While most accounting leaders worry about AI replacing their profession, Pelumi Odutola is busy ensuring there's a next generation to inherit it.

As young talent flees to tech and accounting gets dismissed as “boring,” Pelumi has turned her own reluctant journey into the profession's most powerful recruitment tool.

The accidental beginning

"I became an accountant accidentally," Pelumi admits from her office in Abuja. "In high school I wanted to be a doctor."

She had it all planned: physics, chemistry, biology, following her father into medicine. Two siblings had already gone the medical route. But chemistry proved problematic.

“I told my mum I didn't think I would do well,” she recalls. When her medical school plans stalled, her mother took her to a course adviser who looked at her results in Economics, English, Maths, and Geography.

“Would you like to study accounting?” he suggested.

At university, Pelumi struggled. “I had never done anything like it. Debit and credit - it was a bit strange for me. I got into the programme with zero knowledge.”

Most professionals would hide this rocky start. Pelumi has turned it into her greatest strategic asset.

The awakening

Years later, after joining an accounting practice in 2008, completing an MBA in the UK, and slowly working through her professional exams, Pelumi had a realisation that would reshape her approach to the profession.

“It felt like the world was pushing me in that direction,” she says of her journey into accounting.

But more importantly, she understood something her peers missed: if someone like her - initially reluctant, struggling with basic concepts - could become passionate about the profession, then the talent crisis wasn't insurmountable.

The key was changing how accounting was presented to young people.

The strategic response

When AI discussions dominate industry conferences, Pelumi offers a different perspective: “Machines learn whatever they're told to learn. Humans give them the knowledge. We can't remove the human factor.”

She identifies two irreplaceable elements: advisory services and integrity verification. “As auditors we are putting our reputation on the line to say that the records people are looking at are true and fair. That can't easily be taken away.”

But recognizing the profession's value isn't enough. Someone needs to communicate that value to the next generation.

“I try to speak to young people about this,” Pelumi explains. “I do understand that there are so many other interesting areas, in tech and elsewhere. And I know that accounting is considered a bit boring now. But if nobody comes into the profession any more, we're at risk of running into problems with the integrity of records and reports.”

The attraction strategy

Here's where Pelumi's approach becomes genuinely innovative.

Instead of defending accounting's reputation, she's actively rebuilding it. “A lot of people want to do jobs that give them time and travel and look nice on social media.”

So when she travels to TGS conferences, “I like to put that out there to make it look fun. Meeting people and talking to people. And that is a story worth telling - a story of fun, international, attractive.”

The strategy works: “I like it when people say, 'I'd like to be like you.’“

At the 2019 Singapore conference, Pelumi presented the “Fuck Up” story. In Morocco, she led discussions on AI's impact on accounting. Each conference becomes content for her broader mission: making accounting aspirational.

The network amplification

TGS membership provides the perfect platform for Pelumi's talent attraction strategy.

“The main benefit is the international brand,” she explains. “Also, having a pool of resources across several countries. We also have the confidence to approach certain situations, knowing that we can leverage the skills and experience of our colleagues across the network.”

But Pelumi sees bigger possibilities: “I feel that the network needs to do more in terms of projecting a certain image for younger people. Image is everything now. I think that TGS can do more in terms of making our network more attractive for younger talent.”

Her vision: “To make it a network of young people.”

The lessons

For Talent Strategy:

• Use authentic journey as recruitment tool

• Don't hide professional struggles - leverage them

• Make industry experiences look aspirational on social media

• Speak directly to young people about profession's future value

The Pelumi Method:

• Turn reluctant beginnings into credible messaging

• Use international experiences as content for attraction

• Position expertise as advisory, not just technical

• Create "I'd like to be like you" moments

For Professional Positioning:

• Address industry challenges proactively, not defensively

• Focus on irreplaceable human elements (advisory, integrity)

• Make networking events serve broader strategic purposes

• Build personal brand that attracts talent to profession

Closing

Today, as accounting firms struggle to attract young talent while AI reshapes the profession, Pelumi's approach looks prescient. She'll be the first to tell you it wasn't planned - her journey into accounting was accidental. But her strategy for ensuring the profession's future is anything but.

The question isn't whether Pelumi's approach works. It's whether you're attracting the next generation, or just competing for the current one.