The evolution of technology has reshaped the accounting profession. Some might argue that technology has taken over there jobs and others will say that technology has made it easier. The truth is technology has cancelled out the paper and pen days, where accountants would use calculators to balance the books and to verify that the ledgers are accurate. Calculators back in the day were so big and heavy to carry and they only had 3 functions, accountants could only add subtract and multiply on their calculators. So, the advancement of technology is clearly evident in the field of accounting. The technology has changed how accountants do work, where they do it and how fast they get it done. When the calculators evolved and had different functions the percent of error was reduced but was not eliminated. Not only calculators have evolved with technology so has the software. Accountants went from using excel sheets and calculators that store data to quick books, oracle and SAP which are more expensive systems. This advancement in technology has allowed for the reduction of margin error, double entry and all ledgers could be stored in a single system. In addition, these soft wares also allow accountants to prepare financial statements and reports automatically because they are ready made. Which on the long run saves them so much time.

Another technology in accounting is cloud services. Cloud services make it possible for clients and accountants to receive, store and share data. With the introduction of technology the basic accounting skills that people imagine along with the profession of accounting have declined. When accountants have access to the right software they are able to perform “tax preparation services, statistical analysis and forecast modeling” much more efficiently and they can do it from anywhere. Companies no longer need to invest hours and money in core training for such tasks because they are simply performed through the aid of technology. That removes accountants from being “number crunchers” to having a more diversified role in accounting. By eliminating tedious processes accountants have more time to give advice, develop and create new processes and technologies and perform future forecasts that computers can not perform because we still cant trust computers with that. However, the computer will be offering valuable data to accountants to create these forecasts. The time saved allows accountants to analyze the performance of the business therefore they will be providing management with better and more in depth information that will help them in decision making.

Technologies are always advancing and according to the American Institute of CPAs, anyone who wants to become a CPA must keep up with emerging technologies.

Technology changes don’t only affect the profession of accounting on its own, it affects the skills that are required from accountants. Considering how much the technology has advanced being good at calculating is not the sole requirement for an accountant. Now, IT skills are a must. So, merging accounting and IT is very crucial because that is the language that is being spoken in the profession. The advancement of technology in accounting has been beneficial, it created specialized accounting softwares, created cloud based systems, it made the transactions between clients more efficient, created online accounting (mobile accounting) and most importantly, it diversified the jobs of accountants.

Norma Kraay, managing partner of talent at Deloitte Canada in Toronto, believes millennials are helping to shape the accounting profession of the future as a result of their more collaborative, inclusive approach to problem solving. It’s already evident today, as firms rely more on teamwork than they did in past years, rather than the traditional “top-down” approach of traditional accounting hierarchies.

http://www.canadian-accountant.com/content/business/how-millennials-are-shaping-the-future-of-accounting

Millennials are far more productive and business oriented than what stereotypes say. Millennials are very creative and they see things differently. Millennials are shaping the field of accounting today, not only by their collaborative approach and their problem solving kills but also by there enthusiasm and there creativity. Baby boomers are concerned about having an office and a stable position as an accountant with a set schedule and they will be performing the same systematic tedious approaches when performing their daily tasks with no problems. Millennials disagree and in the field of accounting they are being innovative. Not only by adopting new work ethics and techniques but also by adopting technology in their day to day tasks. Today in accounting we hear about cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and artificial intelligence and it is with no doubt that the younger generations are willing and capable of understanding and working with these terms. Technology is integrated in most of the accounting fields today. There are many applications and programs that accountants and accounting students can not give up for the world. These programs apply formulas, store files for you in a cloud so the mess and waste of too many papers is no longer an issue, and keep everything organized within a unique system. Not to mention the amount of time saved by accountants. Some of the fields where technology is useful today include:

• Creating and sending invoices to clients.
• Accepting payments.
• Receiving payments.
• Paying employees and doing their payrolls accordingly.
• Managing inventory and tracking inventory actively.
• Creating reports.
• Recording overall profits and losses.

This is a game changer for multiple reasons, the most important is that these ways save time. They are being hired in accounting firms because their work benefits the entire firm. There style facilitates working at the pace of how the industry is currently changing and reshaping. By adapting new technologies accountants will as a result have more free time to adapt newer technologies and come up with solutions to problems that accounting firms are experiencing. It looks like a win-win situation. Millennials will get the job done and on top of that research and acquire new methods to deal with other problems faced in the field of accounting. When millennials are on board they work with an open mind. Their primary concern is to be part of a culture that values sharing of opinions and open conversations. One that values flexibility as well, it is there where they can excel and demonstrate their best performance. Technology is what is driving the accounting profession and millennials simply understand and know how to work technology. They are a perfect fit for the demanding nature of accounting nowadays. Millennials are not only what accounting firms are looking for to help in reshaping accounting. They are indeed what accounting firms are looking to invest in as well.

“As the next generation of business owners, millennials stand to be the generation making the big dollars in the next decades. “

https://www.accountingweb.com/community/blogs/gkaplancpa/millennials-are-the-future-of-accounting-firms

Studies have shown that millennials will gain “$30 to $40 trillion in wealth transfers from the boomer generation in the next 30 to 40 years.” By 2020, they will be the largest client group for accounting firms to target. That makes millennials very essential to the field of accounting for two reasons. Accounting firms now have to attract millennials to work for them and they also have to target millennials in their marketing because they are the main business target for accounting firms in the next coming years. It seems that millennials are very hardworking, they are motivated and they have great potential not just in reshaping accounting but also in proving that millennials are not simplye “entitled” and “arrogant” as they are claimed to be.

Baby boomers are actually the ones running the economy. A study conducted by Visa USA projects that consumers over 60 years old will continue to drive the economy in the next 5 to 10 years. Although media seems to be targeting millennials in most of their marketing campaigns, they are the baby boomers that are making all the purchases. The number of baby boomers is expected to increase. According to statistics in the USA today there is more consumers over 50 than there were 10 years ago and those numbers are expected to change drastically. Based on the demographics there is an increase of 11 million more baby boomers over the age of 60 than there is today in the coming year. They are driving the population and economic growth. According to Wayne, the senior vice president of Visa, he suggests that millennials will be spending less in those coming years and that baby boomers will have “1/3 share of the aggregate spending by 2025.” The table below shows the expenditure of different generations at different times of the upcoming years.

Baby boomers are not only active in their spending. They still have active roles in the labor force. Although most people assume that baby boomers are soon retiring and that they have approached their golden years so we expect them to slow down in life that is not quite the case. Baby boomers are actually still in the workforce and the statistics have noticed that women baby boomers are staying in the workforce even longer than men, it is almost like baby boomers are making up for the times of the great recession  by staying longer in the work force.  However, staying longer in the work force does  not necessarily mean that  they are making the most money because some of the baby boomers are greatly in debt.

According to the above video we can see the differences in lifestyle between baby boomers. We see those who afford luxury and are living that life and those we are in debt. Both of them are still in the work force. The retirement age is no longer a rule that baby boomers have to follow and in some countries that age is given up and baby boomers no longer have to retire. Locally, “the number of Canadians aged 65 and older is up and is close to 5 million. The 2011 Census counted 4,945,060 people aged 65 and older in Canada, an increase of more than 609,810, or 14.1%, between 2006 and 2011. This rate of growth was more than double the 5.9% increase for the Canadian population as a whole.” (Statcan) Out of those numbers  42.4% were in the age group 45 to 64 and they were in the working force. The working age population showed to have the highest portion of baby boomers. So not only are baby boomers the richest among the generations, and not only do they spend as they wish but they are still making the most money and they are employed whereas millennials are struggling to find a job after graduation.

“More than a third of retired baby boomers in the Franklin Templeton survey opted to leave the workforce later because they didn’t have enough money”

Prestwich, Emma, and Emma Prestwich. “A Fifth Of Canada’s Working Boomers Have Nothing Saved For Retirement: Survey.” HuffPost Canada, HuffPost Canada, 11 May 2018, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/05/11/a-fifth-of-working-baby-boomers-have-no-retirement-savings_a_23431846/.

The study suggests that most baby boomers are working to cover their life expenses. They are withdrawing from their retirement plans and a very few are still adding to it. Those who are saving will be saving more because the others are pulling out of their saving plans to meet their short term needs. Baby boomers are spending most of their money on student loans that need to be paid off. They also have to pay for housing and mortgages. Some might also have children or young adults that they still spend on. It is also evident that baby boomers tend to spend money on luxuries and traveling. Baby boomers also tend to spend a lot of money on their pets. A lot of the baby boomers money goes toward their preference of dining out, having cable TV, credit card interest and other miscellaneous expenses such as cigarettes, groceries and alcohol. Most importantly, their expenditure is going towards healthcare. Some of these baby boomers choose to invest while others do not. The reason they are in debt is because there isn’t enough money in the first place to cover their expenses.

Bibliography

-Questions? “Where Are Boomers Spending Their Money?” Where Are Boomers Spending Their Money? | MedicareSupplement.com, http://www.medicaresupplement.com/content/where-baby-boomers-are-spending-their-money/.

-“Generations in Canada.” Statistics Canada: Canada’s National Statistical Agency / Statistique Canada : Organisme Statistique National Du Canada, 23 July 2018, www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-311-x/98-311-x2011003_2-eng.cfm.

Ever wondered how budgeting has changed over the generations. Well, for starters today we barely see anyone using a pencil and a paper to plan out their expenses. Maybe baby boomers still do; however, millennials are into something more technologically advanced and efficient. Millennials have apps that help them budget, notifies them when they are over spending, tracks where they are spending their money, as well as apps that help them save to reach their goal. Of course we have online banking today and pre-authorized payments where we no longer have to worry about making a payment in time because our banking apps allow us to schedule payments ahead of time. We are also able to send and receive money through our banking apps and emails. Furthermore, banking apps nowadays allow us to deposit cheques through our phones. All you have to do is take a picture of the cheque. These apps have made the lives of millennials very easy. They have also demolished the need to physically go to the bank. Needless to say that traditional banking no longer exists in the life of millennials and the upcoming generations.

In the video below you will see one of the latest solutions that has been created specifically for millennials and generation Y. This financial service sums up everything that millennials need when it comes to banking services and budgeting. Millennials want everything done at their fingertips and there they have it. All can be done in one place. Baby boomers may find this technology a privilege, they may accept it as well. However, it is very unlikely that they would utilize such an app.

“As a digital savvy demographic, they turn to apps to manage their life. “

Legters, Bob. “GenNOW™, A Solution For Generation Y.” Payments Leader, 25 Nov. 2015, http://www.paymentsleader.com/gennow-a-solution-for-generation-y/.

Frankly speaking millennials have a lot more to worry about when it comes to budgeting and spending. Although these kind of apps help them manage their banking activities, they still have student loans to worry about, they are underemployed, they lack financial knowledge and they struggle to carry appearances and they are in debt, which makes everything harder. According to stats Canada the “unemployment rate of youths aged 15 to 24 was 14.3%, compared with a rate of 6.0% for workers aged 25 to 54 and workers aged 55 or older. “The gap between the unemployment rates of millennials and baby boomers has not decreased and will not until the baby boomers retire or until the millennials make their way up to the expectation level of baby boomers in executive positions. By then maybe the rate of unemployment may improve for millennials. Having such kind of hardships makes the use of such technologies useful in the field of budgeting and financing. Baby boomers didn’t have that kind of problems back then. Budgeting for them was completely basic and maybe to a certain degree redundant. We will be looking into how baby boomers budget in my next post.

There may be Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Y and Millennials, and even Generation Z, yet today’s business marketplace really consists of just two sets of professionals: the older and the younger. While their ages may span early 20s to 65 years old and beyond, both groups share a universal commonality and a universal disconnect.

“Crossing the Generational Gap.” Accounting Today, 9 Dec. 2013, http://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/crossing-the-generational-gap.

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve disagreed with someone but you are both actually correct its just that you are coming from different places in the way of your thinking? Well, this happens very often in the workforce and in day to day activities between baby boomers and millennials. Baby boomers make up the largest demographic and millennials make up the second largest. They come from two vastly different worlds. They possess widely different mindsets. And their moral codes vary along with their work ethic. Baby boomers want to simply do what they are used to doing and what favors them best; whereas millennials want to simply tear everything down and do everything in their own new way or how they believe it should be done. Baby boomers believe that you have to study hard and work hard in order to succeed and achieve your dreams. Millennials believe that they should take it easy, find their passion and they shall be successful. Frankly speaking baby boomers were programmed to go to college, get married, have children, buy a house and keep the same job for 50 years. Whereas millennials just go with what they believe best suits them. Baby boomers value experience and they take pride in their old classic ways. Millennials are claimed to be entitled and they want to do things the new better way with the aid technology.

Having both generations in the workforce undeniably
creates conflict. However, we should take advantage of having the big gap in
the work force because the older generation are wiser and are essential to the
success of a business and the younger generation is tech savvy and efficient.
The younger generation should value the experience of the older ones. In order
to bridge the gap, it is crucial to create a clear understanding for better
communication between both. According to an article I read titled 7 ways to
bridge the Boomer-Millennial gap by Todd Berger, President and CEO of Redwood
Logistics, he suggests that having diverse groups encourages communication.
This also cancels out any misconceptions that one group has of the other
generation. In addition, he suggests that the workplace should create a mentor bond
between the baby boomers and millennials. This technique will help them improve
their skills and deepen their relationship. Todd suggests trying reverse mentoring
as well, where baby boomers can learn from millennials and perhaps pickup on some
time saving strategies and adapt to the technology. It is also very important
to understand the motivators for both generations. Baby boomers tend to favor a
job that is secured, that offers benefits and the working hours are set and
they work from an office. Millennials on the other hand, prefer a laid-back
environment, they want flexible hours and they don’t want to be tied down to a
specific time and day and they can work from anywhere. As long as they get the
job done. This could be a valid reason why they are underemployed. Lastly,
encouraging communication and feedback between both generations will go along
way. Having done so will help the company go forward and grow whereas other
companies may still be struggling with the clash of both generations and that
will be putting them behind.

 

The gap of difficulty between the lives of baby boomers and millennials is not as vast as the Boomers claim it to be. However, job requirements back then we’re indeed less significant as something like using a fax machine was considered a great skill, where as now it it is naturally assumed that anyone has this “skill”. Baby boomers think that they got it hard and that their lives were challenging. And Millennials believe that baby boomers had nothing to worry about and everything was handed to them. Although millennials are surrounded by technology; their world has transformed since the times of baby boomers. Today, millennials have a lot more requirements and obligations in the workforce. They are expected to have 2 or 3 years of work experience upon graduation. This was not a requirement that baby boomers had to face. The workforce actually needs millennials, but they need millennials with experience to replace the older generations. However, that becomes very challenging when millennials are not able to work in reasonable positions.

The workforce isn’t the only place where baby boomers and millennials clash, conflicts also arise when it comes to budgeting and financing. Baby boomers and millennials have different approaches towards budgeting. In my next blog spot will be digging deeper into their differences in accounting. Stay tuned.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton