Why Amazon — and accounting firms — have no choice but to retrain their workers

July 16, 2019 / 32:44/E96

This week, Blake and David explore how the forces of low unemployment, outsourcing, and automation work to balance each other out in a time of rapid change. Amazon, a pioneer in automation, apparently thinks it will still need humans, at least in the near future. The tech giant has announced a massive effort to retrain a third of its 300,000 employees in the United States by 2025. Meanwhile, Robinhood moved a bit too fast, Bill.com's international payments is growing rapidly, MindBridge Ai and Kabbage secured new funding, Monopoly goes cashless, and more.

Show Notes

00:53 - Welcome to the Cloud Accounting Podcast!
00:57 - Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Retraining Its Work Force | NYTimes (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/technology/amazon-workers-retraining-automation.html)
05:23 - The end of the war for talent? | Accounting Today (https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/the-end-of-the-war-for-accounting-talent)
08:39 - Companies use this creative trick keep wages stagnant, even in a strong economy | MarketWatch (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-theory-could-help-explain-why-wages-arent-rising-faster-2018-08-06)
12:00 - Microsoft Teams reaches 13 million daily active users, introduces 4 new ways for teams to work better together | Microsoft (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2019/07/11/microsoft-teams-reaches-13-million-daily-active-users-introduces-4-new-ways-for-teams-to-work-better-together/)
14:32 - We talked to 10 Robinhood insiders about how the $6 billion trading app botched a launch so badly Congress got involved | Business Insider (https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-millennial-trading-app-ignored-rules-checking-and-savings-2019-7)
17:47 - Bill.com Doubles Currencies and Countries for No-Fee International Payments | Insightful Accountant (https://www.intuitiveaccountant.com/vendor-news/bill-com-doubles-currencies-and-countries-for-no-fee-interna/)
19:20 - MindBridge Ai gets $11M in new funding to accelerate AI development | Accounting Today (https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/mindbridge-ai-gets-11m-in-new-funding-to-accelerate-ai-development)
20:21 - Kabbage secures $200M to fuel its AI-based loans platform for small businesses | TechCrunch (https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/02/kabbage-secures-200m-to-fuel-its-ai-based-loans-platform-for-small-businesses/)
22:04 - CPAs see risks in complex financial instruments and derivatives | Accounting Today (https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/cpas-see-risks-in-complex-financial-instruments-and-derivatives)
26:13 - Monopoly Goes Cashless, Games Gain Popularity | PYMNTS.com (https://www.pymnts.com/innovation/2019/monopoly-goes-cashless-board-games-gain-popularity/)
28:39 - myGov website goes down affecting tax return services | Twitter (https://twitter.com/i/events/1149484643801939970)
30:47 - Follow @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLearn on Twitter
31:32 - Meet us in person at the Accounting & Finance Show LA (https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/accounting-finance-show-la/index.stm)

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.