A new initiative by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) the global accountancy body, has highlighted 10 key drivers that are already changing business processes, people and services.
The report also addresses how the finance function within those businesses will need to prepare and adapt to meet transformative challenges.
Thomas Isibor, head of ACCA Nigeria said: ‘Few sectors are going to experience the impact of new tech more than Finance and Accountancy.”
‘Preparing now for the inevitability of change is even more vital for these functions, and forward-thinking should be every business’ strategic priority.
Mr Isibor continued: ‘Challenges such as digital, risk, the global economy, politics, legislation, cyber security, ethics, even climate change – are all set to impact business and the Finance department in potentially unimagined ways.’
Technology – more than just Automation and AI – is already creating the most seismic impact on the Finance, Audit and Accountancy functions. The industry is in a race for future relevance.
The ACCA has identified four broad imperatives for any CFO or partner looking to optimise how technology can add – and not detract – value from their organisation: To understand how to use the information available to them to provide strategic insight in real time; to think forwards not backwards and maximise the use of technology to do this; to ensure they have in place effective and efficient processes that satisfy the overall business requirements of finance, and to capture, measure, report and predict future performance in a much more agile manner to support better and quicker decision making.
Mr Isibor added: “Preparation and readiness now is key,’ ‘No technology has ever made an impact without first being adopted by people. The sooner we recast this challenge as one of people and processes, the sooner we’ll make progress. We have to be ready for what lies ahead.”