Jennifer MacIntosh

Jennifer holds over 20 years of experience growing revenue, increasing profit, and enhancing operational efficiency models for customer service, success, advocacy, and digital transformation programs. She joined MindBridge in March 2020 after serving as VP of Customer Experience at Coveo, during which she was named one of the Top Women Leaders in SaaS of 2018 by The SaaS Report (now The Software Report). Earlier in her career, Jennifer held leadership roles in customer experience and product management at OKAS Consulting, Yahoo, Quest Software, and IBM. Jennifer is a PROSCI certified Change Management professional who has led and implemented global enterprise change management programs for technology & financial services companies around the world for the last 15+ years.

The state of accounting staffing: How firms can fight shortages

May 24, 2022July 9, 2021 by Jennifer MacIntosh

Abstract imagery depicting a search, location, and growth into the accounting staffing field.

The Big 4 are gobbling up all the new grads, and smaller firms are struggling to find the incredible talent coming out of accounting schools around the world. What can they do to set themselves apart, and tackle the beast of accounting staffing?

As countries around the world begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, small business owners and corporations are discussing ways for their employees to work in our new reality. Some have seen growth, some have struggled. But, beyond performance, COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for many, teaching business leaders the value of remote work, and expanding their talent pool.

Accounting firms are continuing to analyze and assess the performance of remote workers, client satisfaction, and more to determine the best way forward.

It seems like this would be a great time to hire additional workers, right? Or, at least to review hiring processes, staffing, and other recruitment initiatives.

Well, it certainly would be if there were workers available. Unfortunately for the accounting realm, we are facing a severe global skills shortage.

It’s not just the finance sector that is struggling to find workers, though. Around the world, numerous industries are grappling with an unprecedented talent deficit.

In the United States, there were a record 9.3 million job openings in April 2021, while the United Kingdom saw advertised job vacancies jump 45% between the end of March and mid-June. So, it goes without saying that the competition for retaining and acquiring talented workers is fierce.

While higher wages might seem like the easiest answer, it’s not quite that simple.

The challenges of accounting staffing

A persistent skills gap

It’s no secret that job openings and required skills in the accounting industry aren’t the same as they used to be. While there is vast potential with the continual adoption of financial technology and tools, finding talent with the appropriate skill set to fully utilize said tools is challenging. On top of that, recruiters focusing on accounting staffing have to compete for talent against industry competitors like the Big 4, as well as various tech companies.

An adept ability to crunch numbers and implement Excel formulas used to suffice for a job in finance. However, as technologies have evolved and many innovative tools can now automate rote and tedious tasks like these, accounting firms are expanding their expectations to include digital skills such as data analytics and business modelling in candidates. However, the academic side of the equation has struggled to keep up to the evolving industry by offering an accounting curriculum that covers these ‘new’ skill sets.

And therein lies a major crux of the skills gap plaguing the accounting industry: bridging the gap between academic and workforce expectations for new accounting graduates. Today’s students will become tomorrow’s accountants. As such, they need to be prepared for real world situations, which increasingly includes using and understanding the tools that are reshaping their roles, and the larger finance sector.

Retention struggles

Recruitment isn’t the only staffing issue the accounting sector is wrestling with. Retention has been a struggle for the financial industry since the 2007 financial crisis.

As an article from Thomson Reuters put it: “High turnover rates have practically become synonymous with accounting firms, sometimes reaching up to 30% at large audit firms.”

According to the latest Inside Public Accounting annual survey, staff turnover averaged 13.7% across all accounting firms, with the most significant increase in turnover rates from firms in the $10 million to $30 million range.

There is also another retention threat looming on the horizon. As COVID-19 restrictions ease, ‘The Great Resignation’ is an emerging employment hurdle that companies will need to grapple with.

“According to a recent report by job site Monster.com, a staggering 95% of workers are considering changing jobs, and 92% are willing to switch industries to find the right position.”

There is some good news when it comes to lowering turnover rates, though. The ability to improve employee retention rests almost entirely in the employer’s control.

How to address accounting staffing issues

The remote work conundrum

Even as things return to “normal,” work will never be the way it was pre-pandemic.

Zoom meetings and PJs have become our new norm. As a result, people have become accustomed to the flexibility of remote work. Many enjoy being able to grab groceries in the middle of the day, take an afternoon break to go for a run, or pick up their kids from school without having to worry about being absent from the office. So, it’s not surprising that many are resisting going back to the nine-to-five grind.

“The EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey found that more than half (54%) of employees surveyed worldwide would quit their job if they aren’t offered enough post-pandemic flexibility on when and where they work.”

“Flexible working is the new currency for attracting and retaining top talent,” noted Liz Fealy, who leads EY’s global workforce advisory group. Interestingly enough, many firms are still considering returning to brick and mortar offices.

According to AccountingToday, 61% of accountants plan to keep their current brick and mortar office footprint. Though, many have cited that this workspace will primarily be used for client meetings, training sessions, and other administrative work.

So, as you can see, the future of accounting staffing seems to depend on who you ask.

However, having a company plan for full remote or hybrid work models goes far beyond the immediate post-pandemic return-to-work response.

A PwC report on the Canadian workforce found that financial services employees have a higher preference for remote working than any other industry the survey measured. 58% of financial services employees say their ideal workplace is entirely or mostly remote, compared to 34% for employees surveyed across all industries.

“In addition to retaining current talent, flexible work arrangements are paramount to attracting new talent from the Gen Z workforce. In a survey of Gen Zers by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 23% listed flexible working arrangements/working from home as being one of their top five attractions for employment”

All of this isn’t to say that remote work is a perfect or easy solution. Far from it. It also doesn’t suit every person or every position. Then, how do companies deal with remote work arrangements moving forward?

For starters, being open and transparent and asking employees for input on what they need and want going forward. This includes ensuring they have the right tools that not only enable but also enhance remote work. For example, tools utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are beneficial in helping workers maintain productivity and collaboration outside of the traditional office space.

Investing in upskilling

People are a company’s greatest asset. But, the need to invest in that asset is often forgotten.

Organizations that have invested in upskilling their employees’ tech capabilities have seen the return on investment: one survey from PwC found that 74% of those who reported an improvement in talent retention and recruitment because of digital investments said “the level of improvement met what was expected or even more.” What’s more, CEOs who have made investments in their upskilling programs are more optimistic about their company’s growth prospects than those who haven’t.

From an ACCA report, 49% of Gen Z respondents ranked “opportunities to continually acquire new capabilities/learning” as one of their top five attractions for employment – more than any other factor listed. The report also notes that eagerness to learn, combined with Gen Z being “’fantastic ambassadors and early adopters’ of tech … could help the rest of the business adopt digital.” In fact, 91% of Gen Zers said they expect to update their capabilities continually to remain employable in the future. Younger generations are more than willing to learn new skills, and it’s up to organizations to capitalize on the opportunity.

What’s more, an upskilling program is one way that companies can overcome the very same, growing skills gap affecting the accounting industry today.

Firms need to realize that the “old-school” accounting skill set won’t suffice. Investing in new technologies and exploring different ways of working must be prioritized for every accounting organization. A case in point: 82% of financial services employees believe upskilling would improve their job performance.

Moreover, younger generations like millennials and Gen Z believe that technology can make them more effective at work. Many even feel constrained by what they view as “outdated traditional working practices.” Younger employees entering the accounting workforce have no desire to plug numbers into Excel for hours on end. They want the skills and ability to use the latest technology that is rapidly changing the industry.

Of course, the onus isn’t on accounting firms alone. As was noted earlier, there is a need to ensure that the academic curriculum is adequately preparing new graduates for the accounting work they will undertake in the field, including using AI and automation technologies that are becoming all the more prevalent in accounting. That’s why many organizations, including MindBridge, are committed to helping students receive hands-on training with new technologies by bringing AI and data analytics into the classroom.

Embracing technology

Investment in technology is the common theme for solving the shortages in accounting staffing.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: it is not accounting technology replacing accountants – it’s accountants adopting technology that are replacing those who are not. As we say at MindBridge, while our technology may be AI-embedded, it’s human-powered.

Technology like AI and automation is becoming the new norm in the accounting industry. Firms that embrace and invest in these innovations are the ones who will continue to thrive — both in terms of attracting clients and employees. Firms that invest in technology are far more likely to recruit new and upcoming talent while retaining existing staff by differentiation from the thousands of other firms in the market vying for the same qualifications.

Of course, implementing new technology into your business practice doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s a process that may require brushing up on some change management best practices. But finance teams need to start investing now in long-term solutions that will position them and their workers for success. Because just like remote work, AI and automation are here to stay.

For more articles like this one, visit our blog.

To learn more about how the MindBridge Audit Approach can benefit your firm, download our briefing paper.

How to prepare accounting students for an evolving industry

May 24, 2022June 15, 2021 by Jennifer MacIntosh

Abstract imagery of growth, development, evolution, education, and the future.

Preparing for an accounting career is much more complex than you may think.

Once upon a time, our grade school teachers drilled into us that we wouldn’t always have calculators in our hands to help tackle the world’s everyday math problems. Little did they know that our smartphones would be cleverly fitted with a default calculator app, perfectly for the palms of our hands.

In the latest acknowledgement of this phenomenon, it seems that today’s accountants are facing a similar issue – the industry is moving too quickly for educators to catch up, and to prepare their students properly for a shifting accounting career.

Which begs the question, is it time to update the curriculum?

Changes for the 21st century

Technological advancements: Accounting, audit, and beyond

A lot has changed since the last generation of accountants began their careers, and the consensus among them is that they are looking for today’s graduates to be agile, flexible, and adaptable with whatever technologies are thrown their way.

Whether it be for spreadsheets, tax preparation, research software, communication, and data analytics — today’s professional accountants use technology constantly.

A learned profession like accounting requires years of study, licenses, and a mindset that recognizes the need for continuous learning. In an article for CPA Journal, Stephanie M. Bryant, the Executive Vice President and Chief Accreditation Officer at the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, writes about the large skills gap she experienced when she began her first professional accounting job: “It was my job to be an expert,” she writes. “The difference between making a grade in a class and working on a real client issue was quite a wake-up call for me.”

“It was my job to be an expert,” she writes. “The difference between making a grade in a class and working on a real client issue was quite a wake-up call for me.”

Years later, she said, the skills gap has persisted, with the theory portions being extensive in the curriculum while major gaps related to the currency and relevance of actual accounting practices persist. In particular, a student’s ability to synthesize and apply information critically — with or without the use of ever-changing technology. “It is essential that students develop technological agility and a growth mindset to be successful in today’s work environment.”

Bridging the gap: Theory vs reality

When AACSB-accreditation was introduced for business programs, it helped establish a standard of quality that ensured the curriculums met the needs found in professional settings. But still, gaps persisted.

According to the same CPA Journal article, in 2018, a task force of 19 highly respected accounting educators and accounting practitioners—including leaders from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the AICPA, and public accounting—worked for almost 20 months to develop updated accounting standards that would bridge the gap between academic and workforce expectations for new accounting graduates.

It was determined that, since accounting is a rapidly changing field, schools intend to prepare students for an accounting career it must ensure their content is reflective of the work new graduates will be expected to do by reviewing their courses and curriculum regularly.

In an article from CFODive, Paul Clancy, Senior visiting lecturer of finance at Cornell University spoke to the changes, addressing that the fundamental qualities to succeed are much the same; strong analytical skills, critical thinking skills, perseverance, integrity and teamwork. He noted that “these skills, many of which are developed at your university or college, can continue to be honed throughout life.”

An accounting career in our virtual world

A new challenge that today and tomorrow’s accountants must face is our virtual reality. No, not video games. Remote accounting and audit work has created new obstacles for today’s financial professionals that the next generation need to prepare for.

As much as we’re all looking forward to getting “back to normal,” many doubt that fully remote or hybrid financial work is going anywhere.

In light of this, educators must stress the importance of remote work and learning by introducing engaging tools and platforms for their students. We’ve all taken a class from home that we’ve written off as “too easy,” or “not worth our time.” But, given the not-so-distant future of physically-distant accounting, it’s time for students and educators to take things more seriously.

For many accountants, searching for tools that enable and enhance remote work has been crucial. Continuing to thrive outside of the office requires a different mindset, approach, and specific tools. Tools that utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more automation-based technologies are making their way into tech stacks around the world.

But, just because they can make work more efficient, doesn’t make them simple to learn.

Technological agility and resilience

Moreover, agility has become a crucial skill for new finance teams. New graduates are beginning to recognize the importance for finance professionals to broaden their digital skills to include data analytics, risk management, cybersecurity and business modeling into their repertoire.

With that, the 2018 standards incorporated a theoretical shift to include technological agility as a new focus. Today’s accounting students must be able to adapt to new technologies quickly and continuously. Specifically, a focus on artificial intelligence and data analytics are of particular interest, but are frequently missing from university and college classrooms.

To find out more, we spoke with an active educator in a university accounting classroom.

Ann Vanstraelen, Full Professor of Accounting and Assurance Services and Chair of the Department Accounting Information Management (AIM) at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, had been searching for a way to better incorporate emerging technologies like AI into their curriculum.

She notes the traditional, “old way” of teaching accounting was to teach Excel skills and then assign a project that would reinforce those particular Excel skills. However, to be more effective and prepare students for real world circumstances, Vanstraelen notes, educators must expose students to a problem, ask them how best to address it, and require them to identify the different pathways to a solution.

This involves determining which current technologies and datasets to use, where the relevant sources are, and how they would integrate and synthesize facts to create a solution.

According to Vanstraelen, this mindset is paramount to success in the new age of accounting:

“Students hear about AI in the news and media quite extensively and want to learn more about it. By the time they graduate, students need to understand data analytics in a context beyond the textbook.”

Thankfully, Vanstraelen came across the Mindbridge University Program, which allowed her to integrate these topics into her existing curriculum at no extra cost. Plus, the students love it.

“They are positively surprised that they get to use it in such a hands-on fashion in our bachelor auditing and fraud detection course and appreciate that we’re letting them see how it actually works and how it’s used in real accounting practices.”

Like MindBridge, many organizations are beginning to explore the value of preparing the professionals of tomorrow with tools and knowledge today. The accounting world is rapidly evolving. Without the proper technology and knowledge, tomorrow’s accountants and auditors will graduate unprepared. We believe it is our duty to help educators bridge the gap between books and technology, theory and reality, education and an accounting career.

Read on to learn more about how the MindBridge University Alliance Program is helping students and educators get ahead.

How companies and firms are helping to bridge the gap from school to an accounting career

In 2018, MindBridge launched the University Alliance Program, an initiative designed to introduce the next generation of accountants and auditors to the power of artificial intelligence in augmenting the financial processes.

Since then, the University Alliance Program has been adopted by over 100 universities and colleges around the world. The curriculum offers educational materials with hands-on case studies and training, allowing students to learn and experience the power of artificial intelligence and data analytics in performing a financial analysis using MindBridge. With the material being incorporated into advanced audit, data analytics, accounting information systems, and fraud investigation courses.

Here’s an example of a classroom case study would look like:

	Finding fraud using AI
Background	Introduce students to the fictitious story of a construction company whose practices raised some red flags during audit planning A general ledger data set is provided with the case study
Task	Upload the provided data set into MindBridge and adjust the risk scoring engine as per instructions Identify potentially fraudulent transactions using a combination of AI-generated insights and professional judgement
Learning outcome	Students get insights into the applications of AI for audit Students get introduced to AI-human partnerships

Ryan Teeter, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh has incorporated MindBridge into his graduate courses, and after finding success, wants to bridge the content into his undergraduate classes as well. “Being able to have something that is straightforward and shows the different techniques while also piquing the undergraduates interest toward data analysis, risk scoring, and applied statistics are areas that are very useful,” he said.

Professors from around the world are seeing the value of bringing AI and data analytics into their classrooms. To learn more about them, check out our case studies and customer stories.

For more information on how you can participate in the MindBridge University Alliance Program, or to apply, click here.

Change management: What is it, and why is it important?

April 5, 2023April 9, 2021 by Jennifer MacIntosh

Change is scary. But with a little risk, a lot of planning, and some extra effort comes an opportunity for growth and reward. That’s what makes change management so important.

As a manager, department head, or executive how do you know when it’s time for change? How do you invoke change within an organization, and how do you get others on board?

Studies in what’s known as change management have shown that there is no one single answer to what most influences and leads to successful transformation initiatives.

In recent years, change management strategies have focused on soft factors like culture, leadership, and motivation. Each of these play a key role in a successful transition. But, for change to truly take hold, it’s also important to focus on the hard factors like duration, integrity, commitment, and effort.

In this article, we’ll discuss the definition of change management, address corporate responsibility during the process, what you and your team need to do to be successful, and show you the best ways to implement transition skills and best practices into your organization and projects.

What is change management?

Change management is a big, daunting term, let alone task. It’s a rather condensed way of explaining the process when an organization takes on projects or initiatives to improve performance, address key issues, and seize new opportunities. These endeavors may require companies to shift their methodologies, roles, organizational structures, and perhaps even the types of and uses for technology.

Successful transitions dependent upon four core principles. These principles are important to understand before undertaking a large shift in processes or anything else, no matter what the context:

Understanding change – Understand the questions that need to be asked, the why, and the “ins and outs” of the change.
Planning change – This looks different for every organization, but can include achieving high-level sponsorship, identifying stakeholder involvement, and motivational techniques and establishing a team responsible for managing the change.
Implementing change – Roll out the change, ensure everyone has been trained on the new process, technology, etc, knows what their role is and the importance they play in affecting change.
Communicating change – Tools to help everyone understand why the change is happening, the positive effects that will come and the steps to required to ensure success.

Now, that’s just a brief overview. Here’s an in-depth review of these four principles, and how each of them help you work toward successfully-managed change in your organization.

Understanding change management, implementing best practices

Understanding change management begins by understanding its three important levels.

According to Prosci, a change management solution, the three levels are:

Individual
Organizational
Enterprise

In this model, enterprise change management is therefore dependent on both successful individual change management and organizational change management. Each of these aspects build onto one another to enact lasting, ingrained change across your department, team, or organization.

Individual change management – This will require tapping into the mind of your employees. It requires understanding how people experience change and what they need to handle it successfully, and thrive post-implementation.

ADKAR is a great acronym created by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt that represents the five tangible and concrete outcomes required for individual staff.

The acronym stands for:

For success at the individual level of change management, companies need to be able to communicate these five ADKAR elements to their employees in order for them to understand why the necessity of the change, where the change is coming from, how they can support the change, and how they will be impacted from it and the benefits the change represents.

Organizational change management – These are the steps and actions taken at a project level to support the individuals impacted by the ongoing change process. It starts by identifying the groups or people who will need to change, and in what ways. Once identified, successful organizational change management requires a customized plan for each individual to ensure that they receive the awareness, leadership, and training they need to be successful going forward.

Individual employees are at the center of successful change management processes; their success or failure will determine the success or failure of the processes that are changing organizationally.

Enterprise change management – This is the ‘final’ level of change management and essentially means that effective change management is embedded into your organization’s roles, structures, processes and leadership competencies. When it comes to enterprise change management, newly-implemented processes are consistently applied to initiatives, leaders will have the skills to guide their teams through the change, and staff will know what to ask for to be successful.

When embedded into your structure, enterprise change management capability means that individuals embrace change more effectively, and the organization itself is able to respond faster to market changes, embrace strategic initiatives, and adopt new technology much more rapidly.

Now that we’ve established the benefits and principles of managing change, how does it work, exactly?

Learn more about how MindBridge can help you sample less, and discover more.

How does change management work?

Change management relies on cohesive effort between management and employees to lead a successful transition. If leadership is not able to create a solid plan, and if employees are unable to “embrace and learn a new way of working, the initiative will fail.”

Take transitioning financial technologies and processes, for example. As technology improves and data sets increase, financial professionals and their departments are feeling the pressure to do more in less time. The trouble comes when the quality of work suffers as a result of the attempt to marry efficiency with quality. This is especially true of risk management and discovery.

Platforms like MindBridge help organizations discover the known and unknown risk in their financial data sets. They can analyze 100% of transactions, provide insights to better communicate analysis with stakeholders, and ultimately produce higher quality work in a fraction of the time.

But, all of this requires a solid, well-executed change management plan. While new technologies are increasingly turnkey, unlocking their full potential takes buy-in at all levels of an organization, and investment in the principles of change.

At MindBridge, we strive to enable our customers with the tools, resources, and support they need to successfully transition their financial processes. But, for the organizations themselves, there is still work to do.

When it comes to changing any process or technology, the status quo is always simpler. But, those who are truly committed to growth and the future of their organizations aren’t content with the easy way out.

By integrating proper change management in the deployment process, companies and departments will be able to get employees on board and involved in the process to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. There will be headaches, and you may be uncomfortable. But that’s how change management works. If it were easy, everyone would be successful.

How to plan for transition

To help plan for the transition process, Harvard Business Review discusses the hard factors that need to be discussed more (along with soft factors like culture, leadership and motivation) when implementing change management strategies. These factors allow companies to measure, communicate and influence elements quickly to affect transformation. Before they start, companies need to understand the time allotted to complete the change, the number of people required to execute it, and the financial results that intended actions are expected to achieve.

To help lead a successful change management operation, there are four specific factors companies can use to determine the outcome and create a path to success:

Duration – The length of time it will take until the change program is complete, and the length of time between reviews built to measure success

Integrity – The ability to select the best staff to lead the program. Look for problem solving skills, results & methodological oriented individuals

Commitment – The level of enthusiasm and resilence from both management and employees to affect this change

Effort – Calculate the amount of time and effort beyond existing responsibilities, resources that are over stretched may compromise the change program or normal operations.

For future transitions

Change management requires focus, organization, and motivation. Not everyone will be willing to accept and help to invoke this change at the same time. The source of resistance is often individuals or groups, but it can also be systems or processes that are outdated or that fail to fit current business conditions.

Ways to mitigate these obstacles include rewarding flexibility, creating role models for change and repeating the key messages and goals of the project throughout the entire change program.

This is where the message of the “bigger picture” becomes crucial, if employees feel separated from the goals they will question their motivations. But by showing the concrete benefits of change for them, their department, and the organization more largely, you can demonstrate how all this added effort will lead to gains in the future.

For more on creating an effective transition strategy, watch our webinar, Change management 101: Strategies for leading change when adopting AI.

For more articles and resources like this one, visit our blog.

Ready to embrace AI to strengthen your remote audit?

Contact our team to schedule a demo of the MindBridge risk discovery platform.