WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HAVE IN STORE? TALKING ABOUT EVOLVING TECHNOLOGIES WITH PWC

-Jonathan Aharon

​On Tuesday, April 2nd, our chapter welcomed PwC to the meeting. Personally, I found this exciting, as it was an opportunity for us to hear from a Big 4 firm about the evolving technology in our world. The emphasis was placed on trending technologies such as Internet of Things, automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and drones. The presenters made this an engaging presentation by breaking up their slides with the occasional video. The videos really drove home the point that our presenters were trying to make, that in a world of rapidly changing technologies it’s becoming more necessary to understand all this technology. They explained how some of these technologies are already being applied in the workplace, such as programs that automatically track your time sheet and analyzing data from journal entries. The seemingly little tasks that automations can do for us really save a boatload of time, which I appreciate as someone who believes time is the most precious resource on Earth. 
 
Perhaps my biggest takeaway was that despite all the evolution of these technologies and talk about robots/automation taking our jobs, they aren’t expected to take our jobs in accounting, which for a college student sounded like a blessing and validation of my choice to be an accounting major. In fact, it becomes an asset to us once we leave college because the automations can do the more simple monotonous tasks for us, which should leave incoming interns and staff with the opportunity to start learning more complicated parts of accounting from the beginning and therefore accelerating the projected growth path within the accounting firms from its current projection. If that’s not motivation for us students during this time of semester where the grind continues without mercy, then I don’t know what is. In addition, through provided technology learning courses, PwC and other firms look out to make sure that we are learned in these evolving technologies. This is a theme that was repeated at the beginning of the semester with Ms. Taylor, and this workplace education was mentioned by EY earlier in the semester as well. Overall, this was a very informative presentation and opportunity to learn, and hopefully our members will recognize the need to be more aware of the rapid technological changes in our world.