Upstream Academy Q&A with Founder, Sam Allred

As the founder of Upstream Academy, a consulting organization that works with more than 500 accounting firms throughout North America, Sam Allred is one of the top strategic thinkers in the profession. He energetically and creatively uses a firm’s strengths to successfully navigate the challenges they face. He regularly is referred to as one of the major influencers of the accounting profession and the “godfather” of leading positive change initiatives. We recently did a Q&A with the Upstream Academy founder and discovered some further insights into implementing change successfully within a firm environment.

Here’s What We Learned During our Upstream Academy Q&A with Sam Allred:

Q: What has changed the most in the accounting profession?

A: I don’t know that there’s one single biggest change, but we’re seeing a movement toward truly becoming a client’s advisor and how technology is affecting that. We’ve been paid for decades to gather, present and prepare data, and in the not-too-distant future, technology largely will do that automatically. This will positively force us to be trusted advisors. We often use the term “trusted advisor,” but quite literally only a fraction of our profession has played that role in the past three decades.

Q: What is the “secret sauce” to create and establish champions for change?

A: Expertise. A firm that can show they have expertise on their team, really understand their clients’ industry and how they move the dials their clients most need to move, that’s what allows firms to make the most change. It’s hard for anything else to beat that. Those are the firms that will have the greatest success.

Read the full interview to learn more about how marketers can help firms embrace change and tactics to implement for growth in 2020.
Members: read more starting on page 16 of Volume 9 • Issue 3
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