iscoverAccountants are becoming some of the most versatile workers as they continue to face rapid eras of change and transformation, all while continuing to pursue their workload and clients.
‘Ride the wave’: Accountants continue to face industry, life challenges
09 October 2025
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9 minute read
As the accounting industry continues to significantly evolve day in, day out, especially in the current period of AI, there needs to be more recognition towards the valuable work they provide their clients and communities.
Speaking on a recent Under the Hood podcast episode, Cats Accountants directors Tim Garth and Dan Osborne said throughout their 15–17 years within the accounting industry, they had experienced so much change both personally and professionally.
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Osborne said every accountant had a similar experience with this change, and based on the nature of the industry, they were expected to adapt quickly, efficiently, and keep on going with their workload every day, which could be both rewarding and exhausting.
“We have been through so much change and so many different things over time, which has created two things,” he said.
“One is we’re constantly looking for continuous improvement in our business, which has been our philosophy since day one. We’ve made mistakes, we’ve gone in wrong directions at times, but we’ve always come back to where we want to be.
“As accountants, we’re all in different phases of our lives, meaning the energy to attack some of those things we’re required to do might not always be there day to day, but we’re always expected to do it.”
Despite various challenges and different phases of life that all people and accountants go through outside of their work, both Garth and Osborne said the experiences and challenges accountants had faced and continue to tackle were increasingly unique.
Garth said accountants were always optimistic in their approach to accepting everything that was thrown at them.
“It’s like a weird challenge for accountants because the work comes to us every year. We’ve got a predetermined amount of work and we know we have to get through it, no matter what,” Garth said.
"It’s like this, particularly if you’re in a public practice doing a lot of compliance. We’ve got this many tax returns to lodge, these many bad lodgements to do, and we have got to do them all on time. Not to mention, there’s changing regulations and the ATO is measuring our lodgement percentages and our clients want to get the best results.
“So, it’s actually a really unique challenge, particularly when you throw in environmental factors like Covid and families.”
From all of these challenges, Garth and Osborne said it could sometimes feel like accountants were always on the “back foot” because they were always having to try their best when it came to AI, labour shortages, technology advancements, and a challenging economic environment.
It was also noted by the pair that in some ways, the development still to come with AI was scary, as they were consistently under the pump, and adding technological changes was simply another burden.
Yet, Garth and Osborne said they predicted this would change as the advancements came and the industry became smarter, faster, more adaptable, and practised with the platform.
“I think that sense of fear about what this change is happening, but we’re also so buried in the work right now that you almost don’t have time to think about it,” Osborne said.
We have kind of been pulled in these two directions. One is I’m so busy I don’t have time to think about it and two is the thing I’m so busy with and dedicating all my time to may not actually exist in 10 years.”
Garth and Osborne said for any accountants worried about AI and how it will change the trajectory of their job, they should look at it with more optimism, as it could help grow businesses and lives in a positive direction, rather than negative.
“The main thing for accountants out there, is yes, this can all be a bit daunting, but at the end of the day this is going to be an awesome transition that feels very empowering,” they said.
“Positive positivity is very powerful right now, It’s very easy to have those freak out moments, but together as an industry we all need to just ride the wave.”
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