In a world changed by the pandemic, chartered Accountants (CAs) are expected to perform much beyond their conventional role to catch up with a constantly changing business landscape. The new economy keeps throwing more challenges such as documentation moving to smart contracts and blockchain, new regulations, and so on. Therefore a CA now has to make informed choices and decisions with quality, credibility, and integrity that could help organisations as well as personal growth.
An important development that young accountants must take cognisance of is technological development, especially the increasing use of AI and Data Analytics. Going virtual has become the new reality and this improve transparency in business transactions and create new sets of data, which can feed into effective decision-making.
However, the challenge here for young CAs is to identify the appropriate data sets relevant to the business, which requires greater awareness about industry trends as well as emerging regulations. To be able to leverage professional opportunities in the digital era, new-age accountants must not only think critically and communicate effectively, but they must also play analytical and advisory roles by deploying technology tools. For instance, they will need to spend more time on predictive and proactive activities in order to be more agile, which requires them to think outside the box.
In the rapidly-changing business environment, it is imperative that a CA be able to communicate with colleagues to build strong working relationships, and with clients to understand and deliver their requirements. For this, both interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills are critical. As more start-ups and businesses are established across industries, a CA has the responsibility to help entrepreneurs make their ventures financially viable. Thus, it is important to have a proper understanding of start-up business models, which are often different from the traditional ones.
There is no discounting the fact that the pandemic has altered the way businesses operate and that digitisation has become an integral part of operations. Therefore, one eager to embrace digital technology and adapt quickly to changes will be in a better position to leverage his/her insights and knowledge to build a career.
The writer is a Chartered Accountant
