If there’s one thing we all know, accounting isn’t static. Especially today, when new apps roll out every month, new regulations drop continually, and the world itself seems to be spinning faster.
It goes without saying that if you’re not committed to staying on top of all those changes, you’re doing a real disservice to yourself—and your clients.
Sure, math itself isn’t changing much. But the way we work and support our clients—and their tech stacks—changes every day.
So how can you stay on top of client work and commit to continual learning? Here’s our approach.
One of the most important benefits we offer our team is paid continual learning. And we do this for several reasons:
Everyone is in it for a different reason and wants to do different things with their lives.
That’s why we don’t have a prescribed curriculum our team has to follow. We let our team pick what lights them up. We have a list of pre-approved workshops they can choose from, but if there’s something else they want to do, they can bring it directly to us.
Whether it’s a deep dive into the latest tech trends or a leadership seminar, they’ve got the freedom to choose opportunities that fit their goals. And to really make it count, we encourage them to set personal learning goals and think about how they’ll use what they learn with the team.
When we stop learning, we stop truly living. However, by exposing ourselves to new ideas and perspectives, we can use those to help our clients find new ways to reach their goals, whatever they are.
Sometimes that might mean developing a new tech stack, others finding a way to streamline productivity or costs, and others still simply bringing a more comprehensive view of the big picture to the table.
Yes, it’s certainly about gaining new accounting-centric skills and knowledge. However, it goes beyond helping our team get better at their individual jobs.
It’s my hope that they’ll be inspired to show up differently in life, whether that means discovering a new interest or passion, increasing their confidence, or something else entirely. That kind of energy is contagious, and it spills over into better work-life balance, a more positive culture, and even higher job satisfaction, all of which make our company even stronger.
The last thing I ever want to utter is, “This is how we’ve always done it.” It usually means that people are following a practice out of habit, not conscious choice. Anytime we hear it from our clients, we know it’s time to dig in—because there are likely several areas where we can help them improve.
The same is absolutely true in our company. By committing to ongoing learning, we’re continually looking for new opportunities to find a better way.
Sure, it’s not always easy to squeeze in time for learning when client work is piling up. But we’ve built it into our rhythm because we know it’s worth it. When you shift the mindset from “learning is a nice-to-have” to “learning is non-negotiable,” everything changes—even more so when there are rewards on the table for bringing new ideas and practices to the team.
At Automated Accounting Services, continual learning is one of our core values—and we truly see learning as a service to ourselves and our clients—which is why I’m all about investing in the people who work with me.
Every 40 hours worked equals one hour of paid professional development that our team can use whenever it works for their schedules.
As I mentioned above, hard skills are always important, especially with technology continually changing—and doing so rapidly. Communication, empathy and leadership—the so-called “soft” skills—are a big deal, too.
For example, one of our team members recently took a course on emotional intelligence, and it changed their approach to client conversations. Those kinds of skills might not get as much hype, but they’re instrumental in building strong client relationships and a flexible, resilient team.
You don’t have to push boundaries or reinvent the wheel to commit to continual learning. But the reality is that if you’re not actively working to learn, you’re moving backward. The firms and teams that are coming out ahead in today’s always-changing world are the ones that see learning as part of their strategy, not just a box to check.