Is the CA futureproof?
1 Feb 10
Douglas Nisbet ponders the big challenges that lie ahead for the next generation of CAs and how ICAS is preparing to help them
by Douglas Nisbet
If you’d told me back in the early 1980s, when I began work as a newly qualified CA, that during my career the world’s main banks would be brought to the brink of collapse, China would be well on the way to becoming the world’s largest economy and annual reports would grow to 500 pages and counting (although ICAS, in its latest project on financial reporting, is pushing hard to reverse this), I would have checked what you’d been adding to your morning coffee.
All three have happened, of course, and much more besides. When these events and changes occur, they shape what we do, how we react and challenge the way we have previously done things. What might the future challenges be for the CA starting today?
Here are a few ideas. The impact of environmental change will become a major consideration for every professional accountant, whether in practice or in business. That doesn’t just mean new reporting obligations such as accounting for carbon emissions, but the increasing influence on business strategy of factors such as environmental impact and how your company’s products and operations affect local communities and economies.
Technology changes any industry, and the profession is no different. For example, the increasing use of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) in the coming years should allow easier interpretation of accounts by analysts and other users. To what extent might this change the current experience of those who deal with financial reporting? How can professionals like auditors continue to add value in an environment where richer information is available to everyone?
Finally, the emergence of China, India and economies such as Singapore will soon vie for equal status with Europe and the US. To ignore these markets would be commercially dangerous. To participate properly will require developing new skills: a deeper knowledge and respect for other business cultures, and an understanding of different languages and political and regulatory systems.
The Institute recognises that CAs will face these and other challenges in the years ahead. These factors dictate what we do now and in the future. It’s why our students are beginning to learn in different ways through our blended learning project, using new technology to take the CA qualification and to also sit the exams on laptops. It’s why we maintain close links with bodies like the Chinese Institute and why this month I will meet the Chinese vice-minister of finance on behalf of ICAS. It’s why we think hard on our technical committees about how technology and regulation might affect our members and those who they serve.
We regularly examine the Institute strategy and have just begun a review of Clearly Ahead, which is now entering its third year. The aim is to ensure that ICAS is equipped as far as possible to help members to face their professional future with the best knowledge, support and skills available.
The ultimate aim is to not only help all CAs face the future with confidence but to ensure that all those who come into contact with a CA – be it a chief executive, owner-manager or member of the public, recognise that they have a beneficial relationship with a leading professional.