In this video and podcast, Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley, CPA, speak with Elizabeth Beastrom, president of Thomson Reuters’ Tax and Accounting Professionals unit. The discussion focuses on current issues and how Thomson Reuters is working to help professionals. Watch the video, listen to the audio podcast below, or read the transcript.
Or use the below audio podcast player to listen:
Transcript
(Note: There may be typos due to automated transcription errors.)
.SPEAKERS
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Elizabeth Beastrom, Randy Johnston
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 00:00
Welcome to the accounting Technology Lab, sponsored by CPA practice advisor, with your host, Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley, welcome
Randy Johnston 00:11
to the accounting Technology Lab. This is Randy Johnston with my co host, Brian Tankersley and my we are so pleased to have as a guest from Thomson Reuters of Elizabeth Beastrom, the president of the tax and accounting division. She is going to give us a little bit of background on where Thomson Reuters is at. But I think the reason that I was so pleased to have Elizabeth as a guest was unfortunately, I was not able to attend a Thompson Reuters Synergy Conference this year, and I sent Brian in my stead, and he got to spend some time with Elizabeth. And he, he calls me from the bloody airport, and he says, You won’t believe what I just did. And, you know, and I got to listen to him at the Atlanta airport for what, 40 minutes, Brian, I think it was 35 it was Grant, yeah, you were just like on a roll, which you sometimes do. So Brian, I’m going to let you kind of set that up, and then we’ll give the time over to Elizabeth. So what would you like our listeners to know about what you already know about Elizabeth from your first conversation?
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 01:13
Well, Elizabeth is actually an accountant by trade, and so she’s a, she’s a, she’s an inactive CPA, but she is a CPA, and as I recall, she’s a Deloitte person, if I remember, right? Yeah, and so and so, she’s actually, she actually has a daughter that is working on, working on joining the profession too, potentially. So she’s helping us all with the talent crisis, which is awesome. But what I what I found interesting, is how Thompson’s approach has changed to from a build internally to a build and partner strategy. So, you know, kind of, could you talk to us a little bit about that strategy, and kind of how you came to it, and what you think the, what do you think, you know, what do you think the profession is going to look like in 10 years? You know, what kinds of, what kinds of alliances could you imagine having? Yeah,
Elizabeth Beastrom 02:11
you know, I think the shift to the open ecosystem, you know, happened really, I’ve been in the role now just over three years. And, you know, that was one of the first things we did, where we built, and we have had a history of building really good products, our CS suite, which was one of the first integrated products, accounting suites. We have really good tax software with our ultra tax go system, tax one source, and we were hearing directly from our customers. So one of our values is customer obsession. In my first, you know, 90 days, I spent a lot of time out with customers, and since it was post busy season, got a lot of direct feedback. And in that it was, what did they like? What was making their jobs easier? And, you know, a few products came top of mind. Sure, prep, safe sent, and it was ease of use and efficiency was helping them do their jobs better, and helping them solve for manual, non value added tasks that you can’t find people to do anyway with the talent shortage. So, you know, it seemed like a no brainer that we would start a journey and partnership with these companies. So in 2022 we announced at Synergy, a partnership with both sure prep and safe send. And we actually started reselling sure prep during that time as well. And you know, our customers loved it. And what we did is we worked on and strengthened the integrations with our tax software at that time. So, stronger open APIs, stronger connections, and it came a no brainer for the acquisitions of both of them. So, you know, it started with, again, hearing from our customers directly that these were products they liked. And I, you know, I’m a big believer, if it’s not broke, why try and fix it, and for us to build these and to get this the cult following that both of these products had wouldn’t have been a good use of our time or money, and we wouldn’t have won. So we’re going to continue this approach with an open ecosystem, you know, partnering as well as inorganic options, and it’s going to be based on where our customers see the value and what they want integrated.
Randy Johnston 04:24
Yeah, so Elizabeth, I was smiling while you were giving the background, because I was going back to creative solutions, you know, pre acquisition by Thomson Reuters, not to mention the 100 plus tax products and others that existed that have been acquired over time. And so this idea that you can kind of watch for innovative solutions and say, That’s a good partner, we might just want to acquire those particular technologies as a strategy, I think, is a it’s a radical breakthrough. Now, I don’t want to overstate. It for our podcast. But I can tell you, having been in meetings in the old days in Dexter in later days in Ann Arbor, and listening to some of the conversations, it’s like, wow. And the shift here it’s, it’s not 180 degrees, but it’s a big shift, because the company of Thomson Reuters has always been focused on the accounting profession and doing a great job for, you know, products and service and integration and all those types of things for a long, long time. But this idea that this group over here has a really nifty product, I wonder if we could bring that into the fold. Now, it seems to me you’ve got a few other I’ll just call it management attributes that I like. I know you tend to be kind of people centric, but I don’t want to speak for you. I want you to speak for yourself. So, so you know, Randy’s thinking about changing jobs. Why? Why would I come to work for you at Thomson Reuters, in the in the management team, or, I don’t know, as a frontline customer support person,
Elizabeth Beastrom 06:08
you know, I think we’re solving interesting problems, and you know, we’re doing, I’m going to introduce another one, and we just relaunched our values at Thomson Reuters, and another one of our values is stronger together. And you know, it was coined from we used to say within our own tap or tax and accounting professionals group, hashtag, better together. So we’re working collectively together, aligned on the same priorities, focused on our customer. At the center of it, there’s a lot of respect for each other, and we’re having a lot of fun doing it, but we’re solving really interesting customer problems,
Randy Johnston 06:43
you know. And that’s an interesting take, because solving interesting problems has been kind of our lives for a long time. Brian and I, and I know if we go into a meeting, the two of us are better than either one of us alone, for sure. And you know, I don’t like the phrase The room is smarter than any one of us that you know that’s not one I because I think each individual can contribute. And I am just stunned when I sit in a meeting and watch, because what I usually say Elizabeth is I get to attend a lot of meetings, and I get to be around a whole lot of smart people, and if I can contribute one little idea in that meeting that’s been a pretty good meeting for me. So this Stronger Together idea and the bantering back and forth seems like a good value to promote,
Elizabeth Beastrom 07:32
yeah, and we’ve had some opportunities for, you know, as a team, for forming, storming and norming, and we’ve come out, you know, really, I would say on the better side of that, and it, I want to share an experience where, you know, this customer centricity, and, you know, focusing on the customer, customer obsession, open ecosystem really came to be, and it was right after I joined in this new role. I’ve been at Thomson Reuters 20 years. Most of my career was in the legal business unit, but I’m not an attorney, as Randy said, I’m an inactive CPA and I started around the same time as him, when it was six big firms, versus eight, which are now four. So that can give you an idea of when I was in, starting in the industry, but this is a homecoming to me, coming back to the tax and accounting professionals business. It’s personal to me, and the work that needs to get done is the same work, but how we’re doing it. You know, from 1991 1992 has significantly changed, and bringing in the right tools and solutions to help our customers is so important. So I’ll go back to how this all started. Post busy season, we had a meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and not in Dexter where you’re used to visiting, you have to come visit us in Ann Arbor sometime in our new office. But we had a customer post mortem, and it was a meeting where we called our customers, senior leadership was in the room with me, and we basically said, tell us how we did this last busy season. And I will tell you, the customers did not hold back. They were very forthright and candid with their feedback. And it was a call to action to us to as a result of it, we had significant investments in our products, including Ultra tax, including go system tax, including one source. And this is where the idea of the open ecosystem as well, because they talked about sure prep, they talked about safe send. So this is, you know, customer obsession, putting them at the center of what we do. We heard directly from them, and they basically said, we need you to do better. We need you to be the gold standard. And then we took that as a way, as a team, and the forming, storming, norming happened, and we came back. We said, You know what, we don’t want to just set the gold standard or return to the gold standard. We want to set the new gold standard. So let’s have that as our team motto. And it was pretty. Invigorating for us as a team to come together for this as a result of our customers feedback and and how do we make it better for all of our customers and set that new gold standard? Yeah, exceeding
Randy Johnston 10:10
the old gold standard, and set a new that’s very admirable, as I would see Elizabeth, and as I’m reflecting on the way that you’re discussing that this, you know, team saying we can build something better is so valuable, and as the profession becomes more advisory centric, you haven’t heard me talk about it like this, but my view of advisory is it is client centric, and you do personal planning, and then business planning, and then all other advisory services follow from there. And what you just described was an advisory service approach to software development is the way I’d hear it. It was customer centric, and you were trying to listen and do what was in the best interest of the client, and as an outcome of that, it’s in the best interest of the firm or the business. In your case, 100%
Elizabeth Beastrom 11:10
well stated. I will be using those words going forward. Randy, well,
Randy Johnston 11:14
I appreciate that. But you know, again, I I always learn from smart people around me. And you know, I guess what I’d like to do is give you maybe just a moment more. Are there other key things that you would want Thomson Reuters clients to know or non Thompson Reuters clients to know about you and your team’s strategies for today and going forward?
Elizabeth Beastrom 11:39
Yeah. I mean, I think for our existing clients, for future clients, it’s all about feedback. It’s all about understanding what they want. We have a fair amount of that that happens with our existing clients at Synergy, we had a sold out event, so hopefully you’ll be able to join us this November in Orlando. I would love to have both you and Brian there, but we’re hearing from different groups now and gaining feedback. So just last week, I was in New York, and you know, it’s what’s going in and the on in the industry as a whole right now. A lot of tech disruption, continued consolidation of firms, new forms of investment in the in the way of Pe into firms, and that continued talent shortage that you know is going to continue, and it’s not going away, and I’m doing my part, as Brian said, to try and get more CPAs in the profession, one at a time. But we had a dinner last week with some PE firms, and, you know, taking them and their understanding, you know, this group, what resonated with them, as you might imagine, was the ROI, and we have, we have a playbook that we’re rolling out that you can have an efficiency blueprint of what our products, you know, can do to help improve the ROI and affirm and when you start saying, you know the hours and the recent future professionals study, we believe, you know, that AI in general will help save five hours A week in the first year, and it’s going to increase to 14 hours saved weekly in five years. And you think about that’s 250 hours a year saved for every team member. So when you start to think of that, and they know 2080 used to be the number of hours in a year, and over a 10th is going to be solved for AI. It’s going to help you go into that advisory space, right? So to shift from a peer compliance into that advisory model. So we were walking PE firms through that last weekend, and they were really understanding that the message, as well as what a well laid out technology blueprint for your firms can do to help improve the efficiency and that the ultimate taxpa or their clients satisfaction. Yeah,
Randy Johnston 13:46
and you know your PE comments there land with me. I’ve been tracking private equity and venture capital quite closely. Really began with the pandemic, including now I have a page called money behind the technology. So every time I see a transaction, I actually am logging the doggone thing, and I’m trying to understand who the daily. Then you’re doing it daily, pretty much daily. Yeah, that’s exactly what it takes to get that all done. So this arc on the profession and the changes that are going on around us right now are pretty stunning, as I see it, and I don’t see it slowing down in any shape or fashion. So, you know, I will just make the side comment here. I can tell we’d have a lot of fun if we could just kind of sit around and chit chat for a while, because I’d learned so much from you about what is important to you and to the profession and and I think culturally, I can feel that there is a lot of similarity here. Because, you know, in my heart of heart, I know it’s true for Brian, and it feels like it is for you. I know it is for you. Know Andrew Hatfield and the new acquisition of safe, said. Are really trying to sincerely serve the clients. In your case, the CPA firms and their clients downstream. And, you know, I’ve told people through the years, I will do whatever is legal and moral to help a firm do a better job.
Elizabeth Beastrom 15:20
Well, stated. You know that I’ll share the best piece of advice that customer gave me. As I said, Elizabeth, don’t think of us as your customer. Think of our customers as your customer. And when you put it and think of it in that place, it brings a lot of clarity to what you need to do and what you want to focus on to improve.
Randy Johnston 15:38
It does well. It is such a pleasure to just chat with you for a minute. Again. We’ll make that happen. At synergy, I’d like to spend time with you, but then again, at Synergy, you want to focus on the other clients are there, so you’re right. A revisit to Ann Arbor is in our future. I can just feel that although you coming up, maybe it’s Minneapolis, because I don’t mind flying into snowsville.
Elizabeth Beastrom 16:01
I’ll meet you guys in either place. How about that?
Randy Johnston 16:03
That sounds beautiful. Brian, any final questions? Thoughts for our time with Elizabeth today?
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 16:10
No, I’m just just very excited about, about how things are going for TR and how they’re how they’ve moved things, you know, they’ve, they’ve got a strategy of, again, of having open products, and of you know this, putting together the Super Friends thing, and I love their strategy of not charging for API calls, so you can experiment with things. And you know, if you decide you like using API calls, you can and if it, you know, if it works, that’s great for you. The you know, the workflow you design, works, that’s great. And if it doesn’t, that’s great, too, and that’s really exciting. Because, you know, the the thing that I’m seeing is how automation is really coming to the accounting profession after us resisting it kicking and screaming for the last 20 years. And I couldn’t be more excited about where we’re headed in
Randy Johnston 16:56
that. Yeah, and, you know, I’m thinking about the number, because obviously, Elizabeth, you had probably researched back that up. If the AI productivity gain is five hours in year one and 14 hours the year after that, I can tell you, for me, personally measured is 40% gains, which is a stunning leverage, but I have the numbers to back that up. Wow, what we can do for accountants who use AI in smart ways. And I believe that Thompson Reuters will integrate AI so it’s doing smart things inside the platforms. So we’re not having to learn
Elizabeth Beastrom 17:33
we already are. Come back. Invite me back for another session soon. So
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 17:37
I can’t, I can’t wait to see what everybody, everybody at the Hogwarts, of you know the Hogwarts has come up with the magic that you have to make life better for accountants in the near future.
Randy Johnston 17:51
Well, is, I will absolutely take you up on that invitation. For our listeners, we appreciate you being with us here for another accounting Technology Lab, and we look forward to having you back for another session in the very near future. Elizabeth, thanks for being here, and we’ll talk to you again very soon.
Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA 18:13
Thank you for sharing your time with us. We’ll be back next Saturday with a new episode of the technology lab from CPA practice advisor. Have a great week.
= END =
Thanks for reading CPA Practice Advisor!
Subscribe Already registered? Log In
Need more information? Read the FAQs