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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 16, 2017 - October 22, 2017

THE MIA International Accountants Conference 2017, a major event for the profession, will be focusing on digital and technological disruption and transformation.

The conference, with the theme “Expanding Horizons: Be Future Relevant”, will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Nov 7 and 8, and feature close to 65 speakers from Malaysia and around the world.

Given the relevance of the topic, Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) CEO Dr Nurmazilah Mahzan tells The Edge that the conference is a “must-attend” event for accountants, finance professionals and corporate leaders.

“Globally, technology and automation are rewiring business models and social rules, and thus expanding the horizons of business and the accountancy profession. The accountancy profession must be ready to harness digitalisation to heighten performance, marketability and future relevance,” she says in an email response.

Last year, 2,930 Malaysian and international delegates — mainly middle and senior management leaders from commerce and industry, the public sector, public practice and academia — participated in the MIA Conference.

Nurmazilah says transformation has become a permanent theme of the conference — an agile, adaptable and globally recognised platform for continuous learning.

“For 2017, MIA is focusing especially on digital and technological disruption and transformation. We are thrilled to be working closely with IBM Malaysia as our technological partner on content and knowledge sharing.

“We believe IBM’s sharing of its expertise in artificial intelligence, robotics, analytics and Watson — which is billed as representing a new partnership between humanity and technology — will show accountants how they too can make use of technology to benefit their clients and communities,” she adds.

Nurmazilah points out that digital disruption is one of the biggest risks in the accounting profession, along with regulatory reforms and globalisation.

“Jobs are being rewired or becoming obsolete because of automation and technology. These include routine audit work and transactional accounting jobs in finance shared services. Indeed, several professional accountancy publications have identified knowledge of digital technologies as a key competency area where professional accountants have skill gaps,” she explains.

“MIA has identified technological, regulatory and economic shifts as challenging megatrends that are impacting business and the profession, and we exhort members and accountancy professionals in Malaysia to future-proof themselves and seize emerging opportunities.”

According to Nurmazilah, digital disruption is driving the massive adoption of technology and artificial intelligence to automate low-value work and create new high-value roles.

“Economic shifts from industrialisation to digitalisation are spurring sweeping changes to business models. Trends such as e-commerce, on-demand, sharing, cybersecurity, decentralisation and fintech are gaining traction in a globalised e-economy dominated by FANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) and unicorn start-ups (Uber, Didi Chuxing, Airbnb and WeWork),” she says.

Having said that, Nurmazilah thinks that by embracing technology, accountants can offer value-added services to their clients.

In this aspect, she says MIA is paying close attention to the technology disruption that is taking place in the profession.

“Thus, MIA has established a digital economy task force to prepare members for these game changers. Owing to digitalisation, accountancy has become increasingly cloud-based and empowered by big data, thus becoming more efficient and mobile.”

Accountants are facing a paradigm shift in their roles and the way they do things, says Nurmazilah.

“Future audits will provide near absolute assurance, instead of a reasonable assurance, given that auditors will have the capability to examine all transactions. Real-time auditing could also become a reality since we are nearing a real-time environment where auditors can access and audit clients’ transactions as they occur, and simultaneously issue written reports,” she explains.

In line with this trend, MIA will be unveiling the Digital Economy Blueprint at this year’s MIA Conference, Nurmazilah reveals.

“The Blueprint will guide our digital strategies to align them with our overarching agenda of building the profession and the nation.”

Apart from that, one of MIA’s major projects over the past year is the Competency Framework, which brings clarity to talent development by specifying the qualifications and skillsets required at all levels and functions of the accountancy profession, she says.

“Once finalised, the Competency Framework will not only develop talent but also ensure that accountants will be matched more accurately to market demand. For example, as we anticipate significant technological disruption, our framework addresses how to equip accountants with requisite skills, such as data analytics,” Nurmazilah explains.

Today, accountants and finance professionals are sought after by organisations for their analytical skills and their ability to interpret financial data in a way that makes it easier for the management to make informed decisions or even explore new business opportunities, especially using technology, she remarks.

“The accountancy profession has evolved over the decades. Gone are the days when accountants and finance professionals [were merely] number crunchers.

“Related to this is the CFO Competency Framework that maps out the required qualifications and skills to optimise the finance function. By clarifying the diversity of talent requirements, it will be easier for MIA to develop talent effectively and deliver the targets set by Pemandu (Performance Management & Delivery Unit), which is to produce 60,000 accounting professionals by 2020 to meet market demand.”

Nonetheless, Nurmazilah says MIA is of the view that the year 2030 is a more realistic deadline to meet this target.

“This is because currently, the MIA has slightly over 34,000 members and, as the nation progresses, diversity and inclusiveness will be critical to achieving the targeted number of professional accountants,” she explains.

Nurmazilah says accountancy professionals today operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) landscape, where they must manage major changes in standards and regulatory requirements, and embrace expanded roles beyond accounting and finance to become leaders in business.

“Therefore, accountants have a heavy burden to not only help their clients professionally but also recognise that they have a duty to the public.

“We try very hard to maintain our ethics and as a profession, we are vigilant in policing the behaviour of our peers. Unfortunately, like all professions, we do have some members who misbehave but they are in the minority,” she adds.

Hence, MIA’s strategy going forward is to implement the Balanced Enforcement approach, Nurmazilah says.

“Through continuing professional development and the upcoming Competency Framework, MIA will educate accounting professionals on their obligations and their duties of compliance. The onus is on you to educate yourself to the expected standards of competency and to comply with the new mandatory ruling on annual continuing professional education (CPE) hours,” she says, adding that MIA executive director of surveillance and enforcement Datuk Muhammad Redzuan Abdullah has personally participated in several MIA events as a moderator, panellist and speaker to communicate the institute’s stance and commitment to good governance.

“If you refuse to comply with the CPE and flout the rules, then MIA will exert the full force of the law against you. Non-compliance will not be tolerated in our rigorous regulatory regime, which defends public trust and market confidence,” she stresses.

 

The Edge is the official media partner of the MIA International Accountants Conference 2017

 

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