Episode 98

Tech Disruption – Making Your Accounting Firm Future Ready

Ian Khan is the creator of the Future Readiness Score (FRS), a KPI he developed to help organizations counter disruption and become efficient, impactful and relevant in the future. He works with Private and Public sector organizations worldwide and is a leading thinker and industry advocate.

Ian is a CNN featured Technology Futurist, 3 times TEDx Speaker, Director of highly acclaimed documentary “Blockchain City", Bestselling author of “7 Axioms of Value Creation”, and contributor to many publications including McGraw Hill and Forbes. He is also a founding member of the Government Experience (GX) initiative by the Prime Minister’s Office, UAE. Shownotes:

  • Why hype vs reality is the key argument when talking about technology
  • The greatest challenges facing accountancy today
  • Accountancy has stayed much the same for 500 years
  • The big drivers now changing the accountancy profession
  • Why there is confusion over how blockchain and AI is evolving
  • Insights on blockchain and AI from a technology futurist
  • How movies are influenced by future technologies
  • Shout out to Ian's Amazon backed documentary: AI = The Next Frontier
  • Why graduates and millennials are less willing to work for accounting firms
  • The expectations that clients now have from accounting firms
  • Why accounting firms need to think differently for better client engagement
  • The need for accountancy firms to invest in new technologies
  • There's a cultural revolution taking place in accounting firms to attract talent
  • Why accountants are some of the smartest people on the planet but need to change
  • What future readiness looks like for accounting firms
  • How technology is changing exponentially and not linearly for accounting firms
  • Why accountants need to take more risks than they have traditionally done

Ian Khan on the Accounting Influencers podcast with BD Academy founder Rob Brown

In his spare time, Ian enjoys reading, shooting, nature and film-making. Currently his time is taken up by working on two films “AI – The Next Frontier” and “GX Now – Government Experiences Worldwide”. Contact Ian:

Ian's website 

Ian's LinkedIn 

Email him: ian@iankhan.com

Ian on Twitter

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About the Podcast

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Accounting Voices
Accounting Voices is a senior conversation platform for accounting firm leaders navigating AI, private equity, consolidation, talent pressure and relevance.

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About your host

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Rob Brown

Rob Brown is the founder and host of the Accounting Voices Podcast, the flagship solo show of the Accounting Voices Network. Each episode offers sharp analysis and commentary on the trends, ideas and people shaping the global accounting profession.

Through this Accounting Voices Podcast, Rob helps accounting firm leaders, decision makers and professionals stay relevant and make sense of disruption in areas like AI, automation, M&A, private equity and soft skills beyond the tech. His perspective blends clarity, insight and curiosity, making complex issues relevant and practical for professionals and decision makers across accounting and finance.

He also leads two monthly panel shows, Accounting M&A and Accounting AI, which bring together senior voices to explore consolidation, strategy and the impact of technology on firms and people.

Rob is the author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and a TEDx speaker whose talk The Personal Brand of You has more than 400,000 views. Over his career he has hosted and moderated more than 1,000 conversations with accounting and fintech leaders worldwide.

Based in Nottingham UK, Rob is a stroke survivor living with epilepsy, a black belt in kickboxing, a decent chess player and an average player of four musical instruments.