INTHEBLACK April 2026 - Magazine - Page 13
The accounting profession has
evolved far beyond traditional
bookkeeping with advances
in technology and broader
organisational roles.
Tools like generative AI and cloud
software are automating routine
tasks, enabling faster reporting
and shifting the skill set needed
toward higher-value tasks.
Sustainability, integrated reporting
and ESG considerations are
expanding what accountants
are expected to contribute in
organisational decision-making.
T
o get a sense of the evolution of accounting
over the past 140 years, consider the
profession’s terminology and talking points.
While “ledgers“ is still common parlance,
it is “large language models“ that sparks water-cooler
conversations. Old-school “calculators” and
“depreciation schedules” have ceded ground
to “the cloud” and “agentic artificial intelligence (AI)”
as the topics everyone is talking about.
The reinvention is about more than words, of course.
The day-to-day work of modern accountants is vastly
different to that of their late-19th-century peers.
Dr Jasvinder Sidhu, an accounting academic
and historian, says the profession can celebrate
moving from a narrow focus on bookkeeping
to becoming a strategic powerhouse that shapes
organisational decision-making, public policy
and digital transformation.
“Today, accountants are not just record-keepers;
their role has expanded and continues to evolve,”
he says. “They are risk advisers, data interpreters
and governance leaders working within different
teams and making significant contributions.”
1929
1936
1939
1940
1952
The Wall Street crash
and the start of the
Great Depression expose
weaknesses in financial
reporting, leading to
the development of
accounting principles
including stronger
disclosure rules and
an expanded role for
accountants.
The first Australasian
Congress of Accounting
takes place, gaining
media attention
for its commentary
and warnings to the
Australian Government
over its finance policy
and high government
debt. Meanwhile,
the first issue of The
Australian Accountant
(the forerunner to
INTHEBLACK) is
published.
With the British
Government informing
its allies that it cannot
supply munitions as
it had done in World
War I, the Menzies
government turns
to the Australian
accounting profession
for advice, appointing
a panel drawn from
the senior ranks of
the profession to help
negotiate contracts
with private munitions
producers.
The Register
of Australian
Accountants for
National Service
initiative begins,
providing voluntary,
part-time and afterhours services to the
federal government
bureaucracy to
support the war effort.
This unprecedented
act adds legitimacy
and public respect
to the profession
of accounting.
The Commonwealth
Institute of
Accountants and the
Federal Institute
of Accountants merge
to form the
Australian Society
of Accountants.
The society goes
global in the
mid-1950s, with
official representatives
appointed in London
and Singapore.
BOLD SIGNALS intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 13
