Due to my accountant's fault, the tax office fined me 1.5 billion soums.

The day before yesterday, during a meeting with entrepreneurs, one of them mentioned this and began complaining about his accountant, adding that nowadays there are too many incompetent accountants.

Indeed, in recent years the number of accountants has increased, but no one is responsible for ensuring the quality of knowledge from 3-4 month courses. Training centers exploit this by aggressively advertising, promising positions as chief accountants with a $1000 monthly salary. However, they forget that a chief accountant must also have experience, discipline, numeric skills, analytical thinking, and much more. I sent one of my students to such a course — after one week, he refused to continue, saying he could learn more at work. Many training centers are producing “robots” just to file tax reports. Meanwhile, some business owners only want such accountants — those who submit reports for $50–100. For them, the accountant’s role is only timely tax reporting.

Last year, the Tax Committee introduced a fixed tax model, and soon after, tax officials began calling businesses, encouraging them to just pay the fixed amount instead of hiring an accountant. These views were even expressed from high platforms.

It became clear that there was a campaign against accountants, aiming to undermine their professional authority. One even said: “Why do we even need accountants?” Just because their accountant is incompetent doesn’t mean all are. Such statements insult experienced accountants who have earned respect through honest work.

By the end of 2023, large-scale tax audits of entrepreneurs began — I believe these will continue in the current year.

Recently, another “smart guy” said that now you can just get a KPI and determine salary based on that.

Why are they targeting accountants? Because for many business owners, the accountant is their only reliable support. The accountant is the one who will defend the company with full dedication. Though the opposition consists of an entire department of trained professionals, the accountant stands up to protect the entrepreneur, and many smart, experienced accountants succeed at this.

The lack of unified training standards and knowledge assessment systems for accountants (which existed in the past, but some initiators, either consciously or not, deemed unnecessary) has blurred the benchmark of accountant competence on the labor market.

So who is an accountant? “Accounting is the language of business,” said Warren Buffett. Accountants manage business through numbers and see the entire operation in figures. (Unfortunately, many limit themselves to working only in 1C.) We prefer accurate data over motivation or emotional arguments.

The accountant’s first task is the digital transformation of business. They must demonstrate full digital control over the organization. Tools like 1C, CAP, ERP, and warehouse management software are essential. They must also deliver accurate data to management for well-informed decisions. For example: determining expected profit, identifying unnecessary internal expenses, setting prices, calculating costs, evaluating credit impact, analyzing sales periods, tracking payables/receivables, monitoring bank accounts, using tax benefits, controlling cash flow, and protecting from penalties. To perform these tasks, the accountant must love their profession, constantly improve, and think about the company's growth — not just submit tax reports.

Many still don’t know how to use these tools or simply avoid them. Real accountants don’t talk much — they live with their profession. We see life through numbers. I am an accountant! I love my profession! My profession is my life. I can’t live without numbers, and I won’t let anyone undermine the dignity of my profession!