What is PKM for Accountants? Overview and Benefits

Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is a systematic and intentional approach to acquiring, organizing, synthesizing, and sharing information and knowledge for personal and professional development. In human terms, it's a system (your system) to manage all the knowledge you consume.

Why PKM for Accountants?

Think about it. How much information do accountants consume? All of it. Whether it's getting through business school, studying for the CPA exam, or trying to get through the day at your job while maybe also managing your own firm, accountants are always consuming, digesting, and applying information. And, while we are taught how to research and find the right answer, we're not taught how to manage all the information we consume. So, we forget. We know we know it, but cannot find the article, statute, or code section when you need it.

Key Components of PKM

The are four common components of PKM:

• Collection: gathering relevant information and resources. These could be articles, blog posts, emails, tweets, podcasts, audiobooks. Unfortunately, this is where we spend most of our energy.
• Organization: Organizing the information you find to make it easier to find. Some of us try with read it later and bookmark apps. Most times, though, this results in a huge digital pile of links, screenshots, and documents that we never, or rarely, revisit.
• Synthesis: Connecting the information you've collected into meaningful insights. Once you've started to intentionally comb through the information, you'll start to make connections and create insights that make the next component easier. This synthesis results in snippets, personal notes, templates, or standard operating procedures (SOPs) that make it much more efficient to start something new.
• Sharing: Collaborating with others and disseminating valuable information. We became accountants to add value and the best way to share value with others is to, well, share! And what you'll find is that finding the right information to share in the right format is much easier when you've synthesized the things you've collected instead of digging for it in your digital pile of information.

These concepts are also referred to as CODE (Collect, Organize, Distill, Express) by Tiago Forte or The ACE Framework by Nick Milo

Inspired by the Building a Second Brain Movement

I have always been interested in organizing information. I was always curious about how people organized their file systems, their OneNote, and what systems other people used to get things done. It wasn't until I came across Building a Second Brain that things started to click. I wasn't the only one interested in this and people like BASB founder Tiago have a wealth of knowledge that can change the way people interact with the information around them.

The Benefits of PKM for Accountants

1. Efficient information retrieval: finding the relevant information at the right time. Whether it's to respond to a client's question, or helping a friend or someone on your team with something you've already dealt with, answering a technical question efficiently immediately shows your value.
2. Adapting to changing regulations: for accountants, things are changing all the time. An effective PKM system gives you the tools to stay updated, understand what's new, and adapt yourself (or your practice) accordingly.
3. Continuous learning: an effective PKM system makes it easier to keep learning and steer away from what generally ends up as information hoarding
4. Collaboration and knowledge sharing: PKM encourages sharing information, making it easier for you to find people in similar areas and easier for people to find you
5. Increased productivity: PKM systems and tools streamline your workflow and help reduce the time you spend digging for information and more time putting it to use

PKM Tools and Resources

There are tons of tools and resources. I've listed some on my Resources page and as you comb through them, remember:

Focus on your system and then implement tools that fit it. If you find yourself changing your system to fit the tool, it may not be the right tool.

Getting Started with PKM for Accountants

• Subscribe. I've spent almost a decade in public accounting building my own PKM to progress my career and am excited to share what I've learned with this community.
• If email isn't your jam, you can add this blog to your RSS feed or read it later app like Reader from Readwise. Simply add https://pkmforaccountants.com/rss to your feed and you'll get every new post
• Take inventory of the information you consume. Is it articles? Podcasts? YouTube videos? Knowing the type of information you're consuming and its source can help you build a system that works with your existing habits
• What tools are you already using? Do you like them or do you feel like they're missing something? Take note and stick around because I'm sure to discuss them here.
• Familiarize yourself with what others are doing in the PKM community. Check out my Resources page and if this is your first time hearing about PKM (no shame here), Tiago's Introduction to Building a Second Brain is a great first step.
• Take it slow. It's a marathon.

Finally, there's no one-size-fits-all solution.

• You'll try things and they might work for a bit. That's okay.
• Your PKM system will look different than someone else's.
• Just because it's a system doesn't mean it has to be complicated. A simple system that works is better than a complex one that doesn't.