The cover story for this month's issue examines how disruptive changes will impact the accounting profession and how accounting education will need to change to keep up. Abigail Zhang, Jun Dai, and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi believe that increased automation will transform the traditional duties of accountants. Today's students will need different, higher-level skills in order to meet the demands of tomorrow's workplace.

Perceptions can matter a lot when it comes to making any kind of decision. Two features this month examine how perceptions of the profession affect accounting majors and their teachers. Barbara Belik and George Violette examined students' perceptions of professionalism, looking at which traits they found most important in professionals as well as who bore the responsibility for developing such traits, students themselves or their teachers and employers. The proportion of accounting faculty possessing the premier credential in the field—the CPA—has declined steadily over the years. To try to understand why, David J. Emerson and Kenneth J. Smith compiled the perceptions of faculty members and deans with regard to the value of professors possessing the CPA credential. They shed some light on the structural incentives that discourage faculty from pursuing the CPA, including the emphasis placed on academic credentials and prestigious publication.

This month's issue also marks the introduction of a new recurring opinion series, “My Way.” The initial installment in our News & Views section describes author Esther Mills's journey from the Big Four and global investment banks to her own niche accounting practice. Future entries will focus on the stories of CPAs who have blazed their own path, opting out of the traditional big firm model to set out on their own. The editors encourage readers to share their own stories—there is no one-size-fits all approach to an accounting career.