Exploring Need for Open Source Global Standard Office of the CFO Alternative

PWC and Anthropic announced their partnering to create what they are referring to as the Office of the CFO; see Anthropic and PwC Expand Alliance, Driving Impact Across Client Work and the Firm, and my commentary here.

What they have is effectively a platform for PWC to do consulting to large organizations in the financial services, insurance, and healthcare industries.

What I am wondering is if there is an appetite for a similar offering targeted at small and medium size enterprise, but could be used by anyone.  Something that is modular, based on global open industry standards, is open source, and could be used by the hundreds of mid-tier of second tier CPA firms to do consulting.

Providing accountants, auditors, and analysts with better tools would shift them away from being "data janitors" and "spreadsheet monkeys" to orchestrating human-task performance alongside AI.

The characteristics of what I am contemplating is provided in the following list of capabilities:

  • Modular Open System Approach: Follows a modular open systems approach as described by the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) as described by the Department of Defense.
  • Global Open Industry Standards: As much as possible is based on global open industry standards. A framework, structure, process, and such would be provided.  My Seattle Method is very likely part of what is needed.
  • Methodology: A best practices based set of principles, practices, structures, a framework, and a process would be created.
  • Metadata: Most people don't realize this yet but metadata is what makes the digital world go around.  This includes the US GAAP XBRL Taxonomy, the IFRS XBRL Taxonomy, and will include many other digital versions of reporting frameworks.  In addition the ISO/IEC Accounting and Economic Ontology is important.  FIBO is important. ACTUS is important.
  • Ecosystem: An entire ecosystem could be created perhaps.
  • Center of Excellence: A center of excellence can be created to figure out best practices and make sure those best practices  make their way to training resources.
  • Support and Third Party Products: Third parties could offer products and support.  I am already aware of several open source efforts in this area including RoboSystems.ai and LodgeIT Labs. Other things like Arelle and BREL might also be included.  Other products could leverage the methodology and ecosystem.
  • Marketplace: Perhaps a marketplace can be created where those that have created proprietary intellectual property (IP) on top of this framework can share/buy/sell their IP or use IP created by others. Metadata, models, templates, canonical best practices based examples, etc.
  • Human-Machine Collaboration: Human task performance where humans and machines work together is one objective.
  • Industrialization: Industrial strength tools could be used using this open source, global open standards.
  • Enterprise Reference Atlas: This is an implementation of the Zachman framework.
  • Accounting & Audit by Design Framework: Coming soon!
The idea here is to not compete on the fundamental infrastructure necessary to build software.  Rather, the idea is to collaborate and coordinate the creation of the foundational infrastructure and then to compete by adding value on top of the high quality foundational infrastructure.  That way, industrial processes can be created.

The Big 4 (PWC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte) have the resources to build out thing like what PWC created with Anthropic.  Second tier and smaller firms do not.  An open source global industry standards based "office of the CFO" alternative would be a platform which those second tier CPA firms could offer consulting services.

This graphic show a comparison between what PWC and Anthropic are offering, what I am  thinking, and the tools that are being used today using an analogy to construction equipment.


So that is what I am thinking.  What do you think? 

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