Tomorrow's auditors and accountants will need a skill-set both broader and deeper than today's professionals. Four skill clusters stand out in particular: technology, verbal and written communication, international experience, and the ability to apply international reporting standards.

Work in accounting and finance increasingly requires a "real, broad and deep" knowledge of technology, says Dennis Reigle, the AICPA's director of academic and career development. "Accounting isn't done in ledger books any more. It's all electronic," he notes. "You're sitting in front of a screen, and you've got to be able to navigate through fairly complex financial documents to find what you're looking for."

To ensure their tech skills are up-to-date, Riegle advises mid-career professionals to take classes, and students majoring in accounting to take additional technology electives if their program has room for them.

In addition, CPAs should become familiar with the specific technologies and accounting systems their clients use, says Philip Wolitzer, professor emeritus of accounting at Long Island University.

Communicators Needed

The ability to speak and write well also play an ever larger role in accountants' career prospects.

"It's one thing to come up with the right numbers. It's another thing to communicate the importance of those numbers to senior people in the organization," says Bruce Pounder, president of Leveraged Logic, which delivers professional development seminars for accountants. "Unless you marry communications skills to your technical skills, you're not going to have a successful career in finance and accounting. There is clearly an emphasis from the employer's perspective on needing people with good communications skills."

Rather than take classes to improve speaking or writing, Pounder says, "get into situations where you have the opportunity to practice. The number one, fastest, best way to develop those skills is to actually do it." He suggests volunteering to give presentations to a professional association you belong to, such as a state CPA society or a local chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants, about a topic you know well.

The World View

In an increasingly global business world, success demands an international perspective. "People will have to know things that are broader than just their own domestic issues," says Reigle. Such a global view embraces both broad "cultural literacy," and competence with new financial reporting models being developed outside the U.S., according to a report issued by a group of 25 industry leaders convened by Robert Half International.

As in other professions, accounting employers place growing emphasis on overseas experience. "If it's a real work experience, all the better," says Pounder, though he believes even volunteer work or education in a foreign country "is going to be a huge plus." For instance, he suggests, a recent graduate or a professional between jobs could consider volunteering with a church group that builds schools or similar aid projects in poor countries.

International Reporting Standards Loom Large

Meanwhile, the work that U.S. accountants perform is poised for an international shift, thanks to an accelerating movement toward "convergence" between U.S. GAAP and the largely separate International Financial Reporting Standards.

Before IFRS arose, the profession was little affected by differences among various national accounting standards. Now, "the U.S. system is increasingly out of synch with the world system," says Robert L. Bunting, former chief executive of Moss Adams LLP, who is also a former AICPA board chairman and member of the leadership council that issued the Robert Half report.

Because the IFRS are centered around "principles" rather than concrete rules, Bunting says accountants and auditors who apply them will need to make greater use of judgments and analytical thinking.

The SEC recently sought public comment on possibly allowing U.S. companies to replace GAAP reports with IFRS-based reports. It already plans to let foreign issuers in the U.S. markets produce financial statements using IFRS beginning in 2008, without reconciling their numbers to U.S. standards. At the same time, the FASB is pushing U.S. standards toward closer alignment with the international system.

"Everything you know about financial reporting will be obsolete within 10 years," says Pounder. "That doesn't mean you have 10 years to get ready for it. You have to start preparing now, because the changes are so profound."

Pounder worries that the changes will catch many U.S. accountants offside. However, Bunting notes convergence is a two-way street. Countries that adopt IFRS are likely to provide additional "guidance," he says, making the principles-based IFRS system operate a little more like rules-based U.S. GAAP.

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