The world of financial advisory and accounting services is fast evolving. As finance professionals, it is our responsibility to stay ahead of the trends and to adapt in an ever-changing environment. Technology plays such a crucial role in what we do as accountants today, and this means that we need to stay relevant.
Be Open to Change
I believe that being technologically savvy is one way that traditional accountants and finance professionals can adapt to this new changing environment. The direction we are heading to be more technology driven is inevitable, and the quicker we can overcome our resistance to change, the better for our clients and for our career development. We can allow ourselves to be opened to change as this will add strategic value to our clients, which is paramount to building resilient accountants of the future who are both tech-savvy and strategic business advisors.
Exploring diverse industries can also present incredible learning opportunities. Each industry is so uniquely different from the next, with its own set of micro and macro influences. We are under obligation to keep informed and to update our clients around the events influencing the various industries we work in. We should rely on this information to make more informed decisions about client strategy.
Be More than an Accountant
Taking inspiration from current research on the future role of accounting professionals, here are some roles that we may adopt to add value to any organisation and industry that we work with:
- Accountants must be value creators and serve as strategic business advisors
- We can enable value by acting as operational business advisors
- Finance professionals must preserve value and act as risk management advisors, and
- Lastly, we must report on value
As a Senior Manager at AFA, my experience in client management has shown me that businesses now need and expect more from their service providers. Value creation is now, more than ever, a critical skill, and thinking ‘big picture’ instead of just implementation is preferred. I am a firm believer that there are great opportunities for those finance professionals who are willing to step outside their comfort zone and who can take bolder risks with their professional development.
I believe that the first big step is to use every opportunity to learn about concepts such as Big Data, the 4th Industrial Revolution and Machine Learning. We must understand the necessary processes that are trending in the markets and familiarise with what is available within these markets and various industries. Questions that we need to ask ourselves are: What does finance transformation entail? How will these affect us in the future? How do we as finance professionals maintain relevance in this future?
I recommend that we maintain a continuous attitude of learning to grow our awareness. We must adapt and we must make it a priority to do so or risk being laggers in this very fast-paced world of Accounting and Financial Advisory. The Future of Accounting can be an exciting space for those of us who are willing to think with our creative caps on and play our part in transforming the businesses of tomorrow.
Written by Ighsaan Ebrahim
