THE ACCOUNTANT_AUTUMN_2018_VER-7-L

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
WILLIAM SPITERI BAILEY
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
WILLIAM SPITERI BAILEY
Dear Esteemed Members,
When thinking about education and the Accountancy
profession, many questions come to mind. Is
today's education designed to meet the challenges
of the future? What should be the common body
of knowledge prescribed for career aspirations in
professional accountancy? Can we define the skills
of the future accountant? How should we embed
professional scepticism in the education process? Is
the importance of CPD recognised or is it seen as a
burden?
The accounting profession will face significant changes
in the coming years, and professional organisations,
their members, and educational institutions must
respond accordingly. The evolving smart and digital
technology, continued globalization of reporting and
disclosure standards, and new forms of regulation are
also major challenges for the profession.
The future accountants will use increasingly
sophisticated and smart technologies to enhance their
traditional ways of working, and these technologies
might even replace the traditional approach.
Globalisation will create more opportunities and
challenges to the accounting profession. It encourages
the free flow of money from one capital market to
another, enhances overseas outsourcing activities, as
well as stimulate exchange of professional & technical
skills. That said it will also compromise and curtail the
ability to resolve local problems.
Increased regulation, and the associated disclosure
rules, will have the greatest impact on the profession
for years to come.
and the outsourcing of accounting services, evolving
regulations vis a vis tax regulation, adopting new forms
of corporate reporting as well as integrated reporting
regulation.
Adoption of technology and digital competence are the
key areas creating the skills gap in the profession. At
present, accountants lack knowledge in transformation
of new disclosure regulations, new forms of disclosures,
and awareness of the interconnectedness of financial
and non-financial reporting. Professional accountants
will need the skills to provide all-inclusive and holistic
corporate reporting, which is less about the numbers
and more about the narrative of the organisation.
It cannot be stressed enough, that the future of the
accounting profession in our rapidly changing society
will be determined not only by the profession's
adaptability and utilisation of the expanded
opportunities, but also by the intellectual vigour,
calibre, and skill of its members.
There is no simple response to the various questions
put forward, however it is an opportunity to think
about the future and the role of education. In order to
assist current and future professional accountants to
retain their competitive edge, our aim as an Institute is
to guide students and our members, the accountants
in the right path, to achieve the required knowledge
and skills in this ongoing educational journey.
William Spiteri Bailey
President
Therefore, one cannot help but ask, do our current
teaching methodologies prepare the young generations
adequately for the skillset, which the future workforce
will need?
Education in digital technology has now become
imperative. The future skills will focus, amongst others,
on cloud computing, the use of big data, globalisation
04 Autumn 2018