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The Digital Accountant, produced by ACCA, surveyed more than 4,200 accountants globally. The report explores the digital challenges accountants face and how they can maximise opportunities by becoming a digital citizen.
However just 20% of accountants believed they had expertise in emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Clive Webb, Senior Subject Manager- Business Management at ACCA and the report’s author, believes greater ambition with technology can help accountants be future-ready for digital challenges.
‘The profession is comfortable with older digital technology such as spreadsheets, enterprise resource planning. Digital transformation is one of the key conversations across businesses at present. The amounts invested by organisations are significant; the benefits substantial.
‘Accountants must now have the capability to respond to digital challenges presented by the profession. This can be achieved by showing purpose, ambition and understanding technology such as blockchain and the use of coding.
‘Speaking the language of technology and appreciating how it can drive business models can benefit accountants significantly. This could be from spending just three minutes-a-day invested in continuous learning and identifying future opportunities on how to improve their understanding of technology.’
He continued: ‘The evolution of technology and the digital landscape will continue. The pace of change that we have seen in recent years may well be eclipsed by the operationalisation of technologies such as 5G and hyperautomation.
‘Whatever role practitioners carry out in the accounting and finance profession, they can make a difference in this technological world. While digital skills are important, their trust and ethics are the crucial and unique lens of the accountancy professional.’