ACCA forecasts market demand for professional business and advisory services in ASEAN and China

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the largest global professional accounting body in the world, has launched a new report on future demand for professional business and advisory services, supported by the Singapore Accountancy Commission.

Source: ACCA Global website. Cover for
the Market demand for Professional
Business and Advisory Services report.

Professional services provided to corporates, including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), increasingly include services relating to data science, analytics, and artificial intelligence, ACCA said in the report. As an external aid to corporates, they can act as a powerful catalyst to develop and expand the digital economy and transform Southeast Asia into a smart region.

The report examines market demand for specific professional business and advisory services in Singapore, the ASEAN region, and China over the next three years, based on corporate budgets.

It also states where businesses are leveraging on external advice and aims to help consultancies (including accounting entities) review and tune their service offerings and business models to maximise growth and revenue in coming years.

According to the report, the IT solution business as a service line; including IT advisory as a service category, were among the top three most demanded professional services by corporates in the next three years.

In her keynote address, Idranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Law, Finance and Education, noted that the report had identified shifts towards:

- Smart software and systems automating mundane manual work like bookkeeping and expense processing.

- Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) fundamentally changing the way complex and multifaceted accounting work is conducted.

"There were mixed feelings, I think, when we first learnt about new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics. We felt that these technologies would change the way we live, work and play. We also realised that these technologies would destroy jobs," she said.

"But today, we have started to adapt. Today, we are starting to leverage on these technologies to improve our business processes.

"In the accountancy sector, robotic process automation has been used to automate repetitive processes. For example, businesses in retail, e-commerce and hospitality have adopted Xero, an online accounting software that automates manual processes. With Xero, retailers find that they can better manage their businesses such as tracking inventory and costs.

"With technology, professional accountants in business have moved up the value chain, from score keepers and, I dare say, bean-counters, to strategic business leaders. Similarly, in the legal sector, new technologies like lawyer-bots have also automated low value-added work for lawyers."

Minister Rajah also said that the technologies are currently incapable of building relationships, of replacing all systems, or of replacing all staff. "And when it comes to the human intricacies of the work that both the accountancy and the legal profession do, these technologies cannot do it all," she said.

Adaptivity, collaboration and trust will be key for the future. "As we transit into the digital world, these qualities remain relevant, in fact, not just relevant but essential, and will form the foundation for the accountancy and legal professions to effectively harness digital connections," she said.

The report was launched at the 2018 ACCA annual conference, themed Professional Accountants - The Future: ASEAN Digital Perspectives.

Helen Brand, OBE, Chief Executive for ACCA, presented at the conference on Shaping the global accountancy profession across three dimensions: digital, social and ethical. She said, “What this generation recognises is that they have a great opportunity to influence their organisations and lead the way with technology. This could be in terms of improving business processes, driving better knowledge collaboration, influencing employment models and the working at home agenda, virtual working or shaping future learning interventions. They may even be able to help with reverse mentoring of older colleagues with technology in the organisation.”

Leong Soo Yee, Director of ACCA, ASEAN & ANZ said, “ASEAN and the digital economy have great importance and impact in the region across multiple dimensions. This is further compounded with the scale and speed of activity in the digital economyg sector.”

ACCA, NTUC, AI Singapore further pledged to help accelerate capability development in the finance and accounting functions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and for small and medium-sized professional services firms in finance and accounting (SMPs) on the sidelines of the ACCA Annual Conference 2018 in Singapore. The partnership will provide training, workshops and solutions in the three areas of talent development, digitisation and internationalisation, under the ACC(X)ELERATE programme.

Insights were drawn from various studies in designing the programme, including ACCA’s Professional accountants – the future: Generation Next, global research that highlight the skills finance and accounting professionals need to enhance their employability. ACCA’s Market Demand for Professional Business and Advisory Services was also a reference. This research revealed a growing demand for non-regulated professional services ranging from IT solutions advisory to risk advisory and process improvements.

Other references included NTUC’s Future Jobs, Skills and Training (FJST) Forum 2018 report, which highlighted the key enablers of success for companies to transform and stay relevant in a changing world of work, and a NTUC roundtable discussion with chief financial officers, 76% of which had indicated technology as the key driver of change for jobs and skills in the accountancy sector. Of the remainder, 20% felt that the change came from changes to business models and the remaining 4% felt that it was due to globalisation.

ACCA will engage SMBs and SMPs to take the lead in leveraging technology to transform their businesses and take active steps to develop their workforce’s skillsets. To enrich accountants and finance professionals’ digital skills and knowledge, it will also provide training and workshops focused on technology education that enhances productivity and facilitates internationalisation, including cloud technology. Tapping on NTUC’s suite of progression and placement programmes, workers will also be guided through this transformative process, enabling and ensuring that they stay competent to take on the jobs of tomorrow.

The programme draws on the digital expertise of AI Singapore and will work with technology solution partners that operate in the cloud and small business space, to accelerate the digital awareness and transformation in the finance function. ACCA and AI Singapore will also explore robotic process automation (RPA) as a potential industry solution and an AI talent recruitment programme for accounting and audit firms.

Reuter Chua, Country Head, ACCA Singapore, said, “ACCA’s global insights present the future of the profession and what global business leaders need from their finance functions to guide the direction of our programme."

Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC shared, “As highlighted in various studies including the one done by NTUC’s FJST, our finance and accountancy professionals will increasingly need to incorporate technology into their daily work as businesses and business operations transform."

"We urge employers in this sector, especially our SMEs, to leverage the program to develop their talents, digitalise their businesses and work with NTUC on the continued progression of their workforce. Collective action on the part of all stakeholders is a key driver to enable deep, sustained and meaningful change, and we look forward to partnering our industry partners, our employers and our workers to transform the sector for the future economy,” he added.

More details on the ACC(X)ELERATOR programme will be released end of the year.

Explore:

Download the Market demand for Professional Business and Advisory Services report

Employees prefer recognition to money

Source: ACCA report. Tone at the top influences corporate behaviour the most, according to 61% of respondents.

A new report, Culture and channelling corporate behaviour: ACCA member survey, published by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has found that recognition at work is the highest motivator, regardless of age, industry or location – even outstripping monetary reward.

The survey, which was co-funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council), harnessed the views of almost 2,000 ACCA finance professionals from across the globe. The results also highlighted geographical variations, including the desire to reach a more senior position as being a stronger motivator in Africa and Asia while having a more challenging role was most important for employees in the Americas.

Jo Iwasaki, ACCA Head of Corporate Governance, said: “The survey highlighted some clear distinctions between employee views in Europe and America and Africa and Asia. For example in Africa and Asia rules and procedures play a larger role than for respondents in Europe. However, the tone of corporate leadership is vitally important in channelling the overall culture of an organisation in any region.”

The issue of performance management will be of particular interest to business leaders. Although half of the respondents conceded that performance-related pay schemes could help foster best performance, nearly two-third thought that such systems may invite people to exaggerate or otherwise falsify their measures. This shows the fine line employers need to tread when putting in place performance related targets and the need for careful consideration when linking them to pay.

Konstantinos Stathopoulos, Professor of Accounting and Finance at Manchester Business School and co-author of the report, said: “The survey results reveal there is no 'one size fits all' strategy when it comes to building corporate culture and behaviour. Even though the role of leadership in setting the tone is highlighted in most responses, the survey uncovers significant differences in attitudes and perceptions regarding effective channels of corporate behaviour. These disparities are also intensified by differences in respondents’ geographic location, industry and characteristics.”

Interested?

Read the report

ACCA to hold Accounting for the Future virtual conference from 15 to 18 September

Source: ACCA website.

Corporate culture, sustainability and global business service models are the burning issues up for discussion at the sixth annual Accounting for the Future global virtual conference, to be held by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the global body for professional accountants.

Four days of video and audio webcast content, on a range of subject matter involving the future of the accountancy profession, will be streamed live and on-demand for the conference from 15 to 18 September 2014:

15 September 

Risk and culture: how much does corporate culture influence effective risk management and governance? 

16 September 

Investors and reporting: a new reporting framework. 

17 September 

Tomorrow's world: how are changing economies going to impact on finance professionals? 

18 September

The smart finance function: how can finance teams work smarter to become the drivers of success with a business? 

Key highlights to look out for during the conference include a panel on culture and channelling corporate behaviour on the first day. Based on a report to be released in September 2014 in collaboration with UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), this session looks at recent scandals in the banking sector and at hospitals where the blame has fallen on "poor corporate culture". As a result of this, the Financial Stability Board expects more awareness of risk culture and that boards of financial institutions will be asked to judge their own organisational culture.

On the last day of the conference, a live audio webcast will cover talent transformation in Asia. A cross-discipline panel will look at available, established and emerging and converging technologies, and the ways in which they could potentially impact on the profession over the next five to 10 years. They will consider new technologies, their potential impact, the role that accountants can play and new  opportunities that will be created. 

Faye Chua, ACCA's Head of futures research, said: "The finance profession is ever-changing, especially with the rapid advancement in technology we have seen in recent years. We need to keep up-to-date with the changes and see how beneficial they are to our work and to the profession as a whole. Of course everyone wants to be ahead of their competitors too, so this would be another incentive to keep up with change, as well as to build a stronger and sustainable economy."

Register for the conference here. The agenda is here. ACCA members can receive CPD points that count towards their training and education.

ACCA sponsors MOOC on FutureLearn that exempts learners from F1 paper

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the first professional accountancy body to sponsor massive open online courses (MOOCs) on UK company FutureLearn’s social learning platform for professional recognition.

The global body for professional accountants will work with FutureLearn’s  university partners to make learning content in the fields of accountancy, finance and business, available to FutureLearn’s international learner base, online, free of charge.

Simon Nelson, Chief Executive of FutureLearn, said, “Our free online courses provide a valuable means of supplementing professional knowledge, and also reaching learners with career options they might not previously have considered. I’m pleased to welcome the ACCA as a world-renowned and trusted source of knowledge in business and finance; together we can provide essential knowledge to working accountants, and inspire the next generation of finance professionals.”

Helen Brand OBE, Chief Executive of ACCA and alumnus of the University of Exeter, said, “This could be the start of professional training towards a prestigious and respected global qualification. But it doesn’t stop there – MOOCs can also be used by our ACCA members to meet their needs for continuing professional development throughout their careers.

“As the global body for professional accountants, we have led innovation in the profession, starting computer based exams way back in 1998. Access to the accountancy profession is important to ACCA; one of our core values is that of opportunity – enabling those with ability to become a finance professional, with or without a degree. Using the online technology that is now part of all our everyday lives means that this partnership is opportunity in action.”
 
Professor Robin Mason, Dean of the University of Exeter Business School said, “With two-thirds of our research rated as world-leading or of an internationally excellent standard, we are perfectly placed to deliver a course that is both engaging and informed by cutting edge thinking.”

The first MOOC to launch as a result of this collaboration will be called Discovering Business in Society, developed by academics at the University of Exeter. Launching on FutureLearn in September 2014, the course is aimed at anyone interested in learning the principles of business, including prospective undergraduate students, working professionals without a background in business and anyone interested in entering the finance profession and seeking a route to ACCA membership.

The course will receive professional accreditation from ACCA, granting exemption from paper F1 (Accountant in Business) of the ACCA Qualification. This will provide those learners who fully participate and pass the associated exam with the opportunity to continue on a journey to ACCA membership and a rewarding career in finance. Learners can sign up for the course now, at www.futurelearn.com/courses.