ITB December 2024/January 2025 - Magazine - Page 36
What attracted you to the profession?
My parents are both from commerce backgrounds, and my sister is an
accountant, so I think I have always been inclined towards debits and credits.
I love working in public practice — I get to work with a range of clients, which
I really enjoy.
RHYTHAM BHATIA ASA
The variety in public
practice work
continues to inspire
Rhytham Bhatia, an
accountant at Collins
SBA in Hobart.
How do you think the profession should evolve and what needs to change?
I think the future of accounting is bright, but we need to embrace technology
and focus on more strategic advisory services. Continuous learning is also
important for any profession.
What are the obstacles and opportunities of the profession?
We need to change the mindset that accounting is only reporting on
numbers and financial reports. With AI, those tasks will be automated.
There are so many opportunities, especially in advisory work. I am learning
from my team leader who provides advisory services, and I can see how
he understands the clients’ business, the story around it and how they are
operating in the market.
MEMBER Q& A
How do you see your career evolving with the profession?
My short-term goal is to complete the CPA Program and to gain as much
experience as I can at Collins SBA. In the long term, my aim is to become
a CFO or a business partner, or open my own accounting firm.
What attracted you to the profession?
Accounting always made sense for me, and it is a profession that can
take you far. I left New Zealand 10 days after my last exam and moved
to Vancouver, and I had two job offers within the first few days.
How do you think the profession should evolve and what needs to change?
Adopting technology and being able to move forward with it quickly requires
a shift in mindset and culture. You need to be able to adopt it accurately and
know your risks and safeguards, but you should not be scared to use it.
JOSH STOVE ASA
Josh Stove knew
accounting would open
a world of opportunities.
The New Zealander is
now based in Colorado
in the US, where he
works as ERP solution
lead at CloudVision
Consulting and senior
ERP consultant at
enterprise software
solutions company
Catapult.
36 INTHEBLACK Dec 2024/Jan 2025 SPECIAL EDITION
What are the obstacles and opportunities of the profession?
I find the performance measurement in many accounting firms to be
outdated. There needs to be a baseline of billable hours. To measure
someone’s performance based on their number of hours versus someone’s
success because they do it faster and more efficiently doesn’t really make
sense anymore. If AI is now doing the bottom 20 per cent of an audit
engagement, for example, how do you bill for that if you’re still using hours
as a measurement?
In terms of opportunities, some of the best project managers have
an accounting background, so that kind of work is an opportunity for
accountants, but I don’t think a lot of them realise this. Project management
is process-based, and you need to be methodical, raise risks and measure
a project — this skill set is tied to an accounting background.
How do you see your career evolving?
I have just started contracting for the Canadian company I first worked for
when I moved to North America, and they’re now talking about expanding
to the US and having me run the operations for that.
