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Accounting

Roy Keely – 2016 20 Under 40 Superstars Honoree

Sep. 19, 2016

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Roy Keely

VP of Market Strategy
Xcentric
Alpharetta, GA

 

Q&A:

  1. Aside from the accounting websites, which blog/website do you consider a must-read?
  2. In what ways have you contributed to your firm/company to make it better?
    • Lets be real, I wouldn’t be around if I didn’t add to the bottom line. I have come around to acknowledge and appreciate the straightforwardness of an individual’s monetary performance. For some people, it’s reductionistic and sad, while for others, it fuels their ego and is “all about the money.” I land somewhere in between. But what better test does an employee have than to enable/create/produce profitability in a capitalistic society while working for a for-profit company? I know not. 
  3. In what ways do you participate in your local community to help others?
    • A couple of things: 
  • I pay taxes – I see people playing in parks and driving on good roads amongst other things, and I helped contribute to those projects. It’s not always fun to see my hard earned dollars leaving my pay check, but I do realize (most of the time) the good it can accomplish. 
  • Child care at my church – I have 2 kids under 2…I love dropping them off when I go to church knowing they are taken care of, but the people behind the curtain wiping noses and other things are crucial to the organization and its thriving. So I threw my name in the hat and try my hardest to wrangle 1st and 2nd graders while teaching them a thing or two. 
  1. ·       What changes do you foresee in the accounting profession of the near future (3-5 years)?
    • I foresee as little change as possible, because that’s what the professionals inside the profession want. This is not a bad thing per say. The cloud, mobile, staffing, and security will continue to dominate the headlines, and I foresee various solutions and vendors rising to the surface to address those needs. Yet, the real story is the lack of change a profession will go through over the next 5 years while many other professions/industries are rocked and turned upside down. It’s really quite interesting to think about the resilience and the ‘sameness’ of the accounting profession. 
  2. ·       How do you see yourself participating in shaping the future of the accounting profession?
    • While I am neither a technologist nor an accountant, I have an opportunity to be a bridge of communication and vision across the two unique professions. I hope to continue to provide tangible steps that allow firms to take advantage of the leverage technology provides their practice.
  3. ·       What is your career philosophy?
    • Bring work home. Bring home to work. 
  4. ·       Describe one person who has been an important mentor to you and how that person helped change your life.
    • He is died in 1936, I was born in 1981 – can I say GK Chesterton? Chesterton’s ability to see the ‘miraculous in the mundane’ has allowed me to relish more in the simple, understated things of this world rather than the trappings of success. “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”

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Learn more about this year’s 20 Under 40 Superstars, and 40 Under 40 Honorees.