Organisations are going to continue to need the skills and knowledge of professional accountants but that doesn’t mean that they’ll continue in just their traditional roles. The rapidly shifting business environment and the new place for accountants in it was the focus of the online webinar Skills for the Future Accounting Professional co-hosted by Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) on December 7.

“Businesses rely on accountants to inform their most significant decisions,” explained Gordon Beal, vice president of research, guidance and support, CPA Canada. “However, as investors and leaders rethink the role of business in our world today, accountants must innovate to align the power of our profession with that future in mind.”

In recent years, CPA Canada launched an ambitious multi-stakeholder consultation process that considered what implications arising from a rapidly changing environment could mean for the accounting profession locally and globally. The event focused on the consultation’s findings and set out possible paths forward for the profession.

CPA Canada’s Gordon Beal and Gigi Dawe, director, corporate oversight and governance, discussed the key areas of value creation, data governance, and trust and ethics when discussing the process, challenges and upcoming opportunities for professional accountants.

Key participants in the development of the CPA profession’s new competency map – Irene Wiecek, from the University of Toronto Mississauga, and Tim Jackson, president and CEO of Shad Canada, outlined the key findings and highlights of that map, including stakeholder feedback and the process for implementation.

Offered free to members of CPA Canada and leaders from CAPA’s member organizations, the event attracted more than 390 accounting professionals from 51 countries.

“The leaders of the profession in Asia Pacific are interested in what the future holds for their organisations, as well as for the profession as a whole,” said Brian Blood, Chief Executive of CAPA. “By working together on events like this, CAPA and CPA Canada are providing valuable information that can help them plan for future success.”