Podcasts about accounting transformation

“The real question isn't whether a firm is diverse enough. It's whether the people in that firm feel like they truly belong there.” MOVE Like ThisWith Bonnie Buol RuszcykFor CPA TrendlinesIn this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk and guest Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, explore the complex landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the accounting profession, specifically in the current political climate.Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, shares insights into the challenges faced by underrepresented professionals, drawing from his personal experiences as an Asian male in leadership roles. They discuss the persistent barriers that prevent women and people of color from advancing to top leadership positions despite making up a significant portion of accounting graduates.  More MOVEThe discussion delves into the current political climate surrounding DEI efforts, acknowledging the pushback and misconceptions about diversity initiatives. Shimamoto emphasizes that these efforts are not about quotas or tokenism but about creating genuine opportunities and a sense of belonging for all professionals. The conversation highlights the importance of moving beyond mere inclusion to fostering an environment where every team member feels they truly belong and can contribute meaningfully.  

From mindful walking to redefining worth, this conversation reveals what it really takes to thrive. Accounting ARCWith Arpan GrewalCenter for Accounting TransformationIn the latest Student-Led Conversations episode of Accounting ARC, high school business student Arpan Grewal steps in as guest host for a raw, reflective episode centered on mental health and resilience. In conversation with Jina Etienne, CPA, CGMA, CDE, CEO of Etienne Consulting; Rafael Casas, senior consultant with Workday; and Kiera Speed, inspiration logistician for the Center for Accounting Transformation, the episode marks a powerful contribution to Mental Health Awareness Month.  MORE Accounting ARC: Blockchain Could Still Reshape Accounting | What Gen Z Wants from Business | Firm Differentiation Depends Upon Client Service | Ron Baker: Surviving Tariff Turmoil | Are We Ready for the Hidden Risks of AI in Accounting? | The Research Imperative: Why Data Drives Accounting Success | How Coaching Can Unlock Professional Success | Demystifying Accounting Governance |  Top 10 Red Flags to Watch for in Accounting Offices | Jeremy Dubow: Private Equity as a Catalyst for Growth | Break the Burnout Cycle in Accounting | Accounting in Transition: 2024 Reflections & the Road Ahead | Ron Baker: Visions for the Accounting Profession | “Mental health is something we all struggle with, whether we're students or seasoned professionals,” says Grewal. “It's not talked about enough, especially in accounting.” 

"We've underestimated how quickly AI is changing our profession." Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationIn a world where artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, agentic AI is emerging as a powerful tool that could redefine the accounting profession. Unlike traditional AI applications, agentic AI doesn't just respond to prompts—it actively coordinates multiple AI models to complete complex workflows. But is this a breakthrough for efficiency, or does it pose risks for the industry? MORE Accounting ARC: Kelly Mann: Thriving Against All Odds | Are We Ready for the Hidden Risks of AI in Accounting? | The Research Imperative: Why Data Drives Accounting Success | How Coaching Can Unlock Professional Success | Demystifying Accounting Governance | Top 10 Red Flags to Watch for in Accounting Offices | Jeremy Dubow: Private Equity as a Catalyst for Growth | Break the Burnout Cycle in Accounting | Accounting in Transition: 2024 Reflections & the Road Ahead | Ron Baker: Visions for the Accounting Profession | Angie Grissom: Next Gen Inspo for Accountants | Does Accounting Belong in STEM? | Rose Wang: Where Numbers Meet Strategy and Creativity | TikTok Fraud Exposes Gaps in Financial Literacy |In a recent episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Liz Mason, CPA, break down the meaning, potential, and risks of agentic AI in accounting. “Agentic AI is about AI acting as an agent, not just a tool,” explains Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder of the Center for Accounting Transformation. “It can take a single task, break it into smaller components, and distribute it across specialized AI models—then bring everything back into a cohesive solution.” 

When it comes to the accounting profession's talent crisis or the current landscape of diversity, equity and inclusion, it seems that everyone has an opinion. But what does empirical research tell us about how we should be looking at and addressing these two critical and connected issues? Donny Shimamoto, CPA, of Intraprise Techknowlogies and the Center for Accounting Transformation joins us to discuss two research reports that highlight strategies and approaches to improve retention, reduce turnover, and foster a more inclusive and equitable accounting industry. Resources:Download the research reports

Outdated technology, unrealistic billable hours, and "unlimited PTO" among key issues discussed. Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto.Center for Accounting TransformationThe accounting profession is undergoing significant change, and workplace culture is at the forefront of that transformation. In a recent episode of Accounting ARC, industry leaders Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Liz Mason, CPA, explore the red flags professionals should watch for in accounting firms.  MORE Accounting ARC: Jeremy Dubow: Private Equity as a Catalyst for Growth | Break the Burnout Cycle in Accounting | Accounting in Transition: 2024 Reflections & the Road Ahead | Ron Baker: Visions for the Accounting Profession | Angie Grissom: Next Gen Inspo for Accountants | Does Accounting Belong in STEM? | Rose Wang: Where Numbers Meet Strategy and Creativity | TikTok Fraud Exposes Gaps in Financial Literacy | How Accounting Pros Own the Stage in Public Speaking | Greg Kyte: Being a CPA Is Like Being the Marie Kondo of Numbers | Rachel Bashore: A Lawyer's Case for Reinventing Accounting | Beyond the Basics in Ethics Eduction | Bailey Lenart: From Ledger Sheets to Transformational Change | Election Tax Plans: What CPAs Need to Know |"A firm that isn't leveraging modern technology is a huge warning sign," says Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting. She and the other panelists agreed that firms clinging to outdated systems often fail to create efficient work environments. "Automated HR processes should be a baseline by now," adds Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation. 

"A firm's culture during busy season reveals its true colors."  Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto.Center for Accounting TransformationAs the busiest time of year looms for accountants, industry leaders Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Liz Mason, CPA, share practical advice for maintaining resilience during tax season. Their conversation explores actionable strategies to counteract stress and promote mental health. MORE Accounting ARC: Accounting in Transition: 2024 Reflections & the Road Ahead | Ron Baker: Visions for the Accounting Profession | Angie Grissom: Next Gen Inspo for Accountants | Does Accounting Belong in STEM? | Rose Wang: Where Numbers Meet Strategy and Creativity | TikTok Fraud Exposes Gaps in Financial Literacy | How Accounting Pros Own the Stage in Public Speaking | Greg Kyte: Being a CPA Is Like Being the Marie Kondo of Numbers | Rachel Bashore: A Lawyer's Case for Reinventing Accounting | Beyond the Basics in Ethics Eduction | Bailey Lenart: From Ledger Sheets to Transformational Change | Election Tax Plans: What CPAs Need to Know | Leadership for the Future: Stakeholders, Sustainability, and Strategic Vision |The hosts share relatable anecdotes, from Patrick's newfound habit of scheduling haircuts to Mason's candid discussion about balancing ADHD with professional responsibilities. Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, adds, "If it's not on my calendar, it's not happening," highlighting the need for intentional scheduling. 

Accounting experts debate STEM designation and its implications for the accounting field. Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto.Center for Accounting TransformationAs accounting evolves into a technology-driven profession, a question looms: Does accounting qualify as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) field? On the latest episode of Accounting ARC, thought leaders hosts Liz Mason, CPA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, tackle this provocative question. MORE Accounting ARC: Rose Wang: Where Numbers Meet Strategy and Creativity | TikTok Fraud Exposes Gaps in Financial Literacy | How Accounting Pros Own the Stage in Public Speaking | Greg Kyte: Being a CPA Is Like Being the Marie Kondo of Numbers | Rachel Bashore: A Lawyer's Case for Reinventing Accounting | Beyond the Basics in Ethics Eduction | Bailey Lenart: From Ledger Sheets to Transformational Change | Election Tax Plans: What CPAs Need to Know | Leadership for the Future: Stakeholders, Sustainability, and Strategic Vision |“STEM is about applying rules-based knowledge in real-world scenarios,” explains Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting. “Accounting fits because we apply principles and make ethical decisions just like other STEM professions.” But not everyone agrees with Mason.

Accounting Influencerswith Rob BrownRob Brown and Donny Shimamoto discuss reform, transformation, and change in the accounting profession at individual accountant and CPA plus practice levels.More Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown hereIn 2001, Donny founded IntrapriseTechknowlogies LLC, a specialized CPA firm dedicated to helping small businesses and middle-market organizations leverage strategic technologies, proactively manage their business and technical risks, and enable balanced organizational growth and development. Donny also works as a trusted business advisor with larger organizations, facilitating organizational strategic planning and execution, IT governance and planning, enterprise architecture, information architecture and assurance, business process improvement, and business intelligence initiatives. 

Leadership beyond control means empowering others to succeed and, of course, eating last.Accounting ARCWith Byron Patrick and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationThis episode of Accounting ARC offers a candid discussion on leadership with Byron Patrick, CEO and founder of VERIFYiQ, and vice president of Client Success at The B3 Method Institute.SHOW NOTES here | MORE Accounting ARC: In-Person Conferences Still Essential | Non-Accountants in Accounting: A Game-Changer for the Profession | Rubik Yeriazarian: Smaller Firms Offer Big Opportunities for Rapid Skill Development in Forensic Accounting | Accounting ARC | AI Will Steal Your Job. And That's a Good Thing | Accounting ARC | The Right Kind of Lazy: Innovative Approaches to Streamlining Workflows | Accounting ARC Alongside host Donny Shimamoto, founder of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies and the Center for Accounting Transformation, Patrick challenges traditional notions of leading a company. "People think you don't answer to anyone, but that's not true," he says, explaining that CEOs must remain accountable to the organization's owners and the company's future. Leadership, when done well, is about service.

The Next Generation of Accountants #GenZ - Fintech Flo: Episode 34 (9/5/24)The pathway to becoming a CPA is different now with proposed modifications to the exam process and new developments in AI and technology that have changed the profession forever.  Are you a college student thinking about obtaining your CPA or considering working for an Accounting Firm?  Drew and Mike delve deeper into current Accounting Industry updates and what the profession is like today, as well as how it is going to change tomorrow. The role of industry professionals will be transforming, and the mission now is to showcase to the next generation how their job will be different.This episode and all FinTech Flo episodes are available for CPE credit over at FloQademy and on the Earmark app (links below!)Earn CPE credit while you watch, along with a bunch of other high quality, engaging, and entertaining CPE eligible video content for free as a member of FloQademy! https://learn.floqast.com/  or via the Earmark app! https://www.earmark.app/@fintechfloThere's lots you can do in your career with an accounting background - we're hiring! Learn more at www.floqast.com/careers Want to watch? Head over to www.youtube.com/floqast Produced by @FloQastStudioshttps://www.instagram.com/floqaststudios https://www.twitter.com/floqaststudios

In this week's episode of The WizeGuys Podcast, we explore how the current system can transform firms. But amidst the promise of innovation and growth, there's a lurking challenge: what happens when these firms, initially enthusiastic about embracing change, find themselves entangled once again in the web of old, inefficient practices?Join our insightful hosts, Brenton Ward and Ed Chan, as they are joined by Wize Mentors, Tim Causbrooks and Thomas Sphabmixay, to navigate this precarious terrain. Together, they delve into the vital importance of reconnecting with the core principles that underpin success in the accounting industry. It's all about withdrawing oneself from the gravitational pull of outdated methodologies and rediscovering the essence of what drives progress.Throughout the episode, they share invaluable insights gleaned from their own experiences, offering a roadmap for firms looking to chart a course toward sustainable growth and prosperity.From the initial spark of inspiration to the nitty-gritty details of implementation, every aspect of the journey is explored with depth and clarity. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to the world of accounting, there's something here for everyone.So, if you're ready to break free from the shackles of the past and embrace a future defined by innovation and possibility, join us on this illuminating episode of The Wize Guys Podcast. Your firm's success story starts here!________________ PS: Whenever you're ready… here are the fastest 3 ways we can help you transform your accounting/bookkeeping practice: 1. Join 40,000+ subscribers to our transformation Friday tips – Every Friday, our Wize Mentor and Thought Leader of the Year, Ed Chan will send one actionable insight from his experience of building a $20 million accounting firm that still runs without him – Subscribe here 2. Download one of our famous Wize Accountants Growth Playbooks – Our FREE Playbooks on how to build and scale your firm are more valuable than most PAID business coaching programs! See for yourself – Download here 3. Join the waiting list for a free login to the world's best accounting business intelligence software for scaling your firm. Take a look at the app we use to build our own $10million firm in just 7-hours a week – Get a FREE login here

In the final episode of this season, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, dive into the Accounting Transformation process flow, which covers how financial transactions are converted into journal entries and how subledger journal entries are processed through subledger accounting.   They also explore the Budget to Report process flow, which focuses on planning, accounting for transactions, and reporting financial information to the appropriate stakeholder. Budget reporting goes a long way in helping businesses take corrective actions and improve their financial performance.   Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu   Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.   --------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Nikita: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor with Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi there! Last week, we had David “Barney” Barnacle, Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist, with us, who spoke about Procure to Pay and Asset Acquisition to Retirement, which are two major business processes within the Oracle Financials Business Process Model. Barney is here with us for one last time this season to take us through the last two business processes, Accounting Transformation and Budget to Report.  01:02 Nikita: Welcome back, Barney!  Barney: Hi Niki! Hi Lois! Nikita: So Barney, what can you tell us about Accounting Transformation? Barney: Accounting Transformation is one of the most important business processes in the Oracle Cloud Financials Business Process Model. All our enterprises are required to record their financial transactions, and the Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP application supports businesses in recording these transactions with the help of best practice life cycles like Invoice to Cash, Procure to Pay, and Asset Acquisition to Retirement. 01:32 Nikita: Everything we've discussed in our previous episodes. Barney: Right. Now, Accounting Transformation refers to the process of converting business transactions from Oracle subledgers, or transactions from external source systems, into detailed, auditable journal entries.  Source systems are typically industry-specific applications that are either purchased from third parties or built internally within the customer organization. Examples of such systems include core banking applications, insurance policy administration applications, billing applications, and point of sales applications. And to do this transformation, we have a very powerful tool called the Accounting Engine. If the accounting engine is only used in Oracle Cloud Subledgers (for example, Assets, Payables, etc.), then this engine is referred to as the Subledger Accounting Engine. 02:24 Lois: And what does this Subledger Accounting Engine do? Barney: The Subledger Accounting Engine, also known as SLA, is loaded with predefined event models and accounting methods, i.e. the accounting rules. And within this engine, users can also create user-defined accounting methods, i.e. new rules, to achieve multiple financial reporting requirements. The accounting engine's job is to convert business transactions into auditable and balanced accounting journal entries. 02:55 Lois: Is SLA a separate product? Barney: SLA is not a separate product itself but is Oracle's common engine, which caters to the accounting needs of all the Oracle subledgers. Subledger Accounting is a rules-based accounting engine that is centralized for use by all the Oracle Cloud subledgers. 03:13 Nikita: So how does Subledger Accounting work? Barney: When using Oracle Cloud Financials, financial transactions such as invoices or payments are recorded in the Oracle Cloud subledger products, whereas transactions from legacy systems are recorded in Oracle Fusion Cloud Accounting Hub. Each financial transaction has some accounting event type associated with it. For example, creating a customer invoice, adjusting a payment, validating a supplier invoice, and so on. As I was saying earlier, Subledger Accounting has predefined accounting rule sets, also known as accounting methods. And these accounting methods follow industry practices (for example, Standard accruals). 03:53 Nikita: And how do accounting rules work? Barney: The accounting rules pick the accounting event type associated with the business transaction. It uses relevant transaction attributes like Amounts, Currencies, Dates, Customers, or Suppliers. Then, it converts the transactional attributes into balanced and auditable Subledger and ultimately General Ledger journal entries, which may also require the copying or complete creation of account code combinations. 04:19 Lois: Can all the accounting requirements of a business be met with the help of standard accounting methods? Barney: No, Lois. Sometimes, standard accrual accounting methods don't meet all the accounting or business requirements. But then subledger accounting can support user-defined accounting methods to generate different accounting entries to support these different regulatory or business requirements. For example, by using a local GAAP. 04:44 Nikita: Barney, can you tell us in more detail the various steps involved in the accounting transformation process? Barney: So, the first step is to record business transactions using modern business life cycles. As the user processes these transactions, with such actions as create, validate, adjust, delete etc., these actions are recorded as event types. The accounting engine uses these types and the accounting method rules to create detailed subledger journals. It is the accounting rules that take the transaction source attributes, such as amount, date, customer supplier, etc., and converts them into a balanced detailed subledger journal that can be audited. If there are insufficient or incorrect account or no account values within the source transactions, then the account rules, mapping sets, and user-defined formula that can be configured to create the correct account combinations. 05:39 Barney: To create these journals, the create accounting process can be automated to run on a regular basis, typically at least once a day. The Create Accounting process first generates detailed subledger journals in draft or final mode within the SLA data repository. If these SLA journals are in final mode, then they can also be transferred to create summarized or detailed general ledger journals. Once posted, these GL journals update the account balances of all dimensions stored within the GL Essbase cubes. From these account balances, you can create flexible financial reports to meet the requirements of all stakeholders. And the best part is any role that's assigned SLA privileges can carry out these tasks. 06:30 Have an idea for a new course or learning opportunity? We'd love to hear it! Visit the Oracle University Learning Community and share your thoughts with us. Your suggestion could find a place in future development projects. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to join the community. You will need to log in first. If you've not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started.  06:59 Nikita: Welcome back. So, transactions are created, accounting is generated using the powerful SLA engine, and then when that's done, organizations can publish their financial reports and submit them to government authorities and their stakeholders, right? So, how do they administer control over their financial planning and spending? And how do organizations create these different reports? 07:23 Barney: Financial reports/statements are key to assessing the financial efficiency and determining the key performance indicators of any organization or enterprise. In Oracle Fusion Cloud, we talk of producing reports across three key axes, the legal, the management, and the functional axis, to match the varying requirements of stakeholders. Some organizations, to drive good financial control, plan and generate budgets and/or forecasts. This is so that they can estimate their revenue and expenses for a specific future period. In fact, some enterprises go much further and use budgetary control and encumbrance accounting to ensure expenditure remains within budgeted control levels per period and they can block further expenditure on items that have spent over planned budgeted amounts. 08:15 Barney: Other enterprises may have a rolling 12-month budget that can be updated at the end of each financial period. Simple to complex budgets or forecasts can be loaded into the GL Essbase cubes and the planned budgeted account balances over a period can easily be compared with actual performance using a variety of financial reporting tools provided by Oracle Cloud. Any budget variance can be used to drive financial control and analysis, while contributing to effective, strategic decision-making. The Oracle Fusion Cloud Budget to Report process focuses on planning, accounting for transactions, and reporting financial information to the appropriate stakeholder. 08:59 Lois: Why is this process so important for organizations? What are the benefits of budget reporting? Barney: It is a great way to drive financial control by efficiently tracking the company's performance versus the budget or forecast plan. Budget reporting allows an organization to perform frequent comparisons of forecasted and actual results with the purpose of fixing the key deviations. It allows organizations to allocate cash to assets worth the investment, make acquisitions, or create disposals or disinvestment strategies.  09:32 Lois: Barney, what are the key processes within Budget to Report? Barney: Within the Budget to Report processes life cycle, there are three key subprocesses: managing budgets and forecasts, capturing transactions (i.e. account balances), and period close to financial reporting. Accountants will cycle through these three processes on a regular basis, which is typically monthly. Let's start with the Manage Budgets and Forecasts process. This process refers to the entire cycle of events that start with planning and formulating and ultimately ends with creating budgets and forecasts in the application. Oracle General Ledger simplifies budget and forecast uploads into the system by the use of Excel spreadsheets. 10:15 Barney: Next is the Capture Transactions and Journal Entry process. Financial transactions captured in the subledgers are accounted for via the SLA accounting engine and are converted into detailed subledger and summarized general ledger journals (i.e. the accounting process we have just discussed under SLA). Manual journals can also be created with the use of the user interface or via spreadsheet uploads. The account combinations on these journal lines, once posted, that record the actual account balances, which detail organization revenue, expenditure, taxation, and so on over a period. 10:52 Barney: The Period Close to Financial Reporting process starts with the period closure for each subledger application, ensuring all financial transactions are captured and reported in the correct period. It includes the reconciliation of all key suspense accounts or key accounts (for example, cash balances, tax debtors, liabilities, etc.), special period-end processing, such as foreign currency requirements for revaluation and translations or allocation journals to spread the account distribution of central costs or revenue pools, and the use of consolidation ledgers, with requirements to move currency account balances between ledgers. Finally, from these consolidated, reconciled account balances, a variety of reporting tools can be used to generate the required financial reports/statements for both internal and external stakeholders.  11:42 Barney: Some of these reports will include the comparison of actual versus budgeted values, and any key variances will be used to revise or amend the budgets/forecast plans. We return to where we started with a review or modification of our strategic financial plans. 11:59 Nikita: Barney, what are the key job roles associated with the Budget to Report process? Barney: There are three job roles associated with this process that are predefined as standard by Oracle: General Accountant, Financial Analyst, and General Accounting Manager. The General Accountant manages all financial transactions and revenue, expenses, assets, liability, and equity accounts, and is responsible for recording accounting adjustments, such as accruals, allocations, currency revaluations, and translations. The Financial Analyst analyzes the financial performance of an enterprise or an organization. The General Accounting Manager manages the general accounting functions of an enterprise, including general ledger, subsidiary ledgers. They also manage period close activities. 12:49 Lois: Any final words, Barney, as we conclude this series on ERP Financials business processes?  Barney: So, in these last couple of episodes, we discussed the five financial business process life cycles. These processes are collectively known as Record to Report. The Record to Report process includes data extraction, collection, and processing to deliver accurate and timely financial information and enhance decision-making within the organization or enterprise. Using embedded analytics to drive an error-free financial close process, Oracle Fusion Cloud can not only automate and transform the R2R process, but also enable timely, real-time financial performance reporting. 13:37 Nikita: Thank you so much, Barney, for being our guide and taking us through the Oracle Financials Business Process Model.  Barney: Thank you. It's been great being here with both of you. Lois: If you missed any of our earlier episodes with Barney, you should go back and check them out. And if you're interested in learning more about Oracle's business process training and getting certified, visit mylearn.oracle.com. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 14:03 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click  Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

Time to unlock your finance team's digital potential! Join Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, as they discuss the Procure to Pay process flow, an integral financial process that integrates purchasing with accounts payable activities.   They also talk about the Asset Acquisition to Retirement process flow, which includes all the main activities that occur during the life of an asset, right from acquiring it all the way to disposing it at the end of its life.   Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu   Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.   --------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor. Nikita: Hi everyone. In our last episode, we looked at Invoice to Cash, which is the first business process within the Oracle Cloud Financials Business Process Model. Invoice to Cash refers to everything from the moment a receivable invoice is created until the customer's receipt is settled and reconciled with the bank statement. If you missed that episode, do go back and give it a listen. 01:01 Lois: Today,  David “Barney” Barnacle, our Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist is back on the podcast to tell us about the next two business processes, Procure to Pay and Asset Acquisition to Retirement. Nikita: Hi Barney! Thanks for being back with us. So, what is the Procure to Pay process? 01:20 Barney: Hi Niki. Hi Lois. Good to be here. Let's focus on Procure to Pay or P2P for short, which is an integral financial process within any organization. It integrates purchasing with accounts payables activities and involves a series of tasks. These could include placing a purchase requisition or a purchase order, receiving and inspecting the delivered goods or services, capturing the supplier invoices, which is the company's liability to the supplier, matching the unit quantity and price to the original PO, calculating the relevant taxes or withholding taxes, approving the charges for final payment by the company, and finally, recording the bank statement lines with all payments made to suppliers or employees. 02:04 Barney: Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP's capacity to use cutting-edge technologies for effective operations is what distinguishes it from the competition. The true value is in the automation, which helps enterprises improve processes, increase efficiency, and get the latest insights and alerts.  Let me give you some examples within P2P. We have something called Intelligent Document Recognition or IDR for short, which is a fully integrated invoice recognition solution. As you know, many suppliers send payables invoices electronically via email. With Oracle's cloud solution, IDR extracts invoice information from the emailed documents to create invoices and then imports them directly into Payables. Another interesting feature is the ability to calculate the trip distance in mileage expense entry by using the Oracle Maps Cloud service. For mileage expense types, on the Oracle Maps page, you can enter the start location, subsequent stops, and the end location. It's that easy. 03:09 Lois: Oh wow, that's pretty cool. I remember having to track my miles manually many years ago. What a nice feature. So, is creating an invoice the beginning of the P2P process?  Barney: No, Lois. Invoicing is not the beginning but just one part of the larger parent P2P process. The P2P process can be broken into three key phases. These phases are set in a repeating loop and fine-tuned and improved with every cycle. The three phases are the Purchasing process, the Receiving process, and finally, the Payment process. 03:46 Barney: During the Purchasing process, purchase requisitions for goods and services are created and approved. Suppliers are evaluated and selected. And then, purchase orders are issued for the required goods and/or services. Next is the Receiving process, where goods and services are received. Receiving documents are then reviewed and logged for the goods. In the final Payment process, which includes the Invoice, Payment, and Reconciliation sub-processes, invoices are received and invoice processing is completed, recording the supplier's liability. Invoices are reconciled and cross-checked with the original purchase orders and goods receipts or receiving documents. This is called purchase order or receipt matching, and it ensures that the enterprises only pay for goods and services it has ordered and received. Errors are recorded and corrected, and approved invoices are paid, reducing the supplier's liability. Payments are then reconciled with bank statement lines. 04:47 Nikita: OK. So, there are multiple activities, like purchasing, receiving, and invoicing, which are part of the P2P process. But how do these activities flow with regard to the Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP application?  Barney: The Procure to Pay process spans multiple departments within an organization. And in the Oracle application, it covers different modules like purchasing, payables, cash management, and general ledger. Demand generation for goods or services can originate in the Manufacturing departments based on planned or actual orders, or by internal employee orders for goods or services that the business requires.  05:23 Barney: This demand gets converted into requisitions within the Purchasing department. Everything from the creation all the way to the authorization of these requisitions is performed within the Purchasing department. Once the requests have been authorized, the buyers or procurement agents consolidate the requests and convert them into a purchasing document, like a purchase order. Next, the process of receiving goods or services against the purchasing document is typically carried out by the employees requesting those goods or services or by the staff at the receiving location. 05:54 Nikita: And a receiving location could be a warehouse, for example, right? So there is a purchasing department processing purchased orders and another receiving department recording the receipt of goods. Barney: Exactly, Niki. And once the goods are received and recorded, the transaction flows into the Payables department within the finance business function. Supplier Invoice to Payment, which comes within the finance business function, touches internal as well as external parties involved with an organization.  06:23 Barney: For example, when talking about the process of expense reimbursement, employees are considered internal parties. In this process, employees record and submit expenses incurred on behalf of the organization and are reimbursed for the authorized items. For an external party, the process of recording invoices against goods or services used by the organization and the subsequent process of making payment to clear these invoices is also a key part of the Procure to Pay process.  For example, organizations purchase assets like printers or furniture, which are recorded as part of the purchasing process. Oracle Assets is a fully integrated solution to track internal products and assets at internal or external sites, while providing the ability to capture financial transactions with back-office automation. 07:10 Barney: And then there is the Treasury department that some companies may call the Cash department, which, at periodic intervals, receives bank statements and reconciles the statement lines with payments made to suppliers. The key focus of the Treasury department is to determine the cash position and to assist in managing the cash forecasting process. These are just some activities of the Procure to Pay process that touch multiple departments within the business. 07:35 Lois: You mentioned expense reimbursement and making payments to external suppliers for goods received. How does this fit into the Oracle Financials Business Process Model?  Barney: As we discussed, P2P involves multiple processes spanning procurement to cash, specifically payables invoice to cash. Let me list out the processes that are aligned with Oracle Financials business processes as part of the P2P process. First, we have the Expense Report to Reimbursement process that deals with getting business expenses reimbursed for employees and contract workers, also known as contingency workers. 08:13 Barney: The Supplier Invoice to Payment process deals with recording liability for purchases made by the organization directly from external parties and paying for those purchases. The Capture Tax process deals with applying transactional tax or withholding taxes based on the information entered in an invoice and invoice line level, and legislative requirements. The Bank Transaction to Cash Position process deals with matching bank statement lines to payments made to suppliers. Accountants working in the Treasury department can prepare the expected cash position based on the expected receipts and payments within that specific period.  08:51 Lois: Each of the Oracle business processes you mentioned seem to be aligned with the general flow of activities in a typical organization. What are the advantages of having such a streamlined P2P process? Barney: A streamlined and automated Procure to Pay process helps organizations remain compliant with supplier-related contractual terms and legislative tax requirements. It also helps them reduce the risk of fraud with risk migration controls in place and automation within the process.  09:18 Barney: It results in better supplier management in terms of sourcing and evaluating suppliers, and monitoring and controlling supplier invoice aging, resulting in timely payments being made to suppliers. The ability to capture supplier invoices from multiple channels, including scanning and online submission by suppliers to enable batch processing of payments, results in cost reduction for an organization and saves hours that would have been spent manually processing invoices and payments. Most importantly, a streamlined Procure to Pay process provides the ability to capture data at each stage, which helps with future decision-making. 09:56 Nikita: What are the job roles associated with the Procure to Pay business process? Barney: There are a few key job roles in the P2P business process. There's the employee job role, which identifies the person as an employee who can create a requisition and an expense report. The Procurement Agent job role is responsible for transactional aspects of procurement processing. The Expense Audit job role reviews and audits expense reports daily to ensure compliance with the company's reimbursement policy. The Accounts Payable Specialist job role enters invoices, ensuring accuracy, uniqueness, and completeness, and matches invoices to the correct purchase orders or receipts, all while making sure that the invoices comply with company policy. The Accounts Payables Supervisor job role oversees the activities of Accounts Payable Specialists, initiates and manages payment runs, and resolves non-data entry holds. And finally, the Cash Manager job role protects and develops the company's liquid assets, maximizing their use and return to the organization. 10:58 Lois: For an organization to have an optimized Procure to Pay process, I'm sure they need to track certain key performance indicators, right?  Barney: Yes, and they do. Some of the KPIs that are tracked for the P2P process are Expenses vs. Budget, Invoice Payment Days, % Discount Taken, Time to Settlement, Time to Reconcile, and Payables Overdue Invoices. 11:20 Lois: Barney, earlier you spoke about how easy it is to raise expenses and use the Maps functionality. Are there other emerging technologies used by the ERP application in the Procure to Pay process? Barney: Yes Lois, Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP uses the latest emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, digital assistants, and image scanning in different areas of the Procure to Pay process. Adaptive Intelligence models are used in the Payables module to calculate and recommend discounts for single payments. Intelligent Document Recognition is used to scan and automate the invoice creation process in Payables, incorporating the required reviews and approvals. Within the Expenses module, Digital Assistants are used to punch in expenses and submit them automatically. You can also click photos of receipts and process them to input the required expenses.  12:16 Working towards an Oracle Certification this year? Grab all the help you can get. Attend a cert prep live event in the Oracle University Learning Community. And once certified, don't forget to join our exclusive forum for Oracle certified users.  If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to join the community. You will need to log in first. If you've not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started.  12:47 Nikita: Welcome back. Barney, you mentioned that Payables is one of the starting points to capture or track assets in the application. Can you help us understand how this is built in to Oracle Fusion Cloud? Barney: In the Oracle Financials Business Process Model, Asset Acquisition to Retirement is a key process that covers all the main activities that occur during the life of an asset, anything from acquiring it to disposing it at the end of its useful life. There are many things a business will need to do with assets. Capture asset acquisition, record financial transactions, track asset movement for reporting and regulatory purposes, and so on. We can manage these assets and simplify fixed asset accounting tasks with the help of Oracle Fusion Assets. It has the ability to record leased assets in line with the requirements of the two new accounting standards. 13:37 Barney: Oracle Assets integrates with other modules like Payables, Subledger Accounting, and Projects. You can add assets and cost adjustments directly into Assets from invoice information in Payables. The Create Mass Additions for Assets process sends valid invoice line distributions and associated discounts from Payables to the Mass Additions interface table in Assets. You can then review the mass addition lines in Assets and determine whether to create assets from them. 14:03 Nikita: So, what are the different stages in the Asset Acquisition to Retirement life cycle? I'm sure the first one has to be acquiring the asset. Barney: You're absolutely right there, Niki. The Asset Acquisition to Retirement life cycle starts with the Asset Acquisition stage. A business can acquire an asset through the Procure to Pay life cycle and record the asset in the asset register. An asset can be acquired by purchasing it, leasing it, constructing/developing it (i.e. by the use of Oracle Fusion Projects), or by mergers or acquisitions. And by acquiring assets, we mean capturing and recording the purchase of assets from all business locations. 14:42 Barney: The next stage is Monitoring and Tracking. Once an asset has been created and added to the asset register, you can perform various activities during the asset's life cycle. These activities could be changing its category or financial details, transferring assets, i.e. from locations, or running or changing depreciation. Any finally, we have Retirement. When you sell an asset, or an asset is lost, or the asset reaches the end of its useful life, you must remove it from the asset register. 15:14 Lois: And before we let you go for today, remind us – what job roles perform the functions related to this life cycle, Barney? Barney: There are two main job roles involved in this process. One is the Asset Accountant, the basic user who performs all functions in the asset management module. Then there's also the Asset Accounting Manager who has much of the same access as the asset accountant, along with extra access in terms of reporting and running accounting processes. 15:40 Nikita: I think we've discussed these two important Oracle business processes quite thoroughly. Thank you so much, Barney, for taking us through them.  Barney: Thanks for having me! Lois: Yes, thanks, Barney. This is a great introduction. Next week will be our final episode on the Oracle Financials Business Process Model, where we'll cover the Accounting Transformation and Budget to Report business processes. And don't forget to head over to mylearn.oracle.com to learn more about these processes and get certified. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 16:13 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click  Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

The forecast is in: Be on the lookout for doom 'n' gloom.  At least, that's how the media are painting the future -- as a bleak world, upended by technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Now, all of the uneasiness and uncertainty has spilled over into the accounting and finance profession where those who've worked diligently to earn their credentials fear that automation may nullify their efforts. But Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA sees things differently. As founder of The Center for Accounting Transformation, founder and Managing Director of Intraprise Techknowlogies,  and Co-Chair of the National Conference of Lawyers & CPAs for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, Donny has looked at the profession through a variety of lenses, and in each lens, he foresees incredible potential. Listen in to discover Donny's vision of a brighter future for entrepreneurs and those in accounting and finance fields.Episode HighlightsMost get into profession to help people and businesses achieve their goals, and the demand for these skills aren't going anywhere (04:45)How to find and deliver the services your clients actually need (12:20)The main thing we need to improve on as a profession* (16:58)(*Our episode with Amy Vetter touches on this specifically)The power of personal resilience in unlocking transformation (28:15)Shifting from traditional firm structures and ideologies (31:07)To learn more about Donny and his services, find him on LinkedIn. For more information about Dave , visit www.davidpetersfinancial.com.

Inside every successful corporation is a well-oiled financial team working to do what is in the best interest of the company. From the CFO to the finance intern, having a system of modern best practices and a comprehensive suite of financial solutions, properly utilized, is more important than ever before.   Join hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham, along with Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist David Barnacle, as they introduce you to the Oracle Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning suite and the key business processes within it.   Oracle MyLearn: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu   Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Kris-Ann Nansen, Radhika Banka, Parvathy Narayan, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.   ---------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript: 00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started. 00:26 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast. I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Principal Technical Editor. Nikita: Hi everyone! A few weeks ago, we concluded our spotlight on HCM business processes. And today, we're going to move on to ERP business processes. ERP, as you may already know, is Enterprise Resource Planning. And to take us through this, we have David “Barney” Barnacle, our Sr. Principal ERP Learning Strategist. For over 20 years, Barney has successfully trained customers in the rapid configuration and effective use of Oracle Applications. Welcome Barney! We're so glad to have you here today. 01:10 Barney: Thank you! Happy to be here. Lois: In previous episodes this season, we've spoken about the business process training that Oracle has. But from an ERP point of view, can you briefly tell us what it is and why we have it? Barney: Sure, Lois. Inside every successful corporation is a well-oiled financial team working to do what is in the best interest of the company. From the CFO to the financial trainee, everybody within an agile, innovative enterprise will be using modern best practice processes within a complete and fully integrated suite of SaaS applications. That's why we have Oracle Business Process Training for Oracle Fusion Cloud: ERP. It's a powerful training solution that gives users and companies a solid understanding of how Oracle ERP solutions work together to ensure effective and efficient transaction processing. 02:06 Nikita: Now that we know why we have this training, let's get down to it. Barney, what is ERP? Barney: Enterprise Resource Planning or for short as it's known, ERP, is a system or a collection of systems that companies use to manage day-to-day business activities efficiently. The ERP system brings together different dimensions of businesses from financials, procurement, risk and compliance, to enterprise performance management, and Oracle Fusion ERP analytics. ERP systems tie together several business processes and seamlessly allow data to flow between them. By collecting an organization's shared transactional data from multiple sources, ERP systems eliminate data duplication and provide data integrity with a single source of truth. 03:00 Barney: Today, ERP systems are critical for managing thousands of businesses of all sizes and across all industries. For these companies, ERP is as indispensable as the electricity that keeps the lights on. Remember, simply, ERP is the vehicle for integrating people, processes, and technologies across a modern enterprise. 03:27 Lois: Barney, in the world of various ERP systems, how is the Oracle Cloud ERP application suite unique? And how is it structured? Barney: Thanks, Lois. Oracle Cloud ERP is a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) application, or group of applications, that provides end-to-end business solutions. These solutions, in turn, enable businesses to significantly cut down costs, improve their process efficiencies, and enhance collaboration. Oracle Cloud ERP is classified into six different product families. We have Financial Management, Procurement, Project Management, Risk and Compliance, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and finally Enterprise Resource Planning Analytics. 04:14 Lois: So as I understand it, we have Oracle Cloud ERP, a modern cloud-based software application, and then have Oracle Financials, Procurement, EPM, and so on within the Oracle Cloud ERP suite, right? Barney: Correct. That's right, Lois. Nikita: That's quite an interesting mix of product families. Can you tell us about each of these products, Barney? 04:35 Barney: Sure can. Let's start with Financials. Oracle Cloud Financials is a global financial platform that connects and automates your financial management processes, including payables, receivables, fixed assets, expenses, GL, and reporting, for a clear view into your total financial health. 04:56 Barney: Next is Oracle Cloud Procurement, an integrated source-to-settle suite that automates business processes, enables strategic sourcing, improves supplier relationship management, and simplifies buying. Then we have Project Management. Oracle Project Management helps you plan and track your projects, assign the right talent, balance capacity against demand, and scale resources up or down quickly as needs change. 05:27 Barney: Then there's Risk and Compliance. Oracle Cloud Risk and Compliance Management is a security and audit solution. It controls user access to your Oracle Cloud ERP financial data, monitors users' activity, and makes it easy to meet compliance regulations through automation. 05:45 Nikita: Interesting. And these pillars are connected to one another? Barney: Yes, Niki. One of the biggest advantages of choosing the Oracle Cloud ERP solution is its ability to integrate all the product offerings that come under it. Now, getting back to the product pillars in the ERP suite, we have Enterprise Performance Management. With this, you can model and plan across Finance, HR, Supply Chain, and Sales. You can streamline the financial close process and drive better decisions. 06:18 Barney: And closing out the list, we have ERP Analytics. Oracle Fusion ERP Analytics is a prebuilt cloud-native solution for Oracle Cloud ERP. It helps financial and procurement professionals uncover underlying drivers of profitability, improve the use of working capital, and control business expenditures. Oracle's unique application capabilities enable organizations to unify financial analytics across different departments. So those are the six product families that make up the Oracle Cloud ERP. 06:56 Lois: I think that's what all organizations want, right? A comprehensive solution to help them meet their business needs. But how do organizations that have legacy ERP systems and processes move to the Oracle Cloud ERP systems? Do they need to completely switch over? And what happens to the existing processes they've been following? Barney: Yes Lois, they can co-exist. But you can implement just one cloud product, such as expenses or revenue management, to enhance the existing or current business processes. You can then have several step-by-step projects to move different business processes to the cloud – until you are 100% cloud. 07:37 Nikita: So, within the ERP suite, we'd like to learn more about Oracle Cloud Financials. Can you tell us about the types of organizations that would benefit from using Oracle Cloud Financials? Barney: Sure, Niki. So like I was saying before, Oracle Cloud Financials gives you a complete view of the overall financial health of your organization by connecting data and process automation in payables, receivables, fixed assets, expenses, GL, and reporting. It also helps organizations respond quickly to an everchanging environment and deliver decisive insights as needed. It is a comprehensive global solution designed for organizations of every size and industry. 08:20 Lois: Barney, a typical organization will have various transactions and processes that have a direct impact on their financial balance, right? Everything from financial accounting, transaction processing, payment delivery, and cash reconciliation, to employee expense processing, and even asset management. How does Oracle Cloud Financials process all these activities or functions? 08:41 Barney: Good question, Lois. Oracle Cloud Financials has several modules to help businesses handle all the processes you've just mentioned. Let's say procuring items, creating invoices, and making payments to suppliers are the typical day-to-day activities of a manufacturing organization. In Oracle Cloud Financials, the process of invoice to payment is handled by Oracle Payables and Payment tasks, which provide streamlined and user-friendly interfaces for Payables professionals to efficiently manage the Supplier Invoice to Payment process. 09:18 Barney: Let me give you another example. Every organization will have employees submitting their expenses for approval and payout. These expense-related activities are handled by Oracle Expenses. Oracle Expenses gives your organization the tools it needs to effectively manage the travel and expenses process. You can simply start the whole process by uploading a copy of your expense receipt using the expenses mobile app. 09:46 Lois: So, it looks like every financial end-to-end process in an organization is represented in Oracle Financials. Barney: Yes. Let's take Oracle Receivables. It provides streamlined and user-friendly interfaces for Receivables professionals to efficiently manage the credit-to-cash process. You can use it to proactively manage the entire cycle of billing customers and processing customer payments.  10:11 Barney: When you deal with cash that needs to be received from customers in a very large organization, it's important that you understand these customers well and build a good relationship with them. And to do this, many organizations hire specialists called collection agents. Oracle Advanced Collections is designed for these collection agents. For anyone who doesn't know, collection agents are basically those responsible for working with late or nonpaying customers to resolve payment issues and remove non-payments. 10:43 Nikita: That can be quite problematic, right? I'm sure any delays in payment from customers would cause cash flow problems for a company. Barney: Exactly. And so Advanced Collections is the critical final step in the credit/billing-to-collections business process, where the aim is to reduce delinquent customers, encourage prompt customer payment, and minimize the company Days Sales Outstanding. For those who don't know, Days Sales Outstanding is the average number of days it takes a company to receive payments for a sale. 11:19 Did you know that Oracle University offers free courses on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure? You'll find training on everything from cloud computing, database, and security to artificial intelligence and machine learning, all of which is available free to subscribers. So, get going! Pick a course of your choice, get certified, join the Oracle University Learning Community, and network with your peers. If you're already an Oracle MyLearn user, go to MyLearn to begin your journey. If you have not yet accessed Oracle MyLearn, visit mylearn.oracle.com and create an account to get started.  11:58 Nikita: Welcome back. We were just going through the various modules within Oracle Financials. So far, we've covered Payables and Payments, Expenses, Receivables, and Advanced Collections. What other modules are there, Barney? Barney: We have Oracle Assets, which is a complete asset management solution. Nikita: So assets like property… equipment… Barney: Exactly. Yes, and Oracle Assets helps you maintain your assets accurately. It supports the end-to-end asset life cycle from asset acquisition to retirement, i.e. from capture to retire. Also, if you do not directly acquire or buy the assets outright, we have a product called Lease Accounting, which covers all the accounting entries for leased assets. 12:45 Nikita: Ok. And what else? Barney: We also have Oracle Cash Management, tax engines, subledger accounting, intercompany engines, and general ledger. Nikita: Can you quickly run us through these modules? Barney: Sure. Oracle Cash Management is a comprehensive business solution that helps you optimize enterprise-wide liquidity and control cash. Tax engine is used to calculate transactional taxes based on business, products, places, and country rules. For example, when to use sales tax as opposed to when to use value added tax or VAT. 13:19 Barney: Oracle Subledger Accounting is a powerful, rules-based accounting solution that provides consistent accounting treatment for financial transactions created across Oracle Cloud applications. The intercompany engine is used to automatically balance journals that are between different organizations. For example, a central management fee charged annually between the organization's headquarters and each of its subsidiaries. In the cloud, with intercompany, you can have up to three balancing segments. However, the primary balancing segment is still used to identify the company or fund holder. 13:59 Barney: Then we have Oracle General Ledger. Oracle General Ledger is the central repository of accounting information. It provides highly automated financial processing, effective management control, and real-time visibility into financial results. 14:16 Lois: Before you continue, Barney, can you tell us what a general ledger system does? How is it different from subledger accounting? Barney: Sure, Lois. The main purpose of a general ledger system is to record the financial activities of a whole company and produce financial and management reports to help people inside and outside the organization make decisions. 14:38 Barney: Subledger journals can provide the detail and a fully auditable path back to the source transaction that created the accounting entry. This single source of subledger accounting detailed data is often summarized into account balances when transferred across to general ledger. It is these summarized GL account balances that will drive real-time financial reporting using the various cloud reporting tools. 15:04 Lois: Ok. So, you've told us about the modules within the Oracle Cloud Financials suite that capture different types of transactions. For Oracle Fusion Cloud users, what's the quickest way to uncover business insights and deliver financial improvements to their enterprise? Barney: To identify underlying drivers of profitability, improve the use of working capital, and control business expenditures, we have Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP Analytics. This is an analytics-based, state-of-the-art, technology-driven tool that provides you with the organization's financial status at any given point. Financial Reporting and Analytics helps you speed up your decision-making process with graphical insights, configurable analytics dashboards, and event-based delivery of information so you can take targeted actions. 15:56 Lois: That's interesting. Thanks for that, Barney. That was a lot for me to take in, but it's very insightful. Nikita: Yes, it was. Getting back to some of the processes you mentioned, like the Expense Report process or the Supplier Invoice to Payment process, can you give us an overall picture of how these processes are fulfilled within the Oracle Cloud Financials function? 16:17 Barney: Absolutely. At Oracle, we can map these different processes to the Oracle Financials Business Process Model. This model refers to the end-to-end business processes enabled by Oracle applications to record financial data and derive reports for efficient and successful business performance. There are key business processes in this model. 16:42 Nikita: I know you're going to be joining us in upcoming episodes to talk about each of these business processes, but can you briefly tell us about them? Barney: Sure, Niki. Let's start with the process that records cash inflow into an enterprise. Invoice to Cash refers to the cycle of events captured in the system, starting with recording customer invoices for goods and services provided, processing customer receipts based on the terms of payment, and reconciling receipts with bank statements and customer account balances with the Account Receivables ledger balances. 17:15 Barney: Then, we have the major processes that cause an outflow of cash from the enterprise. Procure to Pay involves recording the journey of transactions, from requisitioning and procuring goods and services from the supplier to receiving them at their destination and the ultimate entering of supplier invoices and payments. Asset to Retirement empowers organizations to manage the entire financial cycle of assets, including acquisition, capitalization, depreciation, and the ultimate retirement. 17:46 Barney: Accounting Transformation is the process of converting transactions or activities from subledgers to journal entries to meet corporate needs and statutory or legal reporting. And finally, Budget to Report covers the entire process of creating budgets, capturing actuals, and conducting budget reporting and variance analysis. 18:08 Lois: Each of these business processes has users with various job roles working on the application, right? They'll be taking action… providing input… So how does Oracle Cloud Financials define these job roles in the application? Barney: Well, in small or medium-sized companies, the financial functions may be the responsibility of a single accountant. But in large organizations, there is going to be a financial team, where the job roles are specialized, often focused on a particular business task or function. 18:43 Barney: The responsibility for these roles are often grouped into three main categories. We have the Specialist or Clerk, who is responsible for a specific group of tasks. For example, creating payments or reconciling bank statements. Then we have the Supervisor, who is responsible for managing the specialist executing the specific business tasks. And finally, we have the Managers or Manager, who is responsible for managing the team to meet company objectives. 19:15 Barney: When we're talking about the business processes I mentioned earlier, each of them are performed by different job roles. For example, for the Invoice to Cash business process, we have the Billing Specialist and Billing Managers, Collection Agents, and Cash Manager. For Procure to Pay, we have the Accounts Payable Specialist and Supervisor. Asset to Retirement, there's the Asset Accountant and Asset Accounting Manager. The Accounting Transformation business process is usually managed by any role assigned SLA privileges. And finally, for Budget to Reporting, we have the General Accountant and General Accounting Manager. 19:55 Nikita: Thank you so much, Barney, for giving us this thorough introduction to Oracle ERP, and particularly Oracle Financials Cloud. Barney: Thanks, Niki. It was a pleasure to be here. 20:05 Lois: We're looking forward to having you back on the podcast next week to talk about the first of the five main Financials business processes, the Invoice to Cash process flow. And to learn more about these business processes and get certified, visit mylearn.oracle.com. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 20:27 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

Donny Shimamoto, CEO of IntraPrise TechKnowlogies, is a thought leader in public accounting who is transforming the industry through his focus on technology, people, and culture. On Episode 22 of CPA Life, Donny talks to John Randolph about how firms can address the staffing crisis through demand management, outsourcing, and automation. He also shares the results of surveys conducted by his Center for Accounting Transformation on what makes firms successful, and the importance of advisory services over compliance work. Donny also touches on how AI will impact accounting, advising firms to leverage it to enhance their work, rather than replace it, and to be skeptical in its implementation. Get the full show notes and more resources at CPALifePodcast.com

Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermindhttps://geraldinecarter.com/*Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribeTake the survey!https://link.improvetheworld.net/BusinessStrategyforCPAsBy analyzing relevant data, business owners can identify patterns, trends, and insights that enable them to make well-informed decisions, mitigate risks, and capitalize on opportunities.In this episode, Donny Shimamoto of the Center for Accounting Transformation talks about the two different surveys that his firm is doing right now. The surveys aim to understand what works and what doesn't work for accounting firms, specifically in the areas of advisory services and staffing strategies. ​​Conducting surveys to identify the successful practices of accounting firms in terms of advisory services and staffing is crucial for understanding the key factors that contribute to client success. Donny believes that accountants are here to help improve the world, and the more accountants who contribute to their research, the more the results of that research can help improve the world.Highlights:— “Really good business-driven innovation is driven off of data.”— “Accounting is the foundation of a business. And it is absolutely necessary.” — “Accounting has the power to help small business owners be much more successful.”— “Many of us are scared of the word “failure,” but learning from errors or mistakes creates the opportunity to help others learn from what we did.”Connect with Donny:Website: https://improvetheworld.net/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnyitk/Episode mentions:Take the survey!URL: https://link.improvetheworld.net/BusinessStrategyforCPAs

The future of accounting continues to require more automated processes and less transactional work, and accountants will be expected to lead the charge. More and more, accountants rely on  cloud software and artificial intelligence and boost their soft skills and leadership prowess to excel in the profession.  Additionally, with cybersecurity threats on the rise, being proactive before a cyber incident happens is key — understanding potential threats, identifying vulnerabilities and planning around security optimization.  Adherence to cybersecurity frameworks will continue to be important, and financial institutions must comply with the Safeguards Rule as set forth by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Although updates to the Safeguards Rule are set to take effect on June 9, 2023, the requirement for each financial institution to implement an information security program has been in effect since May 23, 2003.  Listen in as Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA/CITP, CGMA, Owner — IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, chats with April Walker, CPA, CGMA, Lead Manager — Tax Practice & Ethics, AICPA & CIMA, on these topics and highlights the latest with regards to written information security plans as well as learning, networking and research opportunities available to practitioners. What you'll learn in this episode Takeaways from the recent webcast: Tax Practice Quarterly: Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity in 2023 (1:20) Q&A available with the webcast archive (3:53) Preview of Donny's session at the upcoming ENGAGE 2023 conference (4:41) Center for Accounting Transformation research surveys (8:03) A page from Donny's travel journal (13:00) Related resources ENGAGE 2023 conference — ENGAGE 23 will help you evolve by turning the pace of change from a challenge to an opportunity. With nine tracks of expert content, you'll gain exclusive insights, develop practical skills and walk away with tangible guidance to evolve at your own pace. Join us in June at the ARIA in Las Vegas or live online. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Information Security Plan Template — The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires financial institutions to have a written information security plan. Use this template to document your firm's policies. Webcast archive: Tax Practice Quarterly: Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity in 2023 — Jeffrey Birnbach, Senior Partner & Managing Director — Sylint, and Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA/CITP, CGMA, Founder & Managing Director — IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, provided practical advice on mitigating cybersecurity incidents and protecting data privacy in this recent webcast from May 2023. Center for Accounting Transformation is conducting research on two important topics. Voice your opinions in the Advisory Services Research Survey and Staffing Strategies Research Survey. Keep your finger on the pulse of the dynamic and evolving tax landscape with insights from tax thought leaders in the AICPA Tax Section. The Tax Section Odyssey podcast includes a digest of tax developments, trending issues and practice management tips that you need to be aware of to elevate your professional development and your firm practices. This resource is part of the robust tax resource library available from the AICPA Tax Section. The Tax Section is your go-to home base for staying up to date on the latest tax developments and providing the edge you need for upskilling your professional development. If you're not already a member, consider joining this prestigious community of your tax peers. You'll get free CPE, access to rich technical content such as our Annual Tax Compliance Kit, a weekly member newsletter and a digital subscription to The Tax Adviser.

In this episode, Rory speaks with Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CGMA, CITP of the Center for Accounting Transformation, about the latest in the accounting profession and the research he's doing into advisory and staffing. Discover why Donny believes that accounting professionals can help their clients achieve their financial goals by providing peace of mind, vision and clarity, and hope. Donnie discusses the potential of AI to automate tasks and improve efficiency, while also highlighting the risks associated with it, such as bias and data privacy. He emphasizes the importance of developing policies and procedures to ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly. Do you want to know how to create a sense of community and belonging in virtual workplaces? Do you want to know how to go from Trusted Advisory to Transformational Advisor? Find out the answer to these questions and more on this Episode with 3-Time show guest Donny Shimamoto!

On Episode 103 of The Unique CPA, Randy is joined once again by Donny Shimamoto of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies and The Center for Accounting Transformation. With the busy season completed, Donny is now looking towards solutions to improve the wellbeing of the members of the profession and strategies for healthy firm culture and growth—and he has commissioned two research studies to find out how best to accomplish those goals: one on advisory services, and one on staffing strategies. The two discuss all the details, how to participate, and what kind of positive steps they're hoping to take based on the resulting data. Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUniqueCPA.com

Produced by the Center for Accounting Transformation. Presented by CPA Trendlines. Entrepreneurs in the accounting profession are rare, according to Chase Birky, president and CEO of Dark Horse CPAs. And he should know. More here: https://cpatrendlines.com/2023/04/10/chase-birky-paralysis-by-analysis-plagues-the-profession/ He had to take an uncomfortable step outside of his own comfort zone to become one.After starting out in audit at a Big 4 right out of college, he decided it was no longer what he wanted to do."I started an audit specifically, you know, not really having a great idea of what audit truly was, you know, because you take the courses in your undergrad, and you know, you have a section of it on the CPA exam," Birky explained. "But what that material is versus what the job is, you know, are two very different things."That motivated Birky to begin a partnership in a firm that specialized in tax and client accounting services (though he added it probably was not called CAS then).Unfortunately, that didn't work the way he hoped, either.However, as Birky reminds us, necessity is the mother of invention.

Your host, Jackie Meyer, talks with the Founder of Intraprise TechKnowlogies, Donny Shimamoto. The visionary behind the Center for Accounting Transformation, Donny is leading a movement to enable transformation and change the world for the better by empowering and equipping business and accounting professionals with leading-edge tools and techniques. Donny is the visionary behind the Center for Accounting Transformation and he's leading a movement to enable transformation and change the world for the better by empowering and equipping business and accounting professionals with leading-edge tools and techniques.To learn more about Donny's work with ITK, click HERE.To learn more about Donny's work with the Center for Accounting Transformation, click HERE.To check out Donny's LinkedIn, click HERE.Interested in being a guest on the show? Apply HERE! Check out more of Jackie's work at https://www.jackiemeyercpa.com/.

On Episode 90 of The Unique CPA, Randy is joined by Donny Shimamoto, Founder and Managing Director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, LLC, and “Inspiration Architect” at The Center for Accounting Transformation. An undisputed leader in the accounting industry, with accolades from Accounting Today, CPA Practice Advisor, CPA Technology Advisor and more, Donny's message is one of inclusivity, diversity, and belonging—and it's boiled down by the URL of The Center for Accounting Transformation's website: ImproveTheWorld.net. Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUniqueCPA.com

Welcome to the Accounting Influencers Podcast, going live every Monday to 150 countries and 30,000 accounting practitioners, fintech specialists and influencers in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space.In today's episode 1 of a new season, "What Is Accounting Transformation? Donny Shimamoto."You can also watch this on youtube here: https://youtu.be/6iKrIxPUqsQDonny Simamoto is the founder of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, an advisory-focused CPA firm accelerating innovation and organizational development for small and mid-market businesses and nonprofits. He is recognized as a global thought leader and educator in the fields of accounting innovation, IT risk management, and performance management.Key questions addressed in this episode :☛ the origins of the Center for Accounting Transformation and what's happening at that brand here: www.improvetheworld.net☛ what exactly is meant by 'accounting transformation'☛ key areas of accounting transformation, including accounting firms , tax, audit, outsourced accounting and☛ how the accounting firm transformation assessment works and the 6 major transformation areas firms must understand☛ blueprints for tax return preparation automation and outsourcing that looks at the end to end tax return process☛ findings on research into keys to success with tax staff outsourcing☛ upcoming research on what accounting firms that have successfully used outsourcing are doing and lessons learned☛ the content of audit self-study course (automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, data analytics, data visualization and the future of audit)☛ the approach PwC has used to educate its entire US staff to identify opportunities to leverage technologies.☛ toolkits in In CAS and finance transformation to help finance application and vendor selection for ERP and CPM solutions☛ DE&I research findings from multiple state accounting societies, media, and firm associations​Donny co-chair of the National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs, past chairman of the AICPA's Information Management and Technology Assurance Executive Committee, and former member of its Governing Council, Assurance Services Executive Committee, and numerous other AICPA committees and task forces. He is also a past member of the IFAC Technology Advisory Group. Donny was recognized as one of the Top Thought Leaders in Public Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor from 2012 to 2022, Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting (2013/2014/2017-2021) by Accounting Today, received the 2009-2010 President's Award from the Hawaii Society of CPAs, was named to CPA Technology Advisor's 40 Under 40 list in 2007 & 2009 & 2014, and was also a Hawaii Top High Tech Leader in 2004.Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn/Twitter: @donnyitk​https://improvetheworld.net******************************ACCOUNTANTSIf you have a business development, sales or growth angle to your role, and are expected to bring in new business, here's a great resource for you:Are you a busy accountant struggling to create more revenue and career opportunities?As an accounting professional, you likely have a business development strategy, selling or work winning dimension to your role and the ability to generate new revenues is what makes you wealthier, more promotable and more valuable to your employers. Many accountants struggle to bring in the kind of work that gets them noticed or makes them promotable. If you're a partner, you're under pressure to show you're worth a seat at the table. If you're below partner level, you know that beyond technical competence, the passport to partnership is the ability to drive...

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrDonny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, a specialized CPA firm dedicated to helping small businesses and middle market organizations leverage strategic technologies, proactively manage their business and technical risks, and enable balanced organizational growth and development.  Donny also works with larger organizations as a trusted business advisor, facilitating organizational strategic planning and execution, IT governance and planning, enterprise architecture, information architecture and assurance, business process improvement, and business intelligence initiatives.Click here for more Donny ShimamotoAs the founder of The Center for Accounting Transformation, Shimamoto is leading a movement to improve the world by empowering and equipping accountants with leading-edge tools and techniques.Donny was the first Certified Information Technology Professional (CPA.CITP) in Hawaii and is one of only four in the state. The CITP credential is a specialty designation of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), that identifies Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) with the unique ability to bridge between business and technology, meeting the strict requirements for a CPA license as well as additional training and experience in technology strategic planning, IT architecture, business process enablement, system development and acquisition, IT audit and control, and IT governance. The immediate past chairman of the AICPA's IMTA Executive Committee, Donny has been both influential and critical in several AICPA initiatives, including the development of an IT Competency Model for CPAs and redesign of the CITP Credential. Donny previously co-chaired the AICPA's Business Intelligence Working Group, researching and creating practice aids in the area of Evidence-based Management, Application & Data Integration, and Information Assurance.  Donny has also been involved in the authoring of guidance published by the AICPA on IT Considerations for Risk-Based Auditing and Enterprise Business Intelligence. As a subject matter expert, Donny is often invited at national and international webinars and is a familiar keynote speaker at national-level conferences.Donny obtained invaluable knowledge and exposure to a wide range of industries and sectors (retail, hospitality, state government, defense, and higher education) while earning his CPA license as a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Business Assurance Services, Operational & Systems Risk Management Services, and Management Consulting Services lines of business.  With ITK he has expanded his industry expertise to include not-for-profit (social services, foundations, and membership organizations), professional services, small businesses, technology, and mobile professionals.

Transformation Talks: Corporate social responsibility reporting all starts with transparency, and leaders should prioritize this, not just for communities but also for sustainability. James Ross, the CSR leader at Buzzacott, a 500-person accounting firm based in London, talks to Donny Shimamoto, for the Center for Accounting Transformation. Published by CPA Trendlines. 

Transformation TalksWith Bill PenczakCenter for Accounting TransformationAfter 16 years of working in firms, Mike Maksymiw, CPA, CGMA, was done. Or, so he thought.Maksymiw discussed his career path in the latest episode of Transformation Talks with Bill Penczak, the chief transformation officer for the Center for Accounting Transformation. Maksymiw, who is now the leader of Aprio's Alliance-Firm Foundation, offers career advice for new CPAs and those considering succession planning.More here: https://cpatrendlines.com/2022/09/12/secret-to-success-a-growth-and-abundance-mindset/

*Earn free CPE credit for listening to this episode! Visit EarmarkCPE.com to sign up for free! I am so excited to invite my friend, one of the few Asian thought leaders, educators and influencers in accounting, Donny Shimamoto, to talk about all things accounting, technology, small businesses and… Asian Representation!!! Well, you are probably very familiar with him because he's everywhere, speaking and consulting about all things IT risk mgmt, business transformation, organizational development and AI! And as you know, I am always curious and have a million questions, I love talking to brilliant minds and bouncing off thoughts on some very tough questions, and this time is no exception. ABOUT OUR GUEST, DONNY SHIMAMOTO, CPA, CITP, CGMA Donny is the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, an advisory-focused CPA firm specialized in innovation acceleration and organizational development for small businesses, middle market organizations, and nonprofits. He is dedicated to help accountants and organizations strategically leverage technology while proactively managing their business and technical risk. CONNECT WITH DONNY SHIMAMOTO: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnyitk/ About IntrapriseTechKnowlogies: www.intraprise.us GET INVOLVED IN THIS MEANINGFUL JOURNEY: Center for Accounting Transformation:  www.improvetheworld.net. ABOUT CECE LEUNG, CPA Cecilia "Cece" Leung is a finance executive and CFO advisor to growing businesses who are ready to scale up financially and get ready for next-level opportunities. Cece is the founding partner of The Entrepreneur CFO, a global professional advisory firm helping growing companies with strategic decision making as they become financially and operationally ready for their next big thing. With fluency in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, paired with two decades of international financial services experience in New York, London, Switzerland, Hong Kong and China, Cece has worked with prominent firms including JP Morgan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young, offering the best in-class solutions to Fortune 500 and growing companies worldwide. Cece is the author of the book Dear Accountant: Stories, Advice and Explorations, which offers up-and-coming professionals valuable insights and perspectives about the many career paths and opportunities under the accounting and finance umbrella. Personal Website: www.ceceleung.com Book Website: www.dearaccountantbook.com The Entrepreneur CFO website: www.ecfopro.com Financial Planning: https://www.ecfopro.com/financial-planning-advisory/ Coaching, Training and Workshop: https://www.ecfopro.com/training-and-coaching/ PR, Media and Collab: MEDIA | Cece Leung Podcast Blog: https://www.ceceleung.com/blog Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceceleung/

On this episode of the Risk & Accounting Advisory podcast, our Accounting Transformation professionals explain what it means for organizations as they grow or expand, navigate routine or complex transactions, adopt regulatory changes, or are simply looking to mature or optimize existing operations. We start the conversation by defining the key components to success accounting transformation: discussing organizational & department structure, systems and alignment, and accounting cycles and processes. We walk through the five-step maturity model to optimize business, as well as looking at accounting software systems integration and optimization. Finally, the podcast covers a real-world example of a success story and the process by which the company went through to transform their approach to physical inventory counting, costing, and tracking.Cherry Bekaert's Accounting Transformation practice is focused on technology-driven solutions for building foundational accounting needs, optimizing processes, and designing advanced digital controllership functions, which increases productivity, reduces costs, and improves reporting. 

Alternative work arrangements such as remote or hybrid options are becoming more prolific making it crucial for firms to fully leverage digital technologies. Mainstays like automation, e-marketing and employee engagement strengthen relevancy  and future proof a business — especially with the “great resignation” looming and client interaction mechanisms evolving. In this episode of the Tax Section Odyssey, April Walker, CPA, CGMA, Lead Manager — AICPA Tax Section, talks through these topics with Cari Weston, MST, CPA, CGMA, Executive Director — Center for Accounting Transformation. Cari will be joined by Donny Shimamoto, CPA,CITP, CGMA, Founder and Managing Director — IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, for the webcast Tax Practice Quarterly: A Blueprint for Tax Technology and Digital Optimization on May 17, 2022, 1–3pm ET (rebroadcasted on May 25, 2022, 3–5pm ET) to continue the discussion with an in-depth presentation. What you'll learn in this episode Important objectives for the Center for Accounting Transformation (2.45) Tips on how to narrow the search for technology stack improvements and ideal implementation timing (4.10) Primary hold ups that impede the progress of firms embracing technological changes (9.45) Potential processes often overlooked that are eligible for the biggest automation improvements (15.00) Alternate work arrangements and related technology improvement needs (16.26) Cari's final thoughts (20.50) A page from Cari's travel journal (22.08) AICPA resources Tax Practice Quarterly: A Blueprint for Tax Technology and Digital Optimization — Digital transformation can take a “phoenix” or “evolutionary” approach — the path you take depends on your risk appetite, budget, and business strategy. Attend this non-technical session on May 17, 2022, 1 – 3pm ET (rebroadcast on May 25, 2022, 3 – 5pm ET) to figure out which digital technologies you should be looking at and which transformation strategy may be the right one for you. AICPA Town Hall Series— Bi-monthly, high-impact news broadcast series that delivers the latest news, analysis, insights and practical guidance to accounting and finance professionals and respond to pressing issues facing the profession Keep your finger on the pulse of the dynamic and evolving tax landscape with insights from tax thought leaders in the AICPA Tax Section. The Tax Section Odyssey podcast includes a digest of tax developments, trending issues and practice management tips that you need to be aware of to elevate your professional development and your firm practices. This resource is part of the robust tax resource library available from the AICPA Tax Section. The Tax Section is your go-to home base for staying up to date on the latest tax developments and providing the edge you need for upskilling your professional development. If you're not already a member, consider joining this prestigious community of your tax peers. You'll get free CPE, access to rich technical content such as our Annual Tax Compliance Kit, a weekly member newsletter and a digital subscription to The Tax Adviser.

Rory and Managing Director Mark McCarron are joined by Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA to talk about ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and ESG reporting. Donny is the Managing Director for Intraprise Techknowlogies, he leads The Center for Accounting Transformation and is the AICPA Chair for the National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs. In this episode, Donny explains what ESG is, why it is here, and the various ways it is being reported. Also, find out why it's essential for organizations to be good citizens and how we, as investors, employees, and consumers, can help drive companies to make meaningful change. Hear Donny's thoughts on how a new generation of employees are less concerned about money and more about making a positive impact in the world. Listen as they discuss topics like ExxonMobil, the harmful effects of Blockchain on the environment, and the importance of Cybersecurity in our ever-evolving digital world. Don't miss out on this episode to learn more about all things ESG.

Rory and Rob are joined by Donny Shimamoto CPA, CITP, CGMA. He is the Managing Director for IntrapriseTechknowlogies, the Inspiration Architect for The Center for Accounting Transformation, and is the AICPA Chair for the National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs. In this episode, Donny talks about his work helping accountants with technology, business practices, and risk management through the adoption of technology and outsourcing. Find out about the AICPA's, CPA Horizons Project 2025, and why they decided to remove “accounting services” when describing the profession. Donny also talks about how small and midsize accounting firms were crucial during the pandemic and how they play a vital role in powering the small business economy. Get insights on the flood of Venture back money and its drive towards market acquisition, his thoughts on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Reporting, and why it can be advantageous to choose the safety of people over profit. Learn about the importance of recognizing patterns, as Donny explains the evolution of technology from The Mainframe to Cloud Computing to now Blockchain and AI. Lastly, find out why it's important to treat technology with a “Glass Half Full” mindset while you surf the technological wave of change. Check out this informative and entertaining can't miss episode!

Donny Shimamoto is the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, an advisory-focused CPA firm in Honolulu. He’s also an incredibly active volunteer and thought leader for the American Institute of CPAs, doing work in information management, IT, and assurance services. His latest project is leading the launch of the new Center for Accounting Transformation. Its mission statement reads: “The Center enables transformation by guiding members through the adoption and change required in order to step into the future of the accounting profession. We are not here to convince people to change, but rather to empower those who seek an alternative to the status quo.” We talk about how they are doing that, and why. To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit https://blionline.org/blog (blionline.org/blog). Resources: https://www.intraprise.us/ (intraprise.us) https://www.improvetheworld.net/ (improvetheworld.net) https://www.evolutionofcpa.org/ (evolutionofcpa.org) Future-Proof is a production of http://crate.media (Crate Media)