BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCEicaew.com © ICAEW 2015 IT and Accountants: A Partnership Made in Heaven? Kirstin Gillon, ICAEW IT Faculty Introduction by Christiana

BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com© ICAEW 2015

IT and Accountants: A Partnership Made in Heaven?

Kirstin Gillon, ICAEW IT Faculty

Introduction by Christiana Diola, Members and Stakeholders, Europe region


ICAEW is a world leader of the accountancy and finance profession and we support over 144,000 chartered accountants around the world

ACA is our world-leading chartered accountancy qualification


What is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant?

ICAEW Chartered Accountants are recognised around the world as leaders in accountancy, finance and business.

Their qualification, the ACA, is one of the most advanced learning and professional development programmes available.


What does that mean…

• International recognition of premium business qualification

• 81% FTSE 100 companies have an ICAEW member on their board

• 97% Best Global Brands employ ICAEW members

• Over 20,000 students worldwide (25% based outside the UK) studying in 16 countries

• High pass rates and admission to membership because of calibre of our students


What’s involved?


ACA TRAINING – THE QUALIFICATION


ACA TRAINING – WHO IS INVOLVED?

ICAEW • Syllabus• Examinations• Study support• Membership

EMPLOYER • Training

agreement• Salary and

rewards• Study time• Reviews

TUITION PROVIDER • Tuition • Revision• Exam practice

YOU • Time• Intellect• Energy• Commitment


ADVANCED LEVEL

Case Study

Corporate ReportingStrategic Business

Management

PROFESSIONAL LEVEL

Business Planning:Taxation

Business Strategy

Audit and AssuranceFinancial Accounting

and ReportingFinancial

ManagementTax Compliance

CERTIFICATELEVEL

Accounting AssuranceBusiness and

FinanceLaw

Management Information

Principles of Taxation

ACA MODULES


STAY CONNECTED

• Find great resources to boost employability and business skills:– Icaew.com/mooc The Importance of Money in Business

– Icaew.com/careers

– Business games in Cyprus

• Keep up-to-date with the latest news icaew.com/studentcommunity

• Like us on FacebookStudents@ICAEW

• Follow us on Twitter@ICAEW_talk

• Join our LinkedIn group ICAEW Students


IT Faculty

Broadband

Cyber

Roadshows

Other ICAEW

Trust

IT Value

IT Security

Cloud

Thought leadership

Member service

Other

Policy


Technology and accounting


Agenda

• How do accountants and IT work together?

• What are key technology trends for accountants?

• What do our members want to know?


How do accountants and IT work together?


The different roles of accountants

Decision

makers

IT

investments

Risk and

strategyIT function

System

users

Accounting

systems

Reporting

systems

Government

systems

Auditors IT controlsAudit

analyticsAutomation

Business

advisers

Software

selection

Cyber

security

Process

change


Should the CIO report to the CFO?

CIO

COO

CEO

CFO


Cyber risks are frequently pigeonholed as technical risks which are under the province of the Chief Information Officer. This makes it difficult to reach decisions which balance the opportunities and risks of digital technology and recognise the significant business impact that cyber security failures could have.

In order to manage these risks effectively, businesses need to approach cyber risks as an integral part of business strategy and operations, not as a specialist technical topic.

ICAEW Audit Insights: Cyber Security

The risks of poor communication


Working with other skill sets

Business and

finance skills

IT and data

skills

Statistics and

algorithms

Exploiting big data


What are key technologies for accountants?


The key enabler

18,446,744,073,709,551,616

Exponential growth of computing power


Are we behind the curve?

2004 Driverless car – ‘not possible’

2013 Google’s driverless car logs 200k miles

Derived from Brynjolfsson, 2011

2015 UK – trials of driverless cars


A changing business world

Digital Disruption Consumerisation

Democratisation Inclusion


Important technology trends

Cloud computing

Mobile technology

Social media

Online services

Interaction

Big data and

analytics

Automation

Standards

Cyber security

Data

Digital currencies

and ledgers

Payment systems

Platforms

Analytics services

Financial technology


Different business priorities

Value for money• Efficiency and cost• Revenues• Customer engagement

Risk• Security • Project delivery• Organisational capabilities

Strategic goals• Reach new markets• New products and services• Competitive advantage

and pressure


What do our members want to know?


Is my accounting data safe in the cloud?

Example

• Small to mid-size business

• Cloud accounting software

• Benefits of cloud computing

– Cost

– Flexibility

– Collaboration

• But worried about security

– Data breaches

– Availability

Considerations

• Benefits of using a supplier

• Track record of supplier

• Contract and controls

• Back up plans


How much should I spend on security?

Example

• Large business

• Impact of major breach would be significant

– Reputation

– Fines

– Recovery cost

• Spending more and more on security

• But no blank cheque – where do they prioritise?

Considerations

• Use of standards

• Benchmarks

• Cost of controls v loss avoidance

• Positive case and business enabler


Can I rely on big data analytics?

Example

• Possibilities of using new sources of external data about customers e.g. social media

• Driven by competitors

• Lots of free or cheap tools

• But concerns about reliability of data and analysis

Considerations

• Value of data

• Data quality

• Use of correlations


Questions

Email: [email protected]: www.ion.icaew.com/itcounts @icaew_ITFaculty

A world leader of the accountancy and finance profession


Documents

BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCEicaew.com © ICAEW 2015 IT and Accountants: A Partnership Made in Heaven? Kirstin Gillon, ICAEW IT Faculty Introduction by Christiana