Ep. 235: Brian Hock - Certifications: Your Ticket to Career Success and Growth

In a rapidly evolving accounting landscape, how can professionals
demonstrate their skills and experience to stand out?
Certifications! In this episode, veteran accounting educator and
President of HOCK International, Brian Hock outlines the immense
value of professional certifications for career-long growth and
development. 


Learn how certifications like the CMA provide a standardized body
of knowledge to showcase specialized expertise. Discover how the
right certifications position you for success as technology and
demands transform. Gain perspective on certifications as a
strategic investment in your future, increasing opportunities and
earning potential over the length of your career. 


Brian draws on extensive experience preparing accounting students
and professionals for certifications to offer advice on
overcoming barriers like cost or study time. He provides
encouragement that passing rigorous exams like the CMA, while
requiring dedication, is very achievable with the right
preparation and planning.


If you're looking to get strategic and maximize your career
potential in accounting, this episode is a must-listen! You’ll
come away motivated to pursue professional certifications and
equipped with insights to choose the right certifications for
your goals.


Full Episode Transcript:
 


Adam:           
Today on Count Me In, we have a great episode in store. Our guest
is Brian Hock, president of Hock International and an experienced
accounting educator. Who has been teaching finance and accounting
certifications for over two decades. Brian provides keen insights
into the value of professional certifications like the CMA, and
how they can benefit accounting professionals throughout their
career.


 


He discusses the importance of certifications in demonstrating
specialized knowledge and skills, as well as how certifications,
like the CMA, help professionals stay current in a rapidly
changing business landscape. Brian offers advice for overcoming
barriers to obtaining certifications. Emphasizing the long term
career rewards, that make certifications a smart investment. With
technologies and an evolving talent gap impacting the accounting
field, Brian's perspective is extremely timely. Now, let's
welcome Brian Hock.


 


Adam:           
Well, Brian, we're really excited to have you on the Count Me In
podcast today. And, just to jump right in, can you share with us,
with our listeners, why are certifications so critical,
especially in the field of accounting?


 


Brian:           
 Well, first, Adam, thanks for having me. It's
great to be with you. The question of certifications is one that
is very important for somebody's career. And the way I explain it
is that there are however many thousands and thousands of
universities around the world, and they all have different
quality of an accounting program, accounting professors, the
classes that they teach. 


 


And, so, just because somebody has an accounting degree, we
aren't really in a position to know what that person knows. What
they studied, how they studied, how well they did. But a
certification is a specific body of knowledge. A specific
syllabus that is the same for everybody who takes it anywhere in
the world.


 


And, so, the term certificate, it's a certification because it's
that standardized test that everybody who's passed it has passed
the same content. And, so, it's a person's way of showing what
they know separate from their university. Because a lot of
universities may be very good universities, but they're not known
outside the city, the region that they're in. And nobody outside
that city or region is aware that the person has such a strong
accounting education or finance education. But a certification
shows that.


 


Adam:           
It does, and, I think, we're hearing that a lot more. Especially,
in the world of accounting, with so many different things
happening. So many new technologies coming out there. One of the
biggest things we're hearing about is things like the talent gap.
So how are certifications helping bridge that talent gap,
especially in the finance and accounting sector?


 


Brian:           
 Well, a good certification helps bridge that by
staying current, and this is something that I know CMA does. I've
been teaching CMA for almost 25 years, and it's a number of
syllabuses that I've taught. Because what accounting and finance
professionals need to know, what they're using on their job, has
changed over time. 


And, so, with IMA doing such a good job of keeping the CMA
syllabus up to date and relevant. That is part of that talent gap
being addressed, by making certain that the people that come out
through CMA have those skills. And the obvious example is AI
wasn't in the syllabus 20 years ago, but it was put into the
syllabus in 2020.


 


And, so, technology is a big one, as technology changes. As the
skill set that people need to use that technology changes, data
analytics, visualization, are in the syllabus now, but they
weren't ten years ago. And, so, a certification that keeps its
syllabus current addresses that gap by making certain that the
people who come out of that certification have those current, and
practical, and relevant skills that are needed in the market
today.


 


Adam:           
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Now, you have been in this
accounting space, in the certification space, teaching people
certifications for a while. How have you seen that demand change
over the years, and what trends you see us going towards in the
future?


 


Brian:           
 I think one of the things that's happened, and
continues to happen, is more and more what I would call a
specialty certification. You take something like CMA, and it's
accounting and finance, at a fairly broad scope. It's not
specific to receivables, or payables, or bookkeeping, or a
specific type of banking.


 


But now you have certifications that are specifically about fraud
examining. You have certifications that are about a controller
position or a specific element of a business. And those are
wonderful certifications for people that are a little further
along in their career. That have some experience and know what it
is that they're going into.


 


But when we talk about young people just starting their career.
The certification that they need is one that's going to keep as
many doors as possible open for them, as long as possible. And
when I talk to a university student, I say, "Well, if you know
that you want to go into investment banking, then that's the
certification you need to pursue."


 


"If you know that you want to go into some particularly niche
area, then, find that specific niche certification."


                 
      


But most people, until they've been five or 10 years in their
career, don't know what they want to do for the next 20 years.
And, so, there are niche certifications that are developing,
which are for later in somebody's career after they know where
they're going. But we still have the same certifications around
th...