Finance professionals and their roles have been evolving to keep up with the changes that have been happening here and there in the business world.
To this regard, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants identified ways for professional accountants to make a positive impact in tackling issues such as climate change, social inequality, and a widespread lack of trust. For as finance professionals, they too can help in building a better and more sustainable world.
ACCA says the journey towards a better, fairer and more sustainable world has far-reaching implications for learning and development.
Global trends, such as the rise of artificial intelligence and the focus on sustainability, are demanding that professional accountants continually develop new knowledge and skills.
Meanwhile, ACCA believes the hunger for expanded skillsets is helping to blur the delineation between different job functions.
In light of today’s rapid rate of change, it is then essential to develop a continuous learning mindset – a mindset where finance professionals are always ready to learn new things and prepared to adapt to changing circumstances.
Apart from gaining additional credentials and qualifications, finance professionals can nurture this mindset by seeking out mentors and new professional experiences.
Changes in career
What accountants want from their careers is changing in tandem with broader developments, ACCA observes.
In the past, professional accountants may have followed the so-called ‘career ladder’, but now they are increasingly following more fluid and flexible paths that are aligned with their own personal growth agendas, ambitions and values.
They may also welcome the opportunity to work in new roles, for example, as a sustainability controller or value analyst.
To thrive into the future, and to help shape a better world, finance professionals will still need their traditional finance skills, the ones that will have stood you in good stead in your career so far, including the ability to interpret an accounting record or produce a cashflow forecast.
Alongside these traditional skills, however, finance professionals will also need to develop new skills, which might include the ability to apply new auditing or reporting standards, interrogate and interpret data, or effectively prompt AI tools.
