CalCPA leaders take a peek into what the profession may look like in 2040.

• Author: Mintzer, Andy
• Position: WHAT'S TO COME?

"To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock (a state of distress or disorientation due to rapid social or technological change), the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before. We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots-religion, nation, community, family, or profession--are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust. It is no longer resources that limit decisions, it is the decision that makes the resources."

"Future Shock" (Alvin Toffler)

There's a famous quote that goes something like, "Those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it." But I humbly offer the following variation: "Those who don't anticipate the future are doomed to repeat the past."

It was in that spirit that CalCPA leadership recently looked into the future to the year 2040 to determine (as best as possible) what the profession will look like, taking into account political, social, technological and economic aspects. The exercise was part of our strategic planning so we, as an organization and a profession, can chart a course best suited to meet the demands and challenges we may face.

CalCPA Leadership's Big Predictions for 2040

When anticipating change, there are two courses of action: Wait and see what actually happens and react to it or be proactive and put programs and policies in place. Yet we know no set of predictions will turn out perfectly.

For example, prominent economists and business people in the 1880s dismissed New York as a city to be reckoned, saying its population growth would soon stop, if not decrease, because of the, um "pollution" issue that its huge horse transportation system was causing. We all know that prediction did not come true and technological changes that could not be imagined then occurred and the apparent certainty soon became irrelevant.

And in the 1990s some predicted that in 25 years time, organ transplants would be done by organ cloning. Well that hasn't come to pass (yet).

So where might the profession be in 2040? Here are some of the more pervasive predictions CalCPA's leadership theorized.

Audits, which used to be an intensely hands-on service performed by seasoned and trained professionals, taking months to plan and perform, will be a largely data analytic process performed in near real-time by engineers and data technicians using sophisticated algorithms and processes--eliminating the need to involve an accounting...