Businesses face a range of risks in the 21st century - with regulation and compliance and cost cuffing regularly seen as the biggest sources of concern. Perhaps less often discussed is the need for businesses to achieve sustainable value - and the role of accountants in helping them to do that. Increasingly we are seeing the corporate sector embracing the virtues of long-term value.
Achievement of this requires companies to plan professionally, devise strategic business plans and to manage their risks efficiently. I am delighted to see that the issue of risk is to be explored in this forum. Risk management is a significant skill in its own right and taking the required wide and long-term view about strategy and risk is something which accountants in business are trained to do.
As a profession, we need to look at the relationship between risk and reward in business; how the right kinds of principles can be applied in risk management and governance, the importance of leadership, how risk can be integrated into the work of the accountant and how the way in which risk is treated can impact on business performance. Your views and insights will be critical to that investigation.
Professional accountants need to be prepared for business; they need to have a wide range of skills and knowledge which equips them to be managers of businesses and to drive an agenda of change which will sustain value.
In the future, the sought after accountant will be the one whose training and skills base crosses over a number of essential areas, from business planning and management to financial reporting, risk management, management accounting, tax and compliance and a broader range of softer inter-personal skills. The accountant in business must also offer direction and guidance orientation around internal controls and good governance in business. I look forward to seeing the result of your debates in an area which is of huge importance to the whole profession.
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