Episode #288: Interview with Accounting Thought Leader Doug Sleeter

Blockchain, Bitcoin, and The Future of Accounting — This was a GREAT episode featuring Doug Sleeter

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A Bit More About Doug

DougSleeter (@dougsleeter) is the founder and former CEO of The Sleeter Group, an international network of accounting software consultants, and the former producer of SleeterCon, an annual conference for accounting professionals. As a CPA firm veteran and former Apple Computer Evangelist, he melded his two great passions (accounting and technology) to guide developers in the innovation of new products and to educate and lead accounting professionals who serve small businesses. He is currently focusing on digital currencies and blockchaintechnology. He was inducted into The CPA Practice Advisor Hall of Fame in the accounting profession, and named to Accounting Today's "Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting," 2008-2015. Doug attended the University of California Santa Cruz and Santa Clara University, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Information Systems, and lives in Pleasanton, CA.

Here are Ed’s questions from the interview:

  • Doug, welcome back to the show. You were on twice before (Episode #96 and #99), back in June 2016. Feels like that was an eon ago, doesn’t it?

  • Just to remind folks who don’t know, who’s this Doug Sleeter guy?

  • Let’s do a quick update on where you’re seeing blockchain. What’s your latest thinking around where blockchain is today?

  • There was use case with tuna, but we’re not talking about Internet of Things, it’s really more the process and production stage of things, correct

  • It’s similar to our fingerprint and facial recognition on our mobile devices today, that information is stored locally on the device, and not something the government is using to track us. We need airport security, but I think it should be run by the airlines and not the government.

  • Blockchain might be a partial answer to keep our data private and secure, which is part of the promise of the blockchain.

  • I tend to trust the private sector slightly more than the public sector just because as a customer I can change, whereas as a citizen I’m pretty stuck, unless I move to a different country.

  • I don’t think any of the three of us believes that COVID is no big deal, or less than the flu. But the unknowns with the data are a problem. A recent study by Stanford, on the “denominator” we could have missed it by a factor of 50-85 times. I just want to get your take on this. It’s furthering your point, but what are your thoughts on this? This is something we have to be on the lookout for, not just for COVID, but from a business perspective.

  • I want to pivot over to a book I recommended to you, which I mentioned on our show, Best Books of 2019 (Episode #275), and on my list was a book called The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman. I noticed just three days ago you posted a review on your GoodReads page.

  • In your review, you write at the end about how its helped you further your thinking about creativity and what does consciousness mean for robots, and the last sentence is “But I'm pretty sure we'll create robots that we won't be able to distinguish from conscious beings.” My question is what led you to that conclusion, because I’ve come to the exact opposite conclusion, which is pretty cool?

  • I don’t think we can get there, because I can’t prove your consciousness, so how do I go about proving the consciousness of this robot? I guess it could fool us, but we still wouldn’t know, because we can’t prove conscious in another being anyway.

  • I just love his notion that the fundamental element of the world is not space time, but rather consciousness. That’s the thing that just blew my mind about the book. He does a great job using evolution to prove his theory.

  • What are your thoughts on what you are seeing in the accounting market now? 

     

    …and here are Ron’s questions:

  • On blockchain, Bill Gates has that famous line: “We overestimate technology’s short-term impact, and under-estimate its long-term impact. Have we hit the long-term impact with blockchain [and Bitcoin], or are we still in the experimental, early stages?

  • George Gilder talks about blockchain being the 7th layer of the internet, that trust and transactions layer, it’s going to be built into the architecture. To get us over that hump, will this technology need to be taken on by an Amazon, Google, Facebook, combination thereof, to democratize it and make it more understandable, or is it something that will be just layered on the Internet and we’ll never talk about it?

  • Did you have an opinion on Facebook’s Libra?

  • Since we last spoke in 2016, have you changed your mind or evolved your thinking about Bitcoin or blockchain?

  • They have to work on that volatility of value, a currency has to be stable, it’s a measuring stick. You can’t float the ruler, a foot always has to be 12 inches.

  • I’m going to pivot to COVID-19. You’ve been talking since I’ve known you about Big Bad Data, and we are getting a real live example of that on just the numbers these various websites are tracking, number cases, number of deaths, mortality. What’s your take on all this, does it just confirm your priors about how dangerous data can be?

  • I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to blow the whole accounting infrastructure up and start over. Triple entry accounting made possible by blockchain is the route. But the other thing you said that I loved: When people roll their eyes you know you’re on to something. That is so true. When people are scared of a new idea, that’s how you know it’s a great idea. The dog barks at what he doesn’t understand.

  • Doug, one of our prior guests was economist Tyler Cowen (Episode #240) he does something he calls Overrated or Underrated, and Why on his podcast, Conversations with Tyler:

    • TED talks [Both]

    • Living in California [Overrated]

    • The Masters [Underrated]

    • Pebble Beach golf course [Underrated]

    • Retirement [Underrated]

    • Donald Trump [Underrated]

    • Apple, Inc. [Underrated]

    • Income inequality [Overrated]

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Here are some of the topics and links Ron and Ed discussed during the bonus episode this past week: