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BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com© ICAEW 2015
IT and Accountants: A Partnership Made in Heaven?
Kirstin Gillon, ICAEW IT Faculty
Introduction by Christiana Diola, Members and Stakeholders, Europe region
BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com© ICAEW 2015
ICAEW is a world leader of the accountancy and finance profession and we support over 144,000 chartered accountants around the world
ACA is our world-leading chartered accountancy qualification
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What is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant?
ICAEW Chartered Accountants are recognised around the world as leaders in accountancy, finance and business.
Their qualification, the ACA, is one of the most advanced learning and professional development programmes available.
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What does that mean…
• International recognition of premium business qualification
• 81% FTSE 100 companies have an ICAEW member on their board
• 97% Best Global Brands employ ICAEW members
• Over 20,000 students worldwide (25% based outside the UK) studying in 16 countries
• High pass rates and admission to membership because of calibre of our students
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What’s involved?
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ACA TRAINING – THE QUALIFICATION
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ACA TRAINING – WHO IS INVOLVED?
ICAEW • Syllabus• Examinations• Study support• Membership
EMPLOYER • Training
agreement• Salary and
rewards• Study time• Reviews
TUITION PROVIDER • Tuition • Revision• Exam practice
YOU • Time• Intellect• Energy• Commitment
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ADVANCED LEVEL
Case Study
Corporate ReportingStrategic Business
Management
PROFESSIONAL LEVEL
Business Planning:Taxation
Business Strategy
Audit and AssuranceFinancial Accounting
and ReportingFinancial
ManagementTax Compliance
CERTIFICATELEVEL
Accounting AssuranceBusiness and
FinanceLaw
Management Information
Principles of Taxation
ACA MODULES
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IT Faculty
Broadband
Cyber
Roadshows
Other ICAEW
Trust
IT Value
IT Security
Cloud
Thought leadership
Member service
Other
Policy
BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com© ICAEW 2015
Technology and accounting
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Agenda
• How do accountants and IT work together?
• What are key technology trends for accountants?
• What do our members want to know?
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How do accountants and IT work together?
BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com© ICAEW 2015
The different roles of accountants
Decision
makers
IT
investments
Risk and
strategyIT function
System
users
Accounting
systems
Reporting
systems
Government
systems
Auditors IT controlsAudit
analyticsAutomation
Business
advisers
Software
selection
Cyber
security
Process
change
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Should the CIO report to the CFO?
CIO
COO
CEO
CFO
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Cyber risks are frequently pigeonholed as technical risks which are under the province of the Chief Information Officer. This makes it difficult to reach decisions which balance the opportunities and risks of digital technology and recognise the significant business impact that cyber security failures could have.
In order to manage these risks effectively, businesses need to approach cyber risks as an integral part of business strategy and operations, not as a specialist technical topic.
ICAEW Audit Insights: Cyber Security
The risks of poor communication
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Working with other skill sets
Business and
finance skills
IT and data
skills
Statistics and
algorithms
Exploiting big data
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What are key technologies for accountants?
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The key enabler
18,446,744,073,709,551,616
Exponential growth of computing power
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Are we behind the curve?
2004 Driverless car – ‘not possible’
2013 Google’s driverless car logs 200k miles
Derived from Brynjolfsson, 2011
2015 UK – trials of driverless cars
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A changing business world
Digital Disruption Consumerisation
Democratisation Inclusion
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Important technology trends
Cloud computing
Mobile technology
Social media
Online services
Interaction
Big data and
analytics
Automation
Standards
Cyber security
Data
Digital currencies
and ledgers
Payment systems
Platforms
Analytics services
Financial technology
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Different business priorities
Value for money• Efficiency and cost• Revenues• Customer engagement
Risk• Security • Project delivery• Organisational capabilities
Strategic goals• Reach new markets• New products and services• Competitive advantage
and pressure
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What do our members want to know?
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Is my accounting data safe in the cloud?
Example
• Small to mid-size business
• Cloud accounting software
• Benefits of cloud computing
– Cost
– Flexibility
– Collaboration
• But worried about security
– Data breaches
– Availability
Considerations
• Benefits of using a supplier
• Track record of supplier
• Contract and controls
• Back up plans
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How much should I spend on security?
Example
• Large business
• Impact of major breach would be significant
– Reputation
– Fines
– Recovery cost
• Spending more and more on security
• But no blank cheque – where do they prioritise?
Considerations
• Use of standards
• Benchmarks
• Cost of controls v loss avoidance
• Positive case and business enabler
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Can I rely on big data analytics?
Example
• Possibilities of using new sources of external data about customers e.g. social media
• Driven by competitors
• Lots of free or cheap tools
• But concerns about reliability of data and analysis
Considerations
• Value of data
• Data quality
• Use of correlations
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Questions
Email: [email protected]: www.ion.icaew.com/itcounts @icaew_ITFaculty
A world leader of the accountancy and finance profession
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