Acca Insights

The Covid-19 pandemic has shed new light on operational risk. Rachael Johnson, Head of Risk Management and Corporate Governance, ACCA Professional Insights, discusses with Dr Arianne: the key takeaways from her award-winning book, Operational Risk Management how the growing awareness of operational risk impacts business models influencing risk appetitesThis episode is part of the Rethinking Risk podcast series to support our members as they navigate the rapidly changing and increasingly uncertain world.

Has the Covid-19 pandemic shed new light on the board's fiduciary duties, how can they meet the increasingly complex expectations of different stakeholders? These are some of the questions Rachael Johnson, ACCA's Professional Insight's Head of Risk Management and Corporate Governance, poses to David R Koenig, a renowned author and experienced risk professional, on effective risk governance and risk taking.Their conversation includes key takeaways from David's book, moving away from perceiving risk as loss and towards building trust and the benefits of having diversity of board members.David is a global leader in the governance of risk and founder of the Directors and Chief Risk Officers group (the DCRO). He also is one of the founders of both the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) and the PRMIA Institute and serves on the US' Advisory Board of the Center for Advancing Corporate Performance. This episode is part of the Rethinking Risk podcast series to support our members as they nav

Paul Barwick-Copeland, a diversity and inclusion advocate shares with Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager ACCA Professional Insights, the impact of the pandemic on workplace culture, changing attitudes on the topic and some actions that individuals can take to contribute to change.Read the 'Leading inclusion' report

Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager, ACCA Professional Insights, discusses with Ksenia Babat, Founder & CEO at Babat Consulting, the first Russian Diversity & Inclusion consulting company, some of the ideas in our Leading Inclusion report. Ksenia shares the benefits for businesses and their employees, individuals and advice on being better advocates for diversity, inclusion, and equity.Read the 'Leading inclusion' report

This series features voices that are leading the way in helping our economies transform and build the industries of the future that are fit to take the challenges facing society today.ACCA’s Head of Sustainability, Jimmy Greer, talks to John Elkington, Chief Pollinator at Volans, about his most recent book Green Swans, the coming boom in regenerative capitalism, and Naina Batra, CEO, the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, on why social impact and its measurement, matters now more than ever. Both guests are at the forefront of the big shifts that are taking place around the world.

Rachael Johnson, ACCA Head of Risk Management and Corporate Governance speaks with Michele Wucker, a well-known risk commentator who conceptualized the Gray Rhino metaphor for a high probability risk that is often ignored. In this episode, Michelle and Rachel discuss her book, The Gray Rhino, and how businesses can recognize and act on obvious risks that tend to be overlooked.This is the first of the Rethinking Risk podcast series, which consists of regular thought leadership discussions to help our members navigate the rapidly changing and increasingly uncertain world.

An ACCA led panel discussion at the 2020 UK Labour Party Conference with former Labour Leader and current Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Industrial Strategy and Energy, Ed Miliband MP on green recovery post-Covid-19. Chaired by ACCA's Head of Sustainability Jimmy Greer, guest speakers included ACCA Corporate Reporting and Tax expert, Yen-Pei Chen, Chief Executive, ShareAction, Catherine Howarth and Director of Research and Advocacy, Miriam Brett.

The role of the chief financial officer, the CFO, is one that continues to evolve and grow in breadth. How has the pandemic reinforced the importance of the CFO role beyond financial stewardship? Clive Webb, ACCA's Senior Insights Manager, Professional Insights discusses this and other trends in our joint report with the IMA 'The CFO of the Future' with Helen Morgan, CFO Character.com, ACCA Panel member and Brendan Sheehan, Change and Agility expert, ACCA Global Council Member, and Chair of the audit committee.

Big data and analytics present a significant opportunity for finance professionals. Report authors Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager, ACCA Professional insights, Charlotte Evett, and Suresh Sood of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand discuss our joint report Analytics in Finance and Accountancy, the importance of forward-looking analytics, data strategy and the skills finance and accountancy professionals need to develop.

Narayanan and the panellists share their closing views on the report Meaningful work for the digital professional series with Ernst & Young (EY). This fourth and final episode covers the positive changes to digital that have occurred in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the potential long-term consequences on businesses and their employees. Panellists include ACCA Chief Executive Helen Brand, EY EMEA Public Policy Leader Andrew Hobbs; EY Canada Assurance Digital & Innovation Leader Daniela Carcasole; EY Global Assurance, Audit methodology, and Analytics leader Alan Young; and Prime Global CEO Stephen Heathcoate.

Part 3 of our ‘Meaningful work for the digital professional’ series with Ernst & Young (EY) hosted by Narayanan Vaidyanathan focuses on how professional accountants can build their digital skills and the importance of balancing those skills with other skill sets.Panellists include ACCA Chief Executive Helen Brand EY EMEA Public Policy Leader Andrew Hobbs; EY Canada Assurance Digital & Innovation Leader Daniela Carcasole; EY Global Assurance, Audit methodology and Analytics leader Alan Young; and Prime Global CEO Stephen Heathcoate. Conversation highlights:Helen (0.32 secs), developing human skills that enable effective use of technology skills Stephen (2.43 mins), having a learning mindset, how small practices are developing complete talents of accountants, Alan (6.58 mins), managers roles in encouraging their employees to develop their skillsDaniela (9.50 mins), the value of personal passion and curiosity to step outside comfort zones, the role of GIG workersAndrew (16.52 mins), developing multidisci

In part two of our series on ‘Meaningful work for the digital professional’ with Ernst & Young (EY), hosted by Narayanan Vaidyanathan, the panellists explore the benefits of digital adoption in accounting and how the new ways of working due to Covid-19 have positively influenced the importance of enhancing digital capabilities. Panellists include ACCA Chief Executive, Helen Brand; EY EMEA Public Policy Leader, Andrew Hobbs; EY Canada Assurance Digital & Innovation Leader, Daniela Carcasole; EY Global Assurance, Audit methodology and Analytics leader, Alan Young; and Prime Global CEO Stephen Heathcoate.Discussion highlights:The journey to adopting and embedding digital within accountancy practices to add value to their work and with clientsHow digital is shaping the policy agenda for organisations, its impact on accountancy organisations to meet societal expectationsThe role of regulation, the role of public and private partnerships in addressing some of the challengesHow digital adoption has influence

The Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD) Recommendations, authored by Carol Adams, Professor of Accounting, with Paul Druckman and Russell Picot, Honorary Professors at Durham University Business School, offer a new approach for organizations to address sustainable development issues. They attempt to establish a best practice for corporate reporting on the SDGs and enable more effective and standardized reporting and transparency on climate change, social and other environmental impacts.Jimmy Greer, ACCA’s Head of Sustainability, discusses with the authors and Charles Tilley, interim Chief Executive International Integrated Reporting Council.Their conversation covers, how the SDGD recommendations augument other frameworks and support organisations to achieve sustainable development goals, its relevance to integrated thinking and reporting; its importance for the work of benchmarking agencies.Read the SDGD recommendations

As the business environment changes and businesses evolve to meet expectations and demands, finance functions are increasingly required to support strategic decision making through data-driven insights. Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager, ACCA Professional Insights speaks with Claus Thorne Madsen, a PwC Partner in Copenhagen, to discuss how finance business partners can become proactive, to add more value to their organisations as finance functions change. Read the 'Finance insights reimagined' report

Finance functions are increasingly being required to support strategic decision making through data-driven insights. Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager, ACCA Professional insights, Brian Furness, PwC Partner and Global Head of Finance Consulting and Jamie Lyon, Portfolio Lead, ACCA Professional Insights, explore the role of finance business partners, how it's changing, the breadth of skills they need to develop in order to be effective and meet the future needs of the business.Read the 'Finance insights reimagined' report

Finance functions are increasingly being required to support strategic decision making through data-driven insights. In the first of this three-part conversation, report authors Clive Webb, Senior Insights Manager ACCA Professional Insights, Brian Furness, PwC Partner and Global Head of Finance Consulting and Jamie Lyon, Portfolio Lead at ACCA Professional Insights, discuss why insights matter and how finance functions need to think broader than their traditional measures when evaluating performance and supporting decision making.Read the 'Finance insights reimagined' report

In the first of a four-part series on Meaningful work for the digital professional, which is based on our joint report of the same title with Ernst & Young (EY), Head of Business Insights in Professional Insights, Narayanan Vaidyanathan introduces the start of an engaging discussion with four panellists about what meaningful work means to each of them. The series will explore: Part 2 - the state of play on digital adoption (the journey to digital adoption, risks, challenges, opportunities and rewards), Part 3 - how to think about building digital skills and Part 4 - the impact of Covid-19 on the digital agenda. Panellists include ACCA Chief Executive Helen Brand, Prime Global CEO Stephen Heathcoate, and three leaders from EY: EMEA Public Policy Leader, Andrew Hobbs; Canada Assurance Digital & Innovation Leader, Daniela Carcasole and Global Assurance, Audit methodology and Analytics leader Alan Young.Read the 'Meaningful work for the digital profession' report

Why is it especially important to ensure that we grow our skills and continuously learn? What approaches can we adopt to ensure that we are successful? How do we remain relevant? Dr Nigel Spencer of Oxford Said Business School, Keith Jones, Executive Partner at Alchemy Worldwide and Senior Insights Manager ACCA Professional Insights, Clive Webb explore the importance of learning in turbulent times.

In this podcast, Neil MacLean, patner at EY, explores the nature of digital transformation and how it impacts the finance function. He explores the impacts of technology and the implications for skills for the accountancy and finance professional and how these need to evolve. In a survey with over 4,200 ACCA members, affiliates and students we reviewed the digital skills that a professional needs to be relevant, as expressed by ACCA’s digital quotient; one seven quotients that define the skills needed. In the report, "The Digital Accountant – digital skills in a transformed world," we explore the results and provide guidance on growing the necessary skills and knowledge.

In this podcast, Stephen Dowling, Founder and CEO of ETM considers why the accountancy and finance professional needs to develop their digital skills and the steps that they need to take to ensure that they remain relevant. He considers the importance of learning and unlearning in this context. Digital transformation is one of the key conversations around businesses at present. The evolution of the business model has an impact on us as accountancy and finance professionals from the way that we collect, verify and utilise increasing volumes of data. In a survey with over 4,200 ACCA members, affiliates and students we reviewed the digital skills that a professional needs to be relevant, as expressed by ACCA’s digital quotient; one seven quotients that define the skills needed. In the report "The Digital Accountant – digital skills in a transformed world," we explore the results and provide guidance on growing the necessary skills and knowledge.