Melancon: Making Sense of a Changing and Complex Profession: CEO Addresses AICPA's Past, Present, and Future

Change is inevitable. Knowledge is power. Those two phrases encapsulate how AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, views the accounting profession today and where he envisions the CPA--both the credential and the professional--being a decade from now. In an interview with JofA Senior Editor Jeff Drew, Melancon outlines how change is creating incredible complexity in an increasingly global business environment, one in which he foresees international expansion helping to strengthen the CPA's position as one of the world's dominant accounting credentials. He also explores how the mass movement of baby boomer CPAs into retirement is contributing to an age of hyper-merger-and-acquisition activity while simultaneously creating an unprecedented need for knowledge transfer in the profession. Knowledge, in Melancon's view, will provide the foundation on which CPAs can build their careers in the coming years. With change and complexity creating "almost mind-numbing" challenges for organizations, CPAs who can devise solutions to perplexing problems will be in the best position to help design and execute strategies for success and growth. Change is top of mind for Melancon as he looks at his 17 years at the helm of the AICPA. That period has seen the scorching scrutiny of the Enron-WorldCom era, the passing of the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and Dodd-Frank laws; and two significant recessions. It also has seen the AICPA achieve record-breaking membership numbers, produce unprecedented advocacy success in Washington, and spearhead the creation of the Vision and Horizons 2025 reports, which defined the purpose of the CPA as "making sense of a changing and complex world." That purpose is at the core of Melancon's JofA interview Edited excerpts of the conversation follow.  Compare the AICPA now to what it was like when you became CEO in 1995. What have been the biggest changes? Melancon: Our membership is about 14% larger today than it was in 1995. We have about 15% fewer employees. We believe that indicates a strong degree of efficiency And while I can't quantify the breadth and intensity of the issues we deal with, they are considerably more numerous and complex than they were in 1995. Our services have changed dramatically Our advocacy activities are much more extensive than they were in 1995. Our relationship with state CPA societies is much more collaborative than it was in 1995, which is critical to our success and, I hope, to the state societies' success as well. When you combine all those factors, we are a dynamic organization that is proactive and also nimble enough to deal with the many challenges and opportunities on the horizon. TESTS FOR SUCCESS Drew: What do you consider to be the AICPA'S greatest recent accomplishments and challenges? Melancon: In terms of challenges, the Institute continually faces requests from our members to be involved in a wide variety of issues and activities, because we have such a diverse membership--377,000 members who approach the world differently It's very tough to have the necessary resources and strike a balance among the many priorities, as we strive to act on our members' ideas and to address our members' challenges. A truly significant accomplishment I'm proud to point to is that we have changed the relationship with our members dramatically in the past 17 years. We measure, as you would expect, everything. We measure member satisfaction. We measure how quickly we answer the phone and respond to emails. Operational efficiency, or excellence, is part of our strategic plan. We're not perfect at it, but we are much better at it than we have ever been. CHANGES FORESEEN FOR AICPA,  What do you see on the horizon for the AICPA as an organization and as a membership body? What do you think the AICPA will look like in 2025? …

Field of study: Business