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THE L AST W ORD
THE LAST WORD / Kevin H. Wang, CPA/CITP

Kevin H. Wang, CPA/CITP,
is director of innovation at
Warren Averett CPAs and
Advisors. He works out of the
firm’s Birmingham, Ala., office.

Favorite food or cuisine: Korean food.
It’s comfort food for me.
Favorite app: Reddit. I love the different
perspectives people have on topics and
ideas.
Favorite travel destination: South
Korea is always on my list.

‘Change may be hard, but it’s necessary …’

Working at the intersection of accounting and tech- firms because they will list the types of services they offer in
nology: Growing up, I was that kid who would take apart today’s globally connected world.
electronics and not know how to put them back together.
One time I took apart a stereo because I was overcome by my Technology is forcing change: I see five areas where technology
curiosity about what was inside and how the sound was gener- is changing the accounting profession. First, there is so much data
ated. Looking back, it’s apparent now that was my passion for being generated every day, and it’s growing exponentially. CPAs
technology shining through. My current role lets me combine today need the knowledge to process that data, understand it, put
my profession in accounting with my long-held passion for multiple data sources together, and comprehend the story it tells.
technology. My responsibilities include identifying areas where Second, machine learning and other areas of artificial intelligence
technology, organizational structure, and day-to-day practices are right on the horizon. Third, automation is going to replace
can be combined to help our firm achieve its goals. I also help many of the manual tasks we do, and accounting professionals
find technological solutions for my clients. They motivate will need to upskill themselves to stay in demand. Fourth, we
me because I love seeing how they embrace the solutions we will continue to adopt more and more cloud-based accounting
discover together. systems, which makes processes run smoother because all parties
I always go back to one piece of advice I received a long who are privy can access information from anywhere at any time.
time ago: Love what you do and do what you love. You will be Finally, software integration is emerging, which will allow differ-
in your career for 30 or 40 years, so you should find what you ent applications to talk to each other and allow us to move data
have a passion for and determine what motivates you to keep from one to the other seamlessly.
doing what you love. Change may be hard, but it’s necessary to move forward.
A mentor once told me if there is a better way to turn on the
Learning about technology is crucial: We’ve always known light switch in a room, let’s find it and let’s implement it be-
that technology would have a big impact on accounting, but I cause there’s nothing too simple to not be able to change and
don’t think anybody could have imagined how great an impact make better.
that would be. The more experience you can get at the intersec- PHOTO BY ANDREA MABRY/AP IMAGES
tion of accounting and technology, the more successful you’ll — As told to Teri Saylor, a freelance writer based in North Caroli-
be. I’ve found the best place to learn about emerging careers na. To comment on this article or to recommend an AICPA member
and the unique skills needed to succeed is on job boards of as a Last Word subject, contact Courtney Vien at
progressive organizations. Also, look at the websites of the top Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.

46 | Journal of Accountancy July 2022