Interview with Bob Bunting, Former Chair of the American Institute of CPAs

MSBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Victor Velazquez held a virtual chat with Bob Bunting, founder and principal at RL Bunting Consulting and a trusted voice in the accounting profession. Bob has spent over 40 years in public accounting and has consulted with large wealth management firms and regional CPA firms on strategies for new service development, growth, profitability, people development, mergers, and owner accountability. Victor and Bob discussed COVID-19's transcendent impact on numerous professions and businesses, high-level professionals, and other individuals, with a focus on how to use this time to evolve your business or career. Creating value for clients will not be done in

What are you thinking about during this pandemic, big picture?

We are dealing with two issues from a business perspective: the impact on business and professional services, and the recession. There is no playbook for the pandemic--we are being asked to follow guidelines and laws being issued by multiple governments. Our job right now is just to cooperate. After the pandemic subsides, there will be a major business recession, and there are playbooks for that.

Firms can learn a lot from each other as we go through the aftermath of the pandemic. The relevant question is, How do we reset our value proposition in a post-COVID world? Maybe employees won’t show up in an office every day and work as they have in the past, interact with clients, and give value for money. the same way as it was before.

What are your thoughts on COVID’s impact on technology?

Technology is a huge winner in this event. I consulted with CEOs from upper/mid-size accounting firms who previously made commitments to technology. Those accounting firms that had already gone paperless and enabled but they still have to maintain productivity, people to act virtually had very small losses in productivity. Their tax and auditing services are all going well, and employees are working as groups even though everyone is at home. In contrast, a firm that had done a very poor job at going paperless saw its productivity fall by more than half.

You consult with CEO-level individuals: part of that is a people equation. What advice do you have for the existing workforce, as well as the pipeline of new people trying to come in?

I tell people I advise that this is a tremendous opportunity to do base building. For example, the accounting profession is known for providing a variety of services. Some are flat and less valuable to clients, while others are growing rapidly, and are valued more by clients. During this period of turmoil, firms have an opportunity to build up the base of services that have appeal in the market and to wean from services that are no longer growing. The dislocation in the marketplace, the reductions in force, the Paycheck Protection Program--all of these may allow firms to finance to build new areas of service.

What role does the concept of “continuous learning” play in this environment?

If [professionals] just maintain the core skill set obtained at the beginning of their career, they will eventually become unemployable. Professionals have to keep learning in order to get a paying job. Continuous learning gives a professional the potential to expand skill sets in order to continue meeting the needs of clients. To call it “continuous learning” is almost an insult to what really goes on; it is really continuous evolution—completely remaking oneself in order to be viable in the market.

There is always a contingent of those who are resistant to change. What are some of the signals already being sent as we transition into a COVID reset?

I foresee an onslaught of regulation of business in general because of the pandemic. One emerging notion is that if you have a core of people who are working in “risky” circumstances during the pandemic, this will lead to new litigation and regulation of an employer’s responsibility to employees. There will be a lot of regulation and litigation around worker safety because of this.

"It is really continuous evolution— completely remaking oneself in order to be viable in the market."

There were retail and hospitality factions that within weeks could not pay their rent. Can you speak to the lack of strategic planning/foresight to deal with adversity?

Accounting firms have teams for risk assessment. They take steps for risk reduction, then insure and finance risk that cannot be avoided. The hospitality industry would have discussed the chance of a pandemic where everything shuts down, and they probably would have assumed “that is unthinkable,” and stopped there.

What role should associations and consortiums play now and/or during the COVID reset?

Professional associations should consult with members and advocate for the entire membership. They should also be a center of information sharing. There will be great ideas and best practices coming out as a result of the pandemic. Associations should synthesize the information coming in, determine what is appropriate and helpful to members, and disperse that information to those who have a need to know.

What should leadership of accounting firms—and derivatively, law firms— be thinking about to seize this as an opportunity to acquire firms, branch out into new services, etcetera?

Every time there’s a massive disaggregation of the “normal” (pandemics, recessions), there is a process of capitulation of knowledge professionals who decide not to go through the changes again. A wise leader has to decide if it’s time to capitulate, or whether the firm can be the beneficiary of the capitulation. My advice is to decide whether your group, or just you as a practitioner, have a chance to be opportunistic and take advantage of the broadbased capitulation—do we admit we are really prey, or does this energize us as we realize we are natural predators who will grow and gain market share?