As we approach a future simply brimming with technology, increasingly entwined global communities, potentially cashless societies and exclusively online currencies, who can we enlist to navigate these uncertain seas of change when it comes to the future of our money and the implications attached?
Founded in 1904, succeeding more than a century of world conflicts and intermittent global financial crises, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has deep and enlightened roots in the professional field of accountancy. Maybe it’s in the past we can find our financial heroes of today, rely on those who carry the ACCA qualification to be at the forefront of this brave new world, and find our financial security taken care of, expertly, globally, and for the century to come.
Here are four drivers of change that the ACCA forecasts as having a major impact on the way the accountancy profession will evolve.
Regulation and governance
With the ever-increasing number of businesses finding their market presence spanning countries and continents, while often registering headquarters in offshore tax-havens, the pressure on governments to legislate and update tax reform measures is swelling. The main issues involved are those of moral obligations that pertain to legal loopholes allowing the flow of money out of a country where the business of that company is conducted. Global optimisation of tax is unsustainable and it will be up to accountants to outline the regulations that will allow technologically driven business to continue without being detrimental to the countries and markets global operations take place in.
Digital technology
The speed at which digital technology has infiltrated every aspect of business life has not left the profession of accountancy without a gauntlet thrown down at its feet. Those with the abilities to use SMART and automated bookkeeping software, digital financial analytical tools, and distributed ledger applications will find themselves at an advantage over their peers. Not to mention, the standard skillset every business professional must possess nowadays – adept use of video and social media applications and presentation software in order to improve collaboration, disclosure, and client and stakeholder communication.
Expectations
Given the speed and extent at which the global business environment is changing, it is naïve for a professional accountant to think that their role will emulate the traditional duties of an old-world number cruncher. The duties of an accountant in the new age will be multi-faceted. They will be expected to be able to make professional independent judgments on an executive level, and have a creative and relational understanding of how the numbers that underpin a business relate to its many departments, its product, its strategy, and ultimately its future in the real world.
Globalisation
The phenomenon of globalisation further provokes the new accountancy professional to be the best they can be, on a truly global scale. If being a genius in your trade was not enough, think of the need to supplement your skills with learning foreign languages, becoming accustomed to foreign business practices, ethical diversity, and international interpersonal skills. These skills cannot be underestimated. They are part and parcel, along with technical ability, of what top global companies look at when recruiting exceptional professionals to their organisation.
Is your future a career in accountancy? Take a look at the London School of Business and Finance for the technologically advanced way to earn your ACCA qualification. Put yourself right at the cutting edge of your profession and acquire the skills to put you anywhere in the world.
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