ACCA aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem in the accounting and auditing industry.

Ms. Helen Brand, CEO of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) affirmed at a press conference held on the afternoon of May 28. The activity is part of a series of events at the ACCA Asia-Pacific Forum held in Hanoi.

The role of the accountant redefined

The press conference lasted for 1 hour with a discussion and Q&A between journalists and Ms. Helen Brand, CEO of ACCA; Mr. Pulkit Abrol, Director of ACCA Asia - Pacific; Mr. To Quoc Hung, Director of ACCA in Vietnam, with the guidance of Mr. Le Trong Minh, Editor-in-Chief of Investment Newspaper.

In response to the question: “How to leverage technology to promote sustainable development in the field of finance and accounting. What are the potential risks and benefits of digital innovation in achieving sustainability?”, Ms. Helen Brand shared: “This is a question about ACCA's vision and strategy and at this time it is very reasonable for us to share. In April 2024, ACCA set out a new strategy - that is to lead the accounting and auditing profession to deal with global change, including sustainability reporting. This change is huge and related to technology, at the same time related to sustainable development”.

Ms. Helen Brand, CEO of ACCA, answered the press on many issues related to redefining the role of accountants, ACCA's vision and strategy in the near future.

She added that to cope with such changes, it is necessary to build and strengthen capacity, standards, frameworks and appropriate business strategies. ACCA's two new strategies are related to vision, redefining the role and responsibilities of accountants.

Traditionally, accountants have had to have financial knowledge, but with today's changes, they have a broader role in creating value. On the one hand, how can accountants ensure professional quality and responsibility while creating value for businesses and helping businesses be more responsible in their business as well as the surrounding community?

Discussing the issue, Mr. Pulkit Abrol, Director of ACCA Asia Pacific, said: “New technology has many challenges for our region, of which data and data management are the most important issues. We have all heard the statements of Big Tech, such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, talking about the importance of data and the great opportunities that data brings.

Mr. Pulkit Abrol, Director of ACCA Asia - Pacific region, answered about technology, AI is an opportunity or challenge for the accounting and auditing profession.

There are currently about 500 billion USD in data values that we can exploit. To exploit and analyze that data, the role of accountants is extremely important, so public and private organizations have the responsibility to improve and upgrade the skills of their accounting team, need to train them to keep up with new technologies, so that they can exploit and account for data better.

The second issue is related to technology, because the technology related to sustainability reporting sounds simple, but it is actually very complex. It is related to what data to report, the environment, the emissions we use to assess the impact. So the role of accounting is extremely important in collecting and reporting.”

The issue of ethics and competence of each accountant was also emphasized in response to a question from a representative of Thanh Nien Newspaper regarding Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB). Although it hired a prestigious unit, the world's leading "Big 4", to audit, errors still occurred.

Although it is difficult to comment on an event in Vietnam, Ms. Helen Brand still shared her opinion: “The problem of errors can happen in any country, not just Vietnam. With the issue of auditing, people often imagine that this step often appears at the end of the business process, but with ACCA, we create an ecosystem, where accountants must participate from the beginning and auditing is part of that ecosystem, not separate.

We pay special attention to ethics training for accountants and regularly enhance their capacity. Accountants and auditors themselves are regularly trained and must be continuously inspected by state agencies. This is how ACCA works with its members to minimize errors.

AI technology is an opportunity for the accounting and auditing industry

Regarding the emergence of AI technology, many journalists questioned whether it is a challenge for the accounting and auditing industry. A representative of Tien Phong Newspaper gave an example: FPT Corporation has 60,000 employees, but only needs 6 accountants and only 1 person for financial reporting consolidation.

“We see AI as an opportunity for the future generation of accountants. The accounting industry has gone through many different technological applications from the use of computers to current reporting systems. Therefore, accountants themselves must redefine their roles. Accountants must be value creators. We see AI not as a challenge but as an opportunity to enable accountants to create more value,” Ms. Helen Brand emphasized.

The press conference lasted for 1 hour with special attention to the content.

Adding to this content, Mr. Pulkit Abrol also said: “With the characteristics of the accounting industry, we see that Gen AI can create risks, but will support complex data management, while accountants will participate more in human evaluation that machines cannot do. Machines do not understand the security and sensitivity of data, while accountants will understand.

Every 7-12 times a year, we publish a report called AI monitor, this report will monitor and update AI in it, we comprehensively evaluate the development of AI and evaluate the whole accounting, this report is free so everyone can refer to it.

The next issue of great concern is the question "green finance in Vietnam is still quite low", ACCA representative emphasized that this question is not only for Vietnam, but for countries around the world in all fields and industries.

Mr. To Quoc Hung, Director of ACCA in Vietnam, expects the number of ACCA members to increase in the next 3-5 years.

Vietnam has made a commitment to Net Zero, so more than ever, collecting green data and environmental data is extremely important. What needs to be done is to collect data on the environment, on green capital development, on infrastructure development, and more than ever, we must improve the skills and capacity of accountants to collect information and data. Now, we have to produce reports that meet international standards, so data is even more important.

“ACCA is trying to create a community, a very large ecosystem including state management agencies, policy managers, accounting and auditing trainers, businesses and accountants. All of them form a community to help develop the Vietnamese economy in particular and the Asia-Pacific countries in general,” Ms. Helen Brand emphasized.

The ACCA Asia Pacific Forum is being held by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Hanoi on May 28-29. The event will bring together thought leaders, industry experts and renowned speakers to engage in important discussions that will shape the future of finance and business in the Asia-Pacific region.
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is a globally recognised professional accountancy body providing qualifications and raising standards in the accountancy profession worldwide.
Founded in 1904 to widen access to the accountancy profession, ACCA has always championed inclusion and today proudly supports a diverse community of over 247,000 members and 526,000 prospective members in 181 countries.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/acca-huong-den-tao-he-sinh-thai-toan-dien-trong-nganh-ke-toan-kiem-toan-d216242.html