عرض العناصر حسب علامة : التحول الرقمي
الأحد, 06 مارس 2022 10:01
مواكبة الدور المتطور للمدير المالي
تطور دور المدير المالي في العام الماضي أكثر مما كان عليه في السنوات الخمس الماضية، بسبب التحول الرقمي الهائل الذي حدث استجابة للوباء. بينما تستمر الأرقام -من تلك المرتبطة بمقاييس الأداء إلى المحصلة النهائية -في أن تكون محور التركيز الأساسي، يُطلب من المديرين الماليين اليوم لعب دور رئيسي في قيادة الأجندة الإستراتيجية الأوسع للمؤسسة.
معلومات إضافية
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
The role of the chief financial officer has evolved more in the last year than in the past five years, due to the massive digital transformation that took place in response to the pandemic. While numbers — from those associated with performance metrics to the bottom line — continue to be a primary focus, CFOs today are now being asked to play a key role in driving the organization’s broader strategic agenda.
Those agendas increasingly feature digital transformation as companies seek to leverage artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and other technologies to gain a competitive advantage in a continually changing business environment. And it’s not uncommon to find CFOs at the forefront of these efforts.
A PWC US Pulse survey in August reported that 68% of the finance leaders surveyed plan to invest in digital transformation over the next 12 months. That’s in line with a 2021 Gartner CEO Survey: The CFO Perspective in which 82% of the respondents said there was intent to increase investment in digital capabilities in fiscal year 2021 compared to FY2020.
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CFOs are creating and executing insight-driven strategies that drive and support technology-powered change throughout the organization, and creating cultures open to new ways of working. Furthermore, CFOs are employing a more holistic view of the business, and championing data-driven decision making, to future-proof the organization and make teams more agile and resilient.
Let’s examine why and how these specific changes to the CFO role came to fruition.
Pandemic-influenced acceleration
While the CFO role has been evolving for years, its expansion into the realm of digital transformation ramped up throughout the pandemic. As COVID-19 lockdowns were imposed, many organizations digitized processes to support remote work operations.
Investments in digital technologies and the supporting information technology infrastructure were essential in enabling these organizations to adapt and thrive amid unprecedented disruptions, and CFOs prioritized the budget for this enablement.
The pandemic also provided a strong proving ground for the value of advanced data analytics. Armed with data, CFOs and finance teams were able to generate insights that enabled the organization to pivot to alternative markets and suppliers and adapt to new ways of working in response to sudden business and market shifts.
The success of those efforts, which includes positive ROI on digital investments, has encouraged many CFOs to advocate for faster and increased digital transformation due to the favorable short-term performance outcomes. CFOs also see the potential for long-term value creation and are making more investments.
The digital transformation of finance functions
Digital technologies aren’t just changing business operations and customer experiences. These technologies are reshaping finance and support functions — and the CFO role.
Automation, AI, machine learning, process analytics and other technologies are being used to streamline workflows and eliminate many tedious, repetitive tasks. That includes manual workflows associated with areas like accounts payable, compliance, and risk management. The results of this evolution are plentiful: increased productivity, less human error, reduced costs, and higher-quality outputs.
The technologies are also freeing CFOs up from the many manual processes that typically take up time, like signing and sending back checks, so the focus can be reassigned to higher-level, more strategic endeavors. It allows for better use of the CFO’s expertise and experience, and allows for the ability to provide greater value to the organization.
In addition, the elimination of manual processes provides CFOs with more bandwidth to create meaningful roles for the finance team. That enables team members to devote more time to high-value activities as well and move past paper pushing, essentially creating a trickle-down effect. It also contributes to greater career satisfaction which can improve employee morale.
Harnessing the power of data
Data analytics have long been used by CFOs and the finance team to help manage business activities. Through digital transformation, CFOs can do much more — and do it all faster and more cost-effectively.
CFOs can easily gather data from numerous disparate sources, clean it, label it, organize it, store it and ensure it meets compliance requirements. With just a click or two, finance leaders can access the data needed, drill down, slice and dice, and perform ad-hoc analyses. This access allows for real-time delivery of insights and the ability to create easy-to-understand visualizations for human resources, sales, procurement, operating divisions, business units and other internal customers throughout the organization.
This data-driven information can be used to develop process improvements, ensure compliance, and enhance employee and customer satisfaction. It can be used to identify new market and profit opportunities, measure and manage business performance, and run simulations. It can help organizations hedge against volatility and respond faster to changes.
Ultimately, the result is that CFOs are becoming data scientists as much as finance professionals. With the ability to interpret data and connect data points, these leaders are also becoming storytellers — including the hows and whys. With this information, CFOs can walk through the steps that are informing decision making behind specific objectives, strategies, and success definitions.
Seeking resilience and readiness
With technology and customer expectations constantly changing and the amount of data growing exponentially, digital transformation is considered an ongoing journey. CFOs are steering efforts to keep forward momentum. Doing so requires continuous innovation and the ability to anticipate, respond and adapt to changes, challenges and opportunities as they arise.
It’s not enough for CFOs to employ the latest technologies or drive company-wide technology adoption. It’s now about striving for digital resilience. Digital resilience enables organizations — and CFOs — to rapidly adapt to business disruptions and capitalize on changing conditions, two factors that should be included in every business continuity plan moving forward.
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الخميس, 13 يناير 2022 11:23
مصلحة الضرائب: نسعى لوضع مصر قى الصفوف المتقدمة
قال رجب محروس، مستشار رئيس مصلحة الضرائب المصرية، إن هناك تحول رقمى من ضمنه محاور اتخاذتها وزارة المالية مع مصلحة الضرائب المصرية، تنفيذاً للتوجهات الرئاسية وتحول مصر من المنظومة الورقية إلى المنظومة الرقمية.
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موسومة تحت
الإثنين, 28 مارس 2022 09:50
ما هي عوامل النجاح في التحول الرقمي؟
بالنسبة لأي شركة أو عميل، تهدف مبادرة التحول الرقمي إلى تحسين العمليات والبيانات وإعداد التقارير باستخدام الوسائل التي تدعم التكنولوجيا.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
What are the Success Factors for Digital Transformation?
by Bob Green
For any firm or business client, a digital transformation initiative is intended to improve processes, data, reporting – or any combination thereof – using technology-enabled means.
Oct 22nd 2019
At our firm, our advisory team consists of product-agnostic systems advisors. We don’t resell or implement any software; rather we are retained to ensure that risky systems projects, which are also digital transformation initiatives, end successfully.
These initiatives start with establishing project governance parameters, development of project charters and project plans. These continue into documentation of key functional requirements, evaluating and selecting vendors and eventually implementing and optimizing the solutions.
The contents of this post can apply to many industries and a wide array of digital transformation initiatives. As a CPA, this may apply to initiatives your firm undertakes as well as to situations where your clients may be undertaking one, as well.
Level Set: Have You Been Through Digital Transformation Initiative?
If so, what factors impacted its success (or failure)? Consider what went well, what didn’t, and how you could have improved the situation had you known the outcome in advance. Perhaps you’ve been burned by a bad implementation or misleading software sales experience.
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Maybe a project that never finished went way off track and exceeded budget. In such case, you’d likely have pitfalls and warnings solidified in your memory. Or perhaps you’ve had a positive experience with a complex technology initiative. If so, you’re in the minority.
Either way, I’m sure that you’d agree that having a productive, collaborative and respectful relationship with software integrators and vendors is among the table stakes, right? There are other factors that impact success, which are enumerated in this post.
However, let’s set the record straight in that some of the larger software companies are focusing more and more on the success of their customer experiences. Within the last two years, I had the opportunity to lead discussions with distinctly different audiences while presenting at executive meetings held by two of the largest ERP and CRM software publishers. Each meeting focused on ERP and CRM Project Success Factors.
The audiences were owners of ERP and CRM software implementation firms and sales executives responsible for ERP and CRM sales and client success. I’m happy to report the meetings were productive, constructive, very interactive and ended with everyone in sync on the success factors that I’m about to share.
Before I do, however, think about the responses to the question asked above before you review our suggested success factors below and see how much we are in sync. What follows are the factors we’ve learned through many decades of experience to be most critical to success of digital transformation initiatives.
4 Leading Success Factors for Digital Transformation Initiatives
1. Clarity of Purpose
Be clear about what you’re attempting to accomplish, and establish the intended results that you expect to achieve. Define your scopes, including areas most impacted and not. And, assess your risks of achieving your results. And, be clear about whether your functional and business requirements include changing processes, or not.
2. Leadership and Managing the Change
Most ignored, yet among the top 2 reasons for failure. Your initiative must be sponsored by executives who are going to endorse, provide resources, and ensure that the disruption to the business is best planned for, and achieved. It takes guts to take on Digital Transformation initiatives, considering how often they run off the rails and never get done. Establish a plan, a charter, and develop a Change Management strategy using internal Organizational Development professionals. You’ll focus on preparing your organization at all levels, and build more effective leaders at the same time. And, assess how your unique culture will fit with the approach and personnel from your key vendors.
3. Experience, Team and Technical Skills
If you’re undertaking a Digital Transformation initiative without team leaders with experience in working on these types of projects, please stop. Hire or retain personnel who have been through this sort of thing. And, be sure that your team represents the right business functions and have requisite skill and authority to commit the organization to changing business processes. You need to bring your “A Team.”And, frankly, so do the vendors.
4. Product (yes, it’s last)
Although people and leadership, planning and strategy are listed above due to their higher impact on success, let’s not forget about the “products” you are seeking to implement in your digital transformation initiative. For most organizations, there are multiple offerings in the technology market from which to choose – choose wisely, based on independent research and be sure to seek the right integration/implementation professionals to help with making the product(s) work for your organization.
Final Thoughts
About to undertake a digital transformation initiative or are dealing with an initiative that’s going in the wrong direction? If you’re headed into - or are struggling during - the experience, you may want to pause and consider how to rethink your project, strategically. Pay attention to the key factors listed above: People, strategy, clarity, direction and communication.
These are words we all know but, keep them posted on the white boards in your offices. These projects by nature are disruptive. Taking a planned and mature, strategic approach can mitigate your risk of failure. Hire the right personnel, or seek professionals. Good luck!
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موسومة تحت
الثلاثاء, 04 يناير 2022 12:05
رسالة ماجستير: قياس أثر جودة المراجعة على دقة تنبؤات المحللين الماليين بأسعار الأسهم في ظل التحول الرقمي للشركات المقيدة بالبورصة المصرية
هدف البحث إلى قياس أثر جودة المراجعة ( معبراً عنها بنوع المراجعة، حجم مکتب المراجعة، وتحفظ تقرير المراجع عند عدم تحقق جودة الأرباح) على دقة تنبؤات المحللين الماليين بأسعار الأسهم فى ظل التحول الرقمى للشرکات المقيدة بالبورصة المصرية
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- البلد مصر
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رسائل ماجستير و دكتوراة
الخميس, 22 سبتمبر 2022 09:14
القادة الناشئون: أين هم الآن؟
التدقيق الداخلي مهنة وجهة استثنائية. يعد الارتقاء من خلال الرتب الإدارية في المؤسسة إلى منصب الرئيس التنفيذي للتدقيق (CAE) أمرًا مجزيًا وصعبًا، والعمل ضروري للمؤسسة. في الوقت نفسه، تشير الأدلة القوية إلى أن مهارات التدقيق الداخلي تمكّن الممارسين من الإجابة حتى على أكثر الفرص غير المتوقعة والتفوق في المناصب القيادية خارج الحدود التقليدية للمهنة.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
Emerging Leaders: Where Are They Now?
Internal Auditor follows up with past Emerging Leaders to learn how their careers have progressed — from rising through the ranks to springboarding into other professions.
Russell A. JacksonNovember 08, 2021Comments
Internal audit is an exceptional destination profession. Rising through an organization’s departmental ranks toward a chief audit executive (CAE) post is rewarding and challenging, and the work is essential to the enterprise. At the same time, powerful evidence indicates that internal audit skills empower practitioners to answer even the most unexpected of opportunity’s knocks and excel in leadership posts far outside the traditional boundaries of the profession. Some of Internal Auditor’s past Emerging Leaders are climbing the ladder, some are at the top and exploring ways to expand their spheres of influence, and some use their internal audit skills in strikingly diverse careers.
ELEVATING CREDIBILITY
Thokozani Sihlangu is focused and ambitious. When he was named a 2020 Emerging Leader, he was senior audit manager, Quality Assurance, at Absa Group in Johannesburg. He took a job as senior audit manager with Standard Bank in December of that year, and is now head of Transactional Products and Services Audit. His role is at a strategic level, he says, allowing him to contribute to Group Internal Audit’s strategy formulation — and then customize a strategy for the business unit he leads and execute against that strategic direction.
Sihlangu heads a team of business auditors and data scientists, reporting key audit insights, material audit items, and audit themes to governance committees. Leading it well demands that he maintain excellent relationships with key executive stakeholders, too. His team also provides traditional audit assurance against the audit plan and modern modes of assurance in the form of strategic technology project assurance and data-led audit reviews.
As such, Sihlangu’s long-term career plans haven’t changed, and are right on track. “I am proud that I managed to achieve most of the plans I had for myself when I was in university, which was to attain an MBA and be head of an audit unit before age 35,” he says. “Being an Emerging Leaders honoree was a dream come true, and it has elevated my credibility in the profession.”
EXPANDING RESPONSIBILITIES
Nora Kelani, a 2017 Emerging Leaders honoree, has, as she puts it, “reached the top of the internal audit ladder” at her firm, so now she’s focused on expanding her responsibilities outside the traditional aspects of the profession. Indeed, the internal audit senior manager at Trust Holding–Nest Investments in Amman, Jordan, is working on a Certification in Risk Management Assurance and an MBA. After 2017, her position evolved, she notes, and now she reports directly to the board of directors of the holding company she works with. It owns and supports multiple insurance subsidiaries, a reinsurance company, a bank, and other large investments across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Kelani’s job involves working in, and traveling to, several of the company’s far-flung locations. She served on The IIA’s Global Advocacy Committee from 2018 to 2020 and this year was tapped to serve on The Institute’s Global Advocacy Advisory Council.
Expanding her scope has enabled Kelani to provide a variety of consultancy and advisory services — risk management, governance, information and communications technology, operations, and general business consultancy — to numerous stakeholders in different industries. That capability, she says, proves to her that internal auditors add value in advisory and consultancy functions just as much as in traditional audit tasks. “My career has flourished both vertically and horizontally just as I’d hoped it would and has exceeded my aspirations at certain points,” she says. Moving forward, she wants to seek positions where she empowers others, advocates for governance and internal controls, influences strategies, and participates in setting the vision of the organization.
IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
Derrick Li began his career in internal audit at a large accounting firm before signing on with Vancouver’s South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink) for his next career rung, a post as manager, Enterprise Risk and Capital, at subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Co. (CMBC). Next, he was division manager, Business and Advisory Services, at Metro Vancouver, a separate entity. Li then moved to TransLink headquarters as director, Internal Audit and Performance Improvement. He was there when he received an Emerging Leaders honor in 2014.
Li then moved to a role as executive director, Finance and Corporate Services, at CMBC in 2018. Two years later, he jumped to his current job as chief operating officer (COO) at Lawson Lundell LLP, a large Vancouver law firm. He oversees business, administrative, and financial operations, and serves on the executive committee, focusing on the firm’s growth strategy and execution. “My career has far exceeded my expectations,” Li says. “Making the transition from CAE to an executive was always in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think I would transition this early in my career.”
He adds, “I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without the tremendous experience I gained as an internal auditor.” In his last role at CMBC, he served additionally as chief financial officer (CFO) and corporate secretary, so he had the chance to interact with internal audit regularly — as an audit client and as part of quarterly internal audit/board interactions. That expanded his perspective: “Internal auditors have a unique opportunity to learn every facet of an organization,” Li says. “They can do a lot more, whether moving onto the management side of things or proactively providing advisory services to management.”
Li says he especially appreciated the variety and scope of his work as an internal auditor. “Every hour of your day could be spent on a different topic and dealing with all levels of an organization,” he says. As COO of a law firm, that’s still true, he adds — and now he can implement change directly.
SPRINGBOARD TO PARTNER
Joseph Harrington has moved from a staff position to partnership at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) since his 2014 Emerging Leaders honor and from providing outsourced internal audit services to heading up artificial intelligence (AI)-related activities. As a principal at PwC Labs in New York, he says, his career has become more technical than anticipated, so his approach is a bit different. “It’s more about how I can leverage technology the best way possible, versus what I know myself and can teach to my team,” he says.
He’s a co-leader in his new post, providing AI and machine learning capabilities to help internal teams deliver services — including audit services — to clients more efficiently and to help clients that use PwC technology to accelerate internal processes on their own. Harrington likes helping clients embed security and control by design.
Using machines presents risks, but they don’t tire or have bad days, he explains. Rather, “they provide consistency, which is difficult to measure when it’s just humans performing vouching or tracing.” And while some biases are unique to machine learning models, he adds, his team can help control for them with an approach that includes humans and technology. “It’s not about a person versus a machine,” he says. “It’s about a person versus a person with a machine.” The latter is more efficient. For example, full population testing — not just sampling — is only possible using machines to kick out anomalies for a person to substantiate or refute.
Harrington joined PwC from a small boutique consulting and internal audit firm, where he provided outsourced internal audit services to banks and credit unions. At PwC, he initially worked in a risk and compliance analytics group that primarily provided U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering analytics.
But his career quickly pivoted when the Financial Accounting Standards Board announced not-yet-effective lease-related standards updates in 2018. “When that occurred, I worked with another partner at PwC to build out a natural language processing platform to help read and understand lease documents for our clients, helping them save time and money on properly recording them on financial statements,” Harrington says. That change was a springboard to his PwC partnership offer in 2019.
LEVERAGING INTERNAL AUDIT KNOWLEDGE
Since her 2013 Emerging Leaders honor, Kayla Carter has moved from providing internal audit services to external clients to an internal role focused on driving digital transformation — and from Kansas City to San Francisco. Now senior director, Business Process and Technology, at Protiviti, Carter supports the executive team in executing the firm’s global internal digitalization and business transformation strategy, including streamlining processes across all areas of the worldwide enterprise. She’s responsible for organizational change management for the executives’ initiatives, project governance, and ongoing support of production environments.
“My job is challenging, but in a good way,” Carter says, adding that she enjoys working with colleagues across the globe to make day-to-day tasks easier and reporting and analytics better. Her job is different these days, she notes, but she leverages the knowledge she gained from internal audit every day. “My goal is to help improve and streamline the same business processes I used to audit,” she says. “There is always room to improve and make things better.”
MAKING ORGANIZATIONS STRONGER
Embracing Leadership Individually
The Emerging Leaders honor means something different to each person who receives it, just as leadership itself is a personal trait that each individual understands and expresses in a unique way. Some base it on their daily tasks; leaders lead, in other words. Carter says she feels like a leader because she formerly led teams on internal audit client engagements and now helps lead her company through its transformation journey. Sihlangu leads a team of seven in his job and recently joined the IIA–South Africa Chapter’s board of directors.
Others grapple with the nuances of what it means to lead, though; moreover, their examples show that the traits that make a leader may be lasting, but confidence in expressing them may come and go. Harrington didn’t feel like a leader at the time of his honor because he was one of many performing traditional internal audit services. Now, though, he’s filed two patents and helped lead a global team of 300 professionals, many of them deep technologists. “It’s in that pivot to exploiting technology that I now feel like a leader in my profession,” he says; indeed, he’s “one of the world’s leading experts on leveraging data science to deliver business value.”
Li says he felt like a leader seven years ago as CAE, when he managed the internal audit group and was a leader in his local professional community. But being an executive is quite different, he finds. “There is more of a spokesperson or brand ambassador component that I didn’t realize,” he notes. Zitting says he felt like a leader in 2013, but isn’t sure he does anymore, even though his leadership responsibility is bigger. “I find that the further my career advances, and the closer to the top of an organization I get, the easier it becomes to doubt my own leadership or believe I am not good enough,” he says. “I’m sure that feeling only makes us stronger as leaders.”
Dan Zitting, a 2013 Emerging Leaders honoree, is now CEO at Vancouver’s Galvanize — recently acquired by Diligent Corp. — and he says he believes in internal audit as much as ever. “From the minute I started building technology for use in audit, risk, and compliance rather than focusing on being a practitioner, I was in love,” he says. “I am exactly where I would like to be, running a technology business focused on making organizations stronger through technology.”
Zitting started his career at EY in Denver providing internal audit, risk analytics, and U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 compliance services, then co-founded and helped run Linford & Co. LLC, a New York IT risk advisory professional services firm. In 2010, he founded New York’s Workpapers.com, a software-as-a-service internal audit and compliance management platform that was acquired by the company that became Galvanize.
“Organizations are waking up to realize that their purpose is every bit as important to today’s employees, customers, and investors as their profits,” Zitting stresses. “We should build people, processes, and technology that are as strong in measuring and managing strategy and governance as in managing financial results.” He has never wavered in his belief, he adds, that internal audit has the most responsibility of any part of an organization for building and overseeing those capabilities.
A BRIDGE TO BROADER HORIZONS
Hui Jing, a senior finance manager at HP Inc. in Singapore, extols the benefits of using internal audit experience as a bridge to broadening professional horizons. “I would have never imagined having the opportunity to move across so many different roles and, best of all, to leverage my previous experience in risk, controls, and governance the way I do today,” she says.
When Jing was an Emerging Leaders honoree in 2013, she was an internal audit lead at HP, where she’s since taken on multiple roles in finance — implementing accounting and governance frameworks for new business models, managing unprecedented foreign exchange market volatility, driving profitable business growth, and guiding investment decisions. Now the Greater Asia senior finance manager, she’s responsible for the financial performance of developed and emerging markets in the region.
“Effective data analytics and an increasing reliance on IT systems and controls will shape the future of internal audit,” Jing says. “A great example is the focus many audit functions have today on data analytics and digital transformation.” Because business dynamics evolve so rapidly, she adds, internal audit plays an important role both in preempting business, financial, IT system, and compliance risks and in helping shape the organization’s responses to those that emerge.
A RISK GO-TO PERSON
“Having seen many people come and go, I would say that internal audit is not everyone’s calling,” Jing says. “But having personally embarked on this journey, I feel it is a great way to be exposed to different businesses, processes, and systems.” The profession demands thinking with an open mind and making assessments objectively, systematically, and logically, she adds. Success, she stresses, comes from being viewed by stakeholders as a trusted partner and a go-to person on all matters involving risk.
“I believe a leader should be ambitious, yet authentic and influential, to take other people along on his or her vision and strategy,” Jing says, emphasizing her company’s talent development program and the benefits she’s received from it. “They enabled me to grow from a young talent into the leader that I am today,” she says. Acknowledgment from The IIA doesn’t hurt. “Being an Emerging Leaders honoree indeed opened my eyes,” Kelani says. “While I avoided acknowledging my leadership traits before, perhaps as a way to champion humility, today I totally embrace being a leader with all my heart.”
The key, she adds, is understanding that leadership is a responsibility, and not just more stripes on a uniform or certifications after a name. It comes from inside and must be wielded wisely to be wielded well.
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الأربعاء, 13 أكتوبر 2021 20:09
4 تغييرات ستستمر في المحاسبة لفترة طويلة بعد انتهاء الوباء
لقد أثرت التأثيرات بعيدة المدى لوباء COVID-19 على كل صناعة في جميع أنحاء العالم، ولم يعد خبراء حماية البيئة محصنين.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
4 changes that will stick with accounting long after the pandemic is over
By Justin Hatch
October 12, 2021 3:24 PM
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The COVID-19 pandemic’s far-reaching effects have touched every industry around the world, and CPAs are not immune. Not only were CPA firms working to help the businesses they serve survive economic challenges, but they were fighting their own battles as well. According to one survey, approximately 90% of CPA firms reported concerns for their company, ranging from health to finances and operations. Despite the challenges, firms also reported facing the challenges with innovations like using cloud technology and innovation.
Necessity is the mother of invention — or in some cases, reinvention. The accounting industry was forced by COVID-19 to evolve almost overnight, and not all of the changes that occurred will be going away. Here are some of the adaptations that will be part of the industry going forward.
Adaptability
coronavirus-mask.jpgCPAs have learned to adapt quickly to changes in their work, whether it be major financial programs like the Paycheck Protection Program or adjusting the way they work with clients. Clients have come to expect continually up-to-date information from their CPA anytime they need it, and there will be no going back. Customers will expect their accountants to be able to come up with solutions at the drop of a hat, whether or not there is an international crisis.
Not only will customers continue to demand more agility from CPAs, but there will always be rapid changes that require accountants to think on their feet. CPAs stood tall when the challenge arose in 2020, and the pandemic only made them more able to face any new obstacles in the future.
Better communication
A lack of in-person interaction could be detrimental for some, but for CPAs, it may have actually been a boon. Trying to work remotely with clients forced CPAs to communicate more effectively. Cloud-based dashboards, video conference calls, chatting online, and sending frequent emails are the norm now, whereas both CPAs and clients may have been reluctant to give them a try before.
Clients couldn’t be left hanging during a pandemic that had major financial implications. They needed fast, insightful information about new programs and how they could help their business, and it was up to CPAs to stay on top of it all and boil it down for them. The result is CPAs who are better communicators for future clients as well.
Flexible work environment
COVID-19 brought about a sudden adjustment as workers moved from conference rooms to living rooms. Though many businesses, including CPA firms, later began bringing workers back, the office landscape has likely changed for good. More workers are staying in their home offices full time or choosing a hybrid option, with some working from home and some in the office. This shift not only affects the way a CPA firm runs internally but also how it will serve its clients — many of whom are shifting to more remote work as well.
CPAs and clients alike learned to work with each other from a distance, and that will add a level of flexibility going forward that will benefit everyone. Businesses will come to rely on their accountants outside of more traditional meetings and scheduled reports, and CPAs will be able to answer the bell from anywhere if needed.
Expanded services
The Paycheck Protection Program was a much-needed life preserver for struggling businesses in 2020, but the intricacies of the program were a lot to work through. Applications, required paperwork, loan forgiveness and other factors could make the program confusing for business owners. CPA firms reported expanding services to help businesses take advantage of the program, making up 39% of new services offered to clients.
Although this service was directly related to the pandemic, firms will continue to expand their offerings even after the pandemic is in the past. In a 2021 survey, 33% of firms reported they anticipated adding new services like financial advisory, cash flow and risk advisory in the next year.
Many of the changes brought on by COVID-19 were already in motion in the industry, but firms got the extra push they needed to move forward. Businesses have been seeking more advisory services from their CPAs for years, and many firms have begun to expand their offerings. The pandemic, and the severe economic impact it had across industries, helped move the transition along.
CPAs have fought alongside their clients through the COVID-19 pandemic, and their work has been vital to businesses’ success through the crisis. The lessons learned from the pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on the profession as CPAs continue to adapt and grow for the benefit of their clients.
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الثلاثاء, 14 سبتمبر 2021 20:53
اظهر بأفضل ما لديك خلال الدروس عبر الإنترنت
حسِّن طريقة ظهورك على الكاميرا ببعض التعديلات البسيطة.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
November 10, 2020
Help students succeed with online testing
October 13, 2020
Variety is the spice of online learning
TOPICS
Accounting Education
Professional Development
Well-Being
The new semester offers a chance to start afresh, and one way to do so is by improving the way you look online, enhancing your reputation as a faculty member who can deftly navigate the digital world.
Here are a few simple tweaks that can help you appear at your best during online classes:
Choose the setting. When it comes to online classes, your appearance starts with where you’re sitting, so consider the background part of your image. Select a quiet area free of background noise and people coming and going, and think carefully about what people can see behind you, said Michael Freeby, a celebrity photographer and videographer. Instead of showcasing something potentially distracting or controversial, opt for a colorful painted wall or wallpaper. “Choose whatever backdrop you feel fits the image of yourself you would like to promote,” he said. If your university or department has a specific logo, you could custom-create a virtual background with the branding or logo as the backdrop, he suggested.
Make sure that your background doesn’t draw too much attention. “Uncluttered backgrounds allow students to focus,” said Scott Dell, CPA, DBA, an assistant professor of accounting at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C.
Focus on lighting. Evaluate the lighting in the room where you’ll be on screen so that you don’t appear too light or dark, and use natural light to your advantage. “You don’t want any room with lighting that has orangey or yellow tones, and you also don’t want dim lighting as it will look significantly dimmer on camera,” Freeby said. While positioning yourself near windows with natural lighting generally works well, be “sure the light doesn’t shine directly into your eyes, making you squint,” advised Parker Geiger, chief executive of the Personal Branding Center, a professional coaching and consulting business based in Atlanta.
If your location has strong lighting or sunlight streaming in from behind “you can try to counteract that by setting your screen brightness really high to put more light on your face,” said Abir Syed, CPA (Canada), a Montreal-based e-commerce consultant with accounting services site UpCounting.
When appearing on camera, having lights in front of you is helpful. That’s why many people put a lamp in front of the laptop or buy a ring light, which can range from affordable to pricey and can stand alone or be attached to the computer or laptop, Freeby said.
Pay attention to your camera angle. The placement of the camera can also affect how you appear. Have the “camera at eye level,” Dell said. “People really don’t want to look up at you.”
For this reason, “make sure the camera hits you either at a completely parallel level to you, or from above you,” Freeby said. “Looking down to the camera is never a flattering angle, especially for video.”
Geiger suggested thinking of the screen as the face of your students. If you are using an external webcam, have the video call displayed on the monitor directly under your camera so that it appears that you’re looking at the participants instead of to the side, Syed said. “Having the camera close to the screen is ideal,” as it’ll appear to your students as though you’re looking at them, he said.
Consider your appearance. Even though your students may be in athleisure, be sure to “dress as if you were going to be face-to-face with others,” Geiger said. “Do not just dress professionally above the waistline and wear shorts and no shoes below.” Even if others will only see you from the waist up, how you’re dressed will affect how you feel and present yourself. “When fully dressed, you will project a confident, credible professional presence.” he said.
When it comes to clothing, avoid patterns, which can be “too much for the camera and can be distracting to the message,” Geiger said. Look for colors that complement your hair color and skin tone so that you can appear more striking on screen. Men should have shaved at least an hour before appearing on camera. “You do not want fresh cuts or irritation to show,” Geiger said. “Give the skin a chance to calm down.”
Try to “avoid glasses as they'll create glare and show what's on your screen,” Syed suggested.
Ultimately, Dell said, the key to looking better online is experie
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الإثنين, 13 سبتمبر 2021 20:22
3 مفاتيح تقنية لتمكين المحاسبين
مثل كل قطاع أعمال، شهدت المحاسبة نصيبها العادل من الاضطراب نتيجة لوباء COVID-19.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
3 tech keys for empowering accountants
By Clayton Weir
September 10, 2021 10:43 AM
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Much like every business vertical, accounting has seen its fair share of disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. And although digital transformation efforts have pushed innovation forward in many industries, accountants, by and large, unfortunately have to deal with fractured processes and outdated tools from pre-pandemic times. Not only do accountants have to tackle daily tasks with antiquated technology, but they have to find ways to make this tech meet the modern demands of today’s financial industry. And as the world around them continues to evolve and modernize, accountants are understandably struggling to keep up.
With that in mind, it is time for banks to allocate more attention and resources toward revamping their accounting infrastructure. Here are a few areas in particular that they need to focus on in order to make this happen.
Cloud migration
technology-and-telecom.jpgWith the number of tools that accountants are forced to deal with on a daily basis, remote work is a nightmare for those who are still forced to work with on-premise infrastructure. Moreover, given a significant portion of the financial industry still relies heavily on this “traditional” technology, on-premise is one of the foremost hurdles that is holding accountants back today. That said, the fix is quite simple: adopt the cloud.
By leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, businesses can immediately boost the efficiency of their accounting teams by giving them easy, instant access to the data and solutions they need from anywhere. Additionally, it can also make onboarding new tools and processes far less painstaking than doing so with on-premise legacy systems.
Embrace automation
With CFOs and accounting teams now expected to participate more fully in business strategy and other non-finance tasks, the amount of time these teams have to engage in manual tasks continues to shrink. And as such, calls for greater automation within finance departments continue to grow.
According to a guide produced by Sage, 93% of finance workers say they would be happy to have tech do their daily accounting tasks. In addition, as budgets remain tight and workforces are continuously expected to do more with less, empowering accounting teams with automation will be pivotal to business efficiency and overall success.
Choose fintechs wisely
No two finance departments are exactly the same. So it is imperative that businesses take a step back and consider their needs properly before adopting tools and processes. Sure, a tool might seem to make sense on the surface, but what if it actually complicates things or makes tasks more challenging? All too often businesses jump into the fintech pool without fully understanding what their needs are and what they need to solve them.
Accountants have incredibly full plates to begin with. And without the support infrastructure and tools they need to juggle these tasks, it is virtually impossible for them to keep up with modern demands. Therefore, businesses need to work in close consultation with finance teams to identify their most pressing needs and find the solutions that are best tailored to them. Granted, with a global remote workforce, this may seem like a daunting prospect. By getting all of their ducks in a row early, not only will businesses be able to make the onboarding process far easier for their accounting teams, but they will also save valuable time and money down the road.
Accountants are integral to helping businesses achieve financial success. And with that, the time has come for these teams to be supplied with the modern tools that their work deserves. Without it, accountants will continue to struggle to meet their full potential and will not be able to help businesses achieve the growth they are looking for.
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الثلاثاء, 07 سبتمبر 2021 11:17
أهم 10 تنبؤات تقنية لعام 2021
أحدث العام الماضي تغييرات كبيرة في كيفية تعامل شركات المحاسبة وعملائها مع التحول الرقمي والتجاري، ولكن السؤال الكبير هو، "ما هي استراتيجيتنا للمضي قدمًا؟"
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
1. The pipe gets bigger
business-and-it.jpg
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Bandwidth speeds will increase, and prices decrease, resulting in a continually improving virtual experience.
2. Getting more at home in Zoom
online-zoom-meeting.jpg
Ģirts Raģelis/Girts - stock.adobe.com
Virtual meetings will continue to be popular. Firms will formalize their processes and agendas, creating a better client experience.
3. Opportunities in blockchain and crypto
Bitcoin
Picasa/3dsculptor - Fotolia
Blockchain and crypto will grow exponentially, increasing consulting, financial reporting and tax compliance opportunities.
4. Efficient and effective
RPA robotic process automation dial
Olivier Le Moal/Olivier Le Moal - stock.adobe.com
Automation and continuous process improvement will lead to competitive advantages for firms that are innovative and focused beyond optimization.
5. Hearing from IT and marketing
Joining hands in a circle art
Konstantin Postumitenko/Prostock-studio - stock.adobe.com
Technology and marketing get seats at the table, and must lead at a higher level and produce agile results. Technology and marketing must co-elevate to reach their potential.
6. From vendor to partner
partnership-image.jpgVendor relationships are strategic and must be managed from a strategic rather than a transactional perspective.
7. Spatial technologies
Spatial technologies will augment physical spaces and relationships.
8. 2+2=5
Technology gap
Sergio Donà/itestro - stock.adobe.com
Emerging technology will accelerate and enable innovative firms through a convergence of multiple technologies (e.g., robotics, machine learning and process improvement).
9. Data everywhere
data-small.jpg
Nikita Gonin/ninog - Fotolia
Business intelligence and data analytics continue to grow in importance to all service lines. Data is an asset.
10. Know where you're going
p19j2j3ns58kr1b4v1ti41np21dm98.jpgA vision, strategic plan and IT roadmap are essential, along with an innovative process.
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موسومة تحت
الإثنين, 16 أغسطس 2021 14:55
ما هي عوامل النجاح الحاسمة للتحولات الرقمية لمنظمات المحاسبة المهنية؟
تقدم أسماء الرسموقي مستشار البنك الدولي 5 ركائز أساسية يجب أن تضعها منظمات المحاسبة المهنية لإحراز تقدم ناجح في التحول الرقمي.
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المحتوى بالإنجليزية
What Are Critical Success Factors for PAO Digital Transformations?
ASMÂA RESMOUKI, WORLD BANK CONSULTANT | AUGUST 12, 2021
There is a significant opportunity for Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs) to accelerate digital transformation to improve the delivery of their mandate. This was evident through a recent World Bank project that engaged with Board members and senior management of 20 PAOs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Latin America, and the Caribbean regions regarding their digital transformation journeys.
“We need to accelerate adoption of digital transformation to enhance services to our members and public”
“We need to design a digital transformation strategy supported by financial and human resources to leapfrog our service offering during the COVID 19 period”
“Digital transformation will assist us to support prospective accountants in rural areas”.
These were some of the sentiments that were expressed by Board members, and by speakers and participants during the knowledge event hosted by IFAC and the World Bank on PAO digital transformation (available in English and French).
Based on the conversations, the following are 5 key pillars that PAOs should put in place to successfully progress their digital transformation.
1. Governance: Tone at the top should set direction
Throughout the project, it was noticeable that when the PAO President and Board members had a clear vision and were committed to the digital transformation reform, there was commendable and concrete progress. The opposite was also true: i.e., minimal digital transformation among PAOs where leadership did not show enough enthusiasm for the reform or consider it a priority. Therefore, it is important for the Board to take the leading role in setting direction and really driving the necessary changes.
2. Design and implement a user-centric digital transformation strategy
Digital transformation requires a clearly articulated strategy that defines strategic objectives, implementation plans, and performance targets with timelines (Key Performance Indicators).
When designing the strategy, the Board should engage with the membership and all relevant stakeholders to ensure their needs and expectations are incorporated. The final strategy should then be shared and communicated with them. Subsequently, the PAO leadership should regularly request feedback from members and stakeholders on any new digital tools and request suggestions to improve the user-experience. This would create a virtuous circle between the PAO and its stakeholders.
Ideally, the digital strategy should be linked to the overall strategy of the PAO, since digitalization serves as a tool to execute the overall strategy. The Ordre National des Experts Comptables et des Comptables Agréés du Burkina Faso is a good example of a small PAO which has designed its digital transformation strategy using guidance from IFAC’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Guide.
3. Be connected and benefit from the country digital economy eco-system
PAOs should be aware of digital transformation reforms in their country and maintain close working relationships with the governmental departments and officials driving the reform. Government reforms seem to be focused on strengthening national infrastructure to improve access and reduce cost, enhancing digital skills, offering digital public and business platforms to accelerate the use of e-services, and strengthening digital enablers like cybersecurity and data protection. These initiatives can have a direct impact on PAOs’ digitalizlation initiatives.
Therefore, it is crucial for PAOs to follow and engage with the right stakeholders regarding national digital transformation reforms to determine they can benefit from such a reform and related activities. This could include empowering their members with greater digital skills by including technology skills in the accounting qualification curriculum and offering regular digital courses in the CPD program.
4. Adequate human and financial resources
Without dedicated human and financial resources, it is a challenge to implement a successful digital transformation reform. This does not necessarily mean having massive and seemingly unlimited resources. It means making smart investments now for better returns and savings in the future. Therefore, PAOs might need to be creative in securing the financial and human resources required to implement their digital transformation strategy.
Securing funding could mean re-prioritizing the available budget to focus on digitalization activities which will add value to members and save costs in future, requesting members to contribute to a special fund for the reform, securing sponsorship, and/or applying for government funding or donor funding, etc.
For example, the Ordre des Experts-Comptables de Côte d’Ivoire partnered with the national tax authority to support taxpayers in filing their financial statements on an online platform. Whenever a member does an online filing, a specific fee is submitted to the PAO, in turn, creating a new alternative revenue stream.
Human resources are also essential. Depending on the financial resources available, PAOs could either designate someone from their secretariat to lead the initiative, engage a consultant, outsource the function or set up a special Digital Transformation Committee with a clear terms of reference.
5. Partnering with others
PAOs should explore partnerships and leverage their IFAC membership and IFAC’s Network Partners. Such partnerships would enable them to benefit from global and regional resources and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
Similarly, PAOs should partner with other PAOs, especially those who have progressed with digitalization reforms already. Such PAOs can serve as mentors: sharing experiences on how they have walked the transformation journey, provide advice and guidance on when and where to purchase new softwares or technologies, and/or provide input to a PAO that is developing its digital strategy, etc. PAOs are encouraged to raise their hands and seek help and support whenever needed.
In closing, while the level of progress varies from PAO to PAO, the challenges for smaller PAOs oftentimes remain greater given their limited resources. Yet, “small streams make big rivers” — starting with small actions and building on them with regularity and consistency should allow PAOs to be successful in achieving their digital transformation goals. All PAOs are invited to consider the above pillars to start or accelerate their digital transformation to efficiently and effectively deliver on their mandates.
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