Accountants of the Future James Cumming – Director of ... of Finance/Launch... · It’s important to remember that the Accountancy profession has seen many technological revolutions.

Accountants of the Future

James Cumming – Director of Accountancy Programmes, BPPRobbie White – Director of Technology Programmes, BPP

January 2019

Context

Historical Context

Accounting has evolved with every technical development to keep pace and exploit the changes – make better decisions, provide better advice

Presenter

Presentation Notes

It’s important to remember that the Accountancy profession has seen many technological revolutions. The origins of accounting go back thousands of years. Romans had means of tracking income and expenditures, financial records of the government. We presume all civilisations at that time had same means of keeping records. This is Luca Pacioli a 15th century Italian friar. He is referred to as "The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping" in Europe and he was the first person to publish a work on the double-entry system of book-keeping on the continent. In the early 20th century accountants and bookkeepers started to use adding machines. In the 1980s spreadsheets became widely used and at the time people predicted that they would mean far fewer accountants would be needed. In the 1990s portable computers became accessible – I used a machine like this in my own early days in auditing. Accounting has evolved with every technical development to keep pace and exploit the changes. The aim of the profession hasn’t changed – to help people make better decisions and provide better advice.

1. Increased need for digital technical skillsa) Machine learning and A.I.b) Blockchain and Distributed Ledgersc) Cybercrime, compliance and risk

2. Communication and soft skills3. Repositioning accountants as advisers and strategists

The Accountant of the Future

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Technology has already changed the accounting profession significantly, and in the near future the pace of that change is likely to accelerate. There seems to be consensus that accountants of the future will need greater digital technical skills, but what exactly will those skills entail? Which technologies will accountants need to be familiar with, what level of competency will be required, and which functions will be most significantly affected? Two technologies that are transforming the way accounting works: machine learning and blockchain. Machine Learning and AI Because machine learning can swiftly identify anomalies or unusual patterns in exceptionally large datasets, it has the potential to transform audit: future accountants will be using systems that can audit almost all transactions, rather than a sample, with a machine algorithmically identifying the outliers that need to be investigated by an accountant. Examples – EY CAART, Deloitte Natural Language Processing Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers When blockchain systems become commonplace, work relating to provenance assurance and reconciliations will become unnecessary, as will any audit tasks that relate to verifying transactions. As a consequence, the work of an accountant will have a different focus: less time will be spent on historic transactions and more time will be spent working with financial reporting in real-time. Cybercrime, compliance and risk Digitalisation brings with it an increased risk of cybercrime and a new compliance landscape for accountants to consider. Skills in cybercrime, compliance and risk are not taught systematically across the professional, however, and accountants in the present need to be equipped to deal the corporate governance and risk management challenges of the future. Risk and compliance and ethics are closely related: as technological advances change the way the profession works, accountants will also need to be trained to consider how to conduct themselves ethically in an increasingly connected, automated, and global world.

As emerging technologies augment the profession, and as machine learning and blockchain take over or remove certain tasks, accountants will need to focus their skills elsewhere. If machines are able to perform an increasing percentage of technical functions, then accountants will spend more time communicating the findings to stakeholders.

As technology increases the speed and efficiency of reporting, accountants will be able to give their clients insights in real-time, and they’ll be able to dedicate more time to conveying those insights.

Accountants will need to be able to advise on the adoption of new technologies and assess how those technologies will impact businesses: the accountant of the future will act as the bridge between emerging technologies and their clients.

Communication and Soft Skills

With increased automation and technological augmentation, accountants of the future will be freed up to focus less on the process of accounting and more on strategic decisions informed by accounting insights. More time can be spent focusing on the overall purpose and integrating financial analysis more completely into business strategy.

Repositioning Accountants as Advisers and Strategists

Impact

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Let’s think about the changes to work and professions generally. Because most accountants in practice will have clients (individuals or organisations), an accountant needs to understand these.

Who are they

Who are they

Wider trends in technology

Artificial IntelligenceEverywhere

Analysts

Gartner Trends

Forrester

IDC

CIMA (short review)

IOT & the Empowered

Edge

Blockchainbuilding trust Cloud 2.0

Experience Economy

Digital Ethics & Security

Digital employees and smart

spacesQuantum

Computing

Autonomous things

& Robotics

Hyper Agile Apps

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Robbie to complete

Deloitte Changing to create digital accountants

What you should know • ACL has developed 100’s of prewritten audit scripts• Accounting firms create technology• Analytics, AI and Machine Learning are widely used• Trust is lost in an instant with social media• We have had our first mega cyber attacks• ‘Uber’isation of everything - EaaS

What you may not• Audits and ownership will be extra-terrestrial • Quantum computing – no privacy, no limitations• Anything can be made by anyone, new assets• 2020 100 mill shoppers use Augmented reality to shop• 2020 has 50 Bill IOT devices with $19 bill value add• 2020 Drone business is worth $127 billion• Neuralink will exist in the next 10 years

Do you know who this is

Adriana Marais

What does this mean for your people and the skills they need?

Innovate at the coreBe creative around empowering employees

Practical skills first Theory does not beat test

Remain current Education as a journey

Watch the horizon The future will not stay stable so be aware

Presenter

Presentation Notes

How is training evolving to meet the changing needs of the profession and of learners?

Changes already madeData and Data Science explicitly

included – MSc and GDADigital Leadership – how leadership

changes in digital age

How is training evolving to meet the changing needs of the profession and of learners?

Future changes - topicsData Science embeddedFamiliarity with data tools Prof SkepticismData VisualisationChange Management

Future changes - methodSmaller unitsOn demandConstant throughout career

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Data Science becoming thread in many subjects (like Ethics is now) Familiarity with tools eg Python Prof Skepticism still important – analytics supports/disproves expectations Need to know mechanics of things like reconciliations (like reversing accruals) even though never need to do it mechanically Data Visualisation is an increasingly important skill

Q&A

Accountants of the Future James Cumming – Director of ... of Finance/Launch... · It’s important to remember that the Accountancy profession has seen many technological revolutions.

Documents