We’re not great at predictions, but we’re willing to bet that 2024 will be a pivotal year for finance and accounting professionals. To wit: Organizations are figuring out use cases for GenAI, the talent shortage is becoming more acute, and in some ways, the finance and accounting role is changing in challenging ways this year.

While we might not have a crystal ball to tell us what the future holds, we do have data analytics to tell us what our audience is concerned about. So, as part of our midyear roundup, we went back and looked at the most popular stories that we’ve published on CFO Brew since January.

We found two major concerns: How finance departments can get—and keep—butts in seats and what the business model of the future could look like for accounting firms. But rather than offer too many spoilers, we’ll let you read CFO Brew’s five most popular stories of the year (so far):

1. Private equity gets its biggest accounting firm yet. This March story about private equity firm New Market Capital buying a $2.8 billion stake in accounting firm Grant Thorton is our most-read story of the year. And it’s no wonder: Private equity is gobbling up accounting firms, signaling a potential sea change in how accounting firms will operate in the future, with “more than half” of the top 20 accounting firms in talks with private equity.

To read more about this year’s most popular stories (so far), click here.—DA

Today’s workforce is more generationally diverse than ever—but according to Gallagher*, only 13% of organizations train managers on generational strengths and characteristics. Those strengths could be the key to transforming your org for the better.

Learn how understanding and leveraging age diversity can boost growth and innovation at Gallagher’s The Power of Generational Diversity in the Workforce webinar on July 24.

Diverse perspectives can help boost your bottom line, meet your DE&I goals, and reduce costs. The webinar’s intergenerational panel of experts will explore how you can incorporate generational strengths into your overall strategy, including:

• tactics for leveraging each generation’s unique strengths + perspectives
• insights into leadership’s role in shaping inclusive work culture

Save your spot.

*Gallagher Organizational Wellbeing Poll on Generational Characteristics, May 2024

We’re as stumped (as you probably are) about how we’ve already gotten halfway through 2024. While we’re not particularly excited about the gray hairs we’ve sprouted since the calendar flipped, we have collected six months’ worth of LinkedIn cheat sheets on finance and accounting, and that is something to get worked up about.

To help ease our way into the second half of the year, we’ve compiled some of the best, most popular tips we’ve found since January.

Our usual disclaimer to the wise: You should always look for additional resources and expertise when doing complicated finance work because it can be very difficult to accurately sum up sophisticated concepts.

• Howard Katzenberg’s “7 things every CFO wants in a controller.” Katzenberg is a former CFO turned startup founder of an accounts payable platform. Here he looks at the hard—and soft—skills that make controllers valuable to CFOs. These skills are particularly important as CFOs move away from the technical accounting tasks of the past and controllers assume those duties. Katzenberg lists strategic thinking, leadership, technology fluency, and a focus on controls among the top skills that controllers need to be effective. He also defines each skill and offers examples. For instance, for strategic thinking, he says that “a strategic controller might analyze revenue trends and highlight which products/services are most profitable.”

Continue reading the best of our cheat sheets.—DA

Stre-AI-mlined. When automating cash applications, efficiency and ROI are the name of the game. That’s why Versapay commissioned a Total Economic Impact™ study from Forrester Consulting. In the study, you’ll learn how Versapay’s AI-powered Cash Application streamlined processes, reduced costs, + improved efficiency for customers. Read it here.