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This article was first published in the September 2016 Singapore edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

June saw the launch of the inaugural ACCA ASEAN Conference. On the theme ‘Transforming the face of accounting and finance talent’, the event took place at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.  

In the opening address, ACCA president Alexandra Chin celebrated the role of accounting professionals in providing value to the employment market, and their contribution to national economies. However, even as ACCA celebrates its 80th anniversary in Singapore and Malaysia, Chin remarked that in these volatile times accounting would have to be transformed to adapt to new and dynamic business environments.

Emphasising ACCA’s commitment to supporting the profession through these uncertain times, Chin told delegates, ‘Being built on a strong foundation of international, regional and local visions has enabled us to lead the way in opening up the profession to anyone of talent, application and ability for the last 112 years, and we will continue to do so.’

Thinking ahead 

In the keynote address, Indranee Rajah, Singapore’s senior minister of state for law and finance, highlighted opportunities in the region against the background of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a move that is expected to usher in a freer flow of talent and professional services. 

The minister also drew attention to growth opportunities for accountants in cross-border debt restructuring and the need to upgrade skillsets.

She went on to highlight how disruptive technological innovations were transforming the sector, citing Dell Services’ Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution, which allows software agents to be programmed to perform repeatable, rules-based tasks in business processes. Faye Chua, head of future research at ACCA, also touched on this, noting that computers can now handle financial closing. 

The power of data

Rajah added, ‘Technology is not only automating many functions, but also providing high-value insights through the use of data analytics.’ She urged accountants not to fall behind, noting that it will be those who embrace new technologies and acquire new skill sets who will thrive.

Rajah urged accounting firms to differentiate by focusing on developing acute industry and market knowledge, and acquiring skills in other disciplines. 

For smaller firms who may resist change due to lack of resources, Rajah recommended small steps, keeping an open mindset, and leveraging on resources and platforms provided by membership bodies such as ACCA.

Guntur Sugiyarto, senior economist in the economics and research department at the Asian Development Bank, spoke on the economic challenges and opportunities facing the ASEAN region.

Sugiyarto presented the region as an economic powerhouse – the fastest-growing region in the world, set to become the fifth biggest economy by 2018. 

He reiterated the pivotal role the AEC can play in advancing the region, and identified the four pillars on which it rests:

  1. Single market and production base
  2. Competitive economic region
  3. Equitable economic development
  4. Integration into the global economy.

With 93% of the AEC’s goals now achieved, Sugiyarto said tackling skill mobility was key and would both make it easier for skilled workers to find jobs suited to their skill sets and provide markets with access to skilled workers.

Noting the variation in the quality of skills across the region, Sugiyarto said it was up to professional bodies such as ACCA to come up with a unified set of improved standards for accountants across the member countries.

Patrick Teng, founder, chief dealer and executive chairman of Six Capital, expounded on the power of crowdfunding and how it has evolved as a fundraising tool. He noted the Caribbean island nation of Dominica, badly damaged by Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, which has been the focus of a number of crowdfunding initiatives seeking to raise disaster relief funds. Involving the crowd makes them stakeholders in the project and makes them feel emotionally engaged, Teng said.

Joint enterprise 

Teng believes the future of business will involve co-creation of value by both the company and consumer; it is no longer a one-way street dictated by businesses to the end-user, he said.

Gordon Hewitt, professor of business administration at the University of Michigan and chairman of the global advisory board of Six Capital, said accountants need to become more relevant. ‘The last thing you need is to be an efficient, irrelevant, accounting professional,’ he said.

He pointed to the experience of Nokia, Motorola and Blackberry, which became ‘irrelevant’ when they failed to recognise that mobile devices would shift from simple telephony to data. It is no good learning how to play the game better, he said, it is time to invent new games with new rules. 

Hewitt advised delegates to move away from industry orthodoxies, saying, ‘The biggest force of inertia is the dominant logic of institutions.’

ACCA’s Chua then shared research findings from ACCA’s latest report: Professional accountants – the future. She suggested professional accountants of the future would need to develop ‘technical knowledge, skills and abilities, combined with interpersonal behaviours and qualities’.

Seven quotients

These could be measured across seven professional quotients for technical skills and ethics, intelligence, creative, digital, emotional intelligence, vision and experience.

Chua also touched on the likely drivers of change for accountancy professionals in the years to 2025. The most significant impact would come from increased regulation and stronger governance, due largely to companies who defy traditional classifications, such as Facebook and Google.

Other major drivers that Chua highlighted include the advance of digital technology; the expectation that professional accountants will have to broaden their influence and look beyond the numbers to provide strategic input for decision-making in business; and the ability to adapt to different cultures in an ever more globalised world.

While the accounting profession is expected to go through significant changes, Chua maintained that both technical and ethical skills continue to define the profession: ‘You can expect a very ethical approach to doing business nowadays. However, it is no longer sufficient.’

Rufus Tan, journalist