good food, drinks, and company. We saw old friends and met new ones. It was the perfect forum to kick off a full day of idea sharing and discussion.

Day 2 - The Presentations

First up were company and product overviews. We all wanted to see what each team was up to. What AI features had they released? How are customers using their product? What ideas were on the roadmap? What is their approach to Responsible AI? Each business had 5 minutes and over the course of 210 minutes, 42 companies presented.

My favorite was from our friends at Fieldguide. Jin and his team are developing an AI platform for advisory and audit firms. Their end-to-end product suite includes an engagement hub, reporting automation, document management and a client portal to deliver a modern digital experience. Also, they’re a fellow Thomson Reuters Ventures portfolio company.

Following a panel about PE activity in the accounting industry and an industry overview by Erik Asgeirsson, President & CEO of CPA.com and Barry Melancon, President & CEO of AICPA, we had a cocktail reception and dinner on a yacht that circled the Hudson River.

Day 3 - The Open Forum

On the last day, Jeff Easley, GM at the Responsible AI Institute, spoke about how corporations are navigating an evolving regulatory landscape and ways to develop blueprints to move to responsible AI maturity.

Some of the key insights and takeaways: 

• The lack of comprehensive federal legislation on AI, with various frameworks guiding regulation development.

  
  

• States addressing AI consequences through legislation, focusing on civil rights and sector-specific areas like healthcare and education.

  
  

• The US signing a global treaty on AI with the UK and EU, aiming to establish common principles and risk management mechanisms.

  
  

• Senate and House initiatives, including AI forums, working groups, and proposed bills addressing specific industries and aspects of AI.

  
  

• The US treaty on AI requires Senate approval and ratification.

  
  

• Expect continued progress on AI-related bills and initiatives in Congress.

  
  

• Organizations must stay informed and engaged with regulatory developments to ensure compliance.

  
  

• Global alignment on AI principles and guidelines will shape the future regulatory landscape.

  
  

Thank you

It'd take an entire page to go through all the thank-yous and acknowledgements, so I’ll keep it to just one shoutout.

On behalf of all of us at Truewind, a heartfelt thank you to Kacee Johnson, VP of Strategy & Innovation at CPA.com. Your leadership consistently brings the latest trends to the forefront of the accounting profession, and fosters collaboration between practitioners and technologists alike. We’re grateful for the invitation to this event and for your partnership as we continue building AI solutions for CAS teams.

Interested in learning more about our AI-powered solutions? Chat with our team to get started.