The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) named finance transformation business leader, Simon Bittlestone, FCMA, CGMA, as the 91st President of the Institute.
Bittlestone will also serve as ninth Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association), according to a press release.
The profession will be focusing on three critical areas during Bittlestone's year in office:
- Innovation & Transformation. New technologies, including generative artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, are quickly revolutionising accounting and finance. CIMA and the Association will work on further empowering accounting and finance professionals to cultivate the mindset, skills, and knowledge they need to draw on the enormous possibilities they present.
- Value & Sustainability. As businesses further integrate sustainability into their strategies and operations, CIMA and the Association will put great emphasis on promoting the role of accounting and finance professionals as trusted advisors, who are equipped to support organisations to drive meaningful, long-lasting change and sustainable value creation.
- Inclusion & Opportunity. Workforce demographics are rapidly evolving, and the profession must adapt to attract top talent. CIMA and the Association’s work will focus on fostering an inclusive profession, where anyone with the right aptitude and dedication has the opportunity to join the profession, seize opportunities for growth, and build a fulfilling career.
Bittlestone currently holds a portfolio of advisory and non-executive roles for several technology businesses, investment funds, and charities. His business career includes working for 12 years in the financial analytics industry, a decade of which he spent as CEO of Metapraxis, a finance technology company based in London and New York with a global blue-chip customer base.
In the early stages of his career, he worked for technology and services firm Xchanging PLC, now part of CSC, where he qualified as an Associate Chartered Management Accountant and worked on the company’s highly successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.
"The world is ripe with opportunities for the accounting and finance profession to create sustainable value, innovate and be inclusive," Bittlestone says. "Despite prevailing uncertainty in the world, these are exciting times for our profession and over the next year I intend to help accelerate and lead its continuous evolution to make the most of these possibilities."
