The global business environment is constantly changing, making it a volatile space for businesses to operate in. Against this backdrop, there’s a need for governance to evolve accordingly, the President of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Co-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants Sarah Ghosh urged, in an LMDtv interview back in March.

“We’re seeing more challenges so I think it’s important for us – as chartered global management accountants – to ensure that we bring trust to the table,” she said, adding that accountants must check the integrity of the data they provide to organisations as well as bring ethics “into conversations around decisions that are being made.”

“It’s really important [to focus on] the value that we bring to those conversations to ensure good governance in organisations,” she said.

Ghosh emphasised the need for the institute to “instil integrity and trust” across all its operations, and “make sure that members adhere to our code of ethics and the professionalism that we stand by.”

For this, “we ensure that our members are up to date and aware,” she assured.

Creating cultures that encourage asking the right questions is key, she explained, noting that this ensures “we pick up on things that need to be challenged – especially in an environment that’s challenged geopolitically and financially, as well as in terms of the way markets are being disrupted.”

Ghosh highlighted several trends influencing the accountancy and finance profession – namely technology, demographics and the regulatory landscape.

She began with technology: “We are seeing technologies coming into organisations across different functions – not only finance. [There are] opportunities for us to look at how we provide information and data analytics to help make more informed decisions to add value to organisations.”

In addition, Ghosh discussed the demographic changes impacting the business world.

She explained: “We’re seeing the younger generations starting to come into the workforce and the opportunities [stemming from that]. Organisations need to adapt to this because these generations have different expectations. For instance, they’re very focussed on the value proposition of organisations.”

Ghosh pointed to the complexities emerging in the regulatory landscape, and the need for finance professionals to be trusted advisors  on environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, data and the use of artificial intelligence, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion agendas.

“If we need to bring these into organisations, we need to know about them and be able to advise,” she said.

She discussed the importance of lifelong learning: “Skills have a very short lifespan so we’re always encouraging the lifelong learning perspective among our members to ensure that they keep up to date while adding value to the organisations that they serve.”

“Our message to them is about lifelong learning; they need to keep on top of what’s happening in terms of trends around technology, sustainability and also the inclusivity agenda,” Ghosh explained, adding: “We want people to continue to evolve in their own careers and have opportunities.”

She highlighted the importance of being curious and asking questions: “It’s a really important skill that we need to continue to develop. It is about asking the difficult questions and questioning whether we’re making the right decisions for the environment or leveraging technology in the right way.”

Ghosh also spoke of CIMA’s efforts to provide opportunities for more people to consider the profession and embrace skills-based learning.

“I’m enthused by hearing people’s stories about how they’ve reached the positions they have,” she revealed, adding that it is necessary “to encourage them to mentor and coach others, and share their stories with people entering the profession.”