Making accountants fit for the digital era

The role of accounting and the significance of financial officers have evolved rapidly in recent years, and ensuring their top quality is of critical importance to companies, organizations and government departments in this age of automation, said Leo Lee, the newly elected global president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

The reputable council offers professional-grade postgraduate courses in accounting, finance and management.

To keep pace with the needs of modern organizations, the ACCA will revise its courses soon, he said. Lee has been part of the council for nine years now. That gives him enough experience to help determine the new ACCA syllabus, which will take effect this year.

The council, he said, will restructure a course called "Strategic Business Leader", a "mini MBA" targeting its members so that they could meet the future demand of their employers and stakeholders.

A redesigned innovative case study on "ethics and professional skills" will be introduced in September. These will add to the existing exams and enhance a highly relevant qualification that will deliver professional accountants the world needs, Lee said.

"Technology will be able to take over some of the routine jobs in the future, including part of the accounting functions, but it can't replace strategic thinking, decision-making and intuition, which will be more important in the future. That's the reason why we have revised our courses," said Lee.

With a history of 114 years, the ACCA always thinks ahead and ensures its courses remain relevant to the business world, he said.

In the future, instead of just focusing on daily operations or compliance-related regulations, the courses are expected to emphasize more on overall business management, aiming to make its students strategic business leaders, he said.

"We'll ensure that our future members cultivate abilities like critical thinking, problem solving, and forecast skills, which are valued by today's business world," Lee said.

With over 25 years' experience in the fields of accounting, regulation and asset management, Lee is currently also a director of Benington Capital Limited, an asset management company focusing on equity fund management for professional investors.

Over several years since 1995, he has also held senior positions with the Securities and Futures Commission or SFC Hong Kong.

The ACCA has recently identified the drivers that are most likely to shape the practice of accounting and the role of the accountancy profession from 2020 onward. Lee believes technological development will be one of the drivers of change over the next decade.

Some crucial skills that successful business leaders should have in the fast-changing world include the following: technical and ethical quotient (TEQ), intelligence quotient (IQ), creative quotient (CQ), digital quotient (DQ), emotional quotient (EQ), vision quotient (VQ) and experience quotient (XQ), he said.

The ACCA calls them "the seven quotients for success". It also seeks to cultivate among its members qualities and abilities that artificial intelligence or AI and robots can never replace, over and above basic finance knowledge and skills.

"One of my objectives is to inspire more young people to join the accounting profession, and I truly believe the ACCA qualification can help not only the members, but also the global economy, because every country requires professional accountants to help it grow," Lee said.

To help Chinese business leaders to seize opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative, the ACCA Professional Insight Team has completed a report in November, suggesting that the initiative revises the existing international economic order.

The report concluded that high-caliber talent is essential for the success of Chinese entrepreneurs, and to help them seize the opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

"Professionals will act as bridges and ties between China and other countries along the (ancient silk trade) routes," it said. "At this crucial time, developing accountancy professionals with a global vision has become a major issue for enterprises operating in the Belt and Road countries."

There are huge gaps among the Belt and Road countries in terms of accounting standards. That is one of the challenges for Chinese enterprises when they decide to invest abroad along the routes, Lee said.

But the accounting rules can be unified under the ACCA standards, supported by its international network, which includes offices in 25 Belt and Road countries, to reduce potential uncertainties and risks for Chinese enterprises' overseas investments.

Lee said accounting could be an international business language as it is all about how the business operates.