Artificial Intelligence and new digital innovations are revolutionising the way accountancy and advisory services are delivered, yet this throws up more rather than fewer challenges for the leaders of the profession.
While technology can streamline processes, it cannot replace the human intuition and experience that can make the difference between a successful outcome and a disappointment.
This means fresh thinking – and new skill sets – will be required by the leaders of tomorrow. However, they must tread a fine line to integrate technology seamlessly while maintaining trust that IT solutions will be deployed in a way that truly delivers benefits.
Moore Global has been at the forefront of the debate on talent development and trust. Here Margie Alt, global director of talent, and Tony Caldwell, global director of professional standards, explore these critical and timely issues.
Empowering our future leaders is not just about filling roles, it is about igniting potential and driving innovation.”
The profession is having to fight harder than ever to recruit the talent it needs. Projecting forward, if firms do not invest in the next generation of leaders now, they will face a dearth of leadership talent 10-15 years down the line.
According to a recent study, 77% of organisations already report leadership gaps. That stark statistic emphasises the urgent need for proactive leadership development.
Research also shows that companies that invest in leadership development programs are twice as likely to hit their performance targets and outperform their competitors by 2.3 times in revenue growth.
We recognised this looming problem five years ago and set up Moore Ambition to identify and train the next generation of leaders, placing particular emphasis on opening up participation to junior ranks within firms.
Every month our chairman Andy Armanino and CEO Anton Colella lead sessions across several time zones that challenge young highly accomplished accountants to look beyond their own specialist roles, to develop a lateral vision and to think like leaders.
Around 3,000 people have taken part and these initiatives have already delivered demonstrable benefits to the network.
It is clear that in a rapidly evolving world, the leaders we develop today will be the architects of our success tomorrow. Empowering our future leaders is not just about filling roles, it is about igniting potential and driving innovation.
By 2030, it is projected that millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce, making it essential to cultivate leadership skills in this demographic.
They see things differently than previous generations, conscious of financial rewards but equally focused on developing fulfilling careers. They are well-educated and sought after for their ability to connect with the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
They challenge convention – a trait that can benefit a profession undergoing rapid change. However, developing, attracting and retaining a new cadre of innovative and energetic leaders requires both structural change and a shift in mindset within a traditionally hierarchical professional environment where people were accustomed to waiting patiently for promotion.
“It is now time for our profession to invest more in maintaining the high levels of trust it has long upheld—being proactive rather than resting on our laurels.”
As many aspects of annual account preparation, tax and audit become automated, opportunities for firms to have regular and potentially valuable personal interactions with clients may diminish.
Many business leaders value the trusted advisor at their side, guiding them as they expand and evolve their companies.
While new ways of working and remote tools at our disposal can deliver efficiency gains, we cannot afford to lose face time and the human aspect of what we do for clients.
High-profile audit scandals and spats between companies and activist investors over the veracity of financial data grab the headlines in today’s febrile media world – but the reality is that trust in our profession has increased since the end of Covid.
Accountants – and nurses – were the only professions to see an uplift in trust since 2021 while others like lawyers, bankers and insurance brokers saw their credibility diminish over the same period.
It is not difficult to see why. For many pandemic-hit businesses, the ability of their accountants to restructure their balance sheets, access alternative sources of capital and negotiate for leniency from banks and tax authorities was all that stood between them and oblivion.
This faith in our abilities and good intentions is a huge strength in these more sceptical times and differentiates us from other advisors. However, we must not take it for granted and now is the time to increase our investment in the attributes which are vital but difficult to quantify.
At Moore Global we have been leading the way with several pro-active initiatives to ensure our firms not only meet the highest ethical standards but can demonstrate this publicly.
We now devote 25% of our professional standards budget towards trust issues, taking on extra staff and building academies on everything from ethics to sustainability.
We are also the first network of our size to appoint a non-executive director with specific responsibility for professional standards. Nick Ong-Seng, a former Amazon executive, will have specific responsibility for ethics and quality management.
These commitments will have an impact on everything we do in our network and are a very public demonstration of our core belief that the value of trust to the profession cannot be over-emphasised.
