01 June 2016

ACCA: Professional accountants - the future

ACCA's report identifies the main drivers for change that will have the most impact on the profession, plus the technical, ethical and interpersonal skills and competencies that will be required in the future.

The report introduces the concept of a ‘professional quotients’ (PQ) for each individual accountant. This may form the basis for a mechanism that can help a wide range of stakeholders to assess whether individual accountants have the optimal combination of technical knowledge, skills and abilities and the interpersonal behaviours, skills and qualities, that the professional accountant of the future will need. Each professional accountant’s PQ will reflect their competencies and skills across seven constituent areas. Hard technical competencies (TEQ) and experience (XQ) will be combined with an intelligence quotient (IQ) and digital (DQ); interpersonal behaviours, skills and qualities will be reflected in quotients for creativity (CQ), emotional intelligence (EQ) and vision (VQ).

Each professional accountant’s PQ and the seven constituent quotients will vary and the ‘optimal’ mix will need to reflect specialist domains, roles, organisations, industries and geographies. Over the years to 2025, some technical knowledge and skills will increase in value, others will decrease, and new knowledge and skills will be required, which will vary across specialist areas. The introduction of a PQ and use of the constituent quotients has the potential to produce a standardised and structured approach to career development for professional accountants and for their employers. Some of the trends that emerge from the research may demand action by employers and professional bodies. For example, during the 2014–15 global deep-dive workshops, contributors indicated that they want more help with the ethical challenges they expect to face as part of an increasingly global and mobile profession; they want assistance bridging the gap between ethical theory and reality.

There are particular problems for those working in countries where bribery and corruption are endemic or where local cultural traditions relating to religion, ethnicity and politics create governance challenges. There is a need for professional bodies to strengthen and embed ethics throughout the syllabuses of their qualifications and for employers to support the development of personal and corporate ethics by providing more on-the-job training and guidance. Professional accountants in particular domains will need tailored support to help them develop new and improved technical skills. For example, by 2020, many more accountants will need basic knowledge of Islamic finance, some will need to become experts.

The trend for standards such as IFRS 9 Financial Instruments to be based on financial maths will require a stronger grasp of this among those applying these standards and auditing them. Some of the trends that have emerged from the research will affect all professional accountants and all the organisations with which they are professionally connected. Vital knowledge of and skills with digital technologies appear to be lacking, but all accountants need to be aware of and able to apply a range of emerging technologies; many will need to be expert users of predictive analytics, big data and smart software; some will need to focus on the inherent risks and challenges of corporate governance. All professional accountants will need support in the decade ahead if they are to complement their strong technical skills with the strong communication skills that appear to be lacking across all specialisms and at all levels of the profession. In practice, the broad spectrum of meanings assigned to the phrase ‘communication skills’ by those in and around the profession will make it difficult to find solutions.

This is highlighted by specialists in strategic planning and performance management. They suggest that many newly qualified accountants lack the people skills to deal constructively with confrontation and the confidence to make necessary challenges, while many CFOs seem unable to think and act tactically or make articulate presentations, and struggle to sell ideas to those in the C-suite and on the Board.

Full report

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