Finance and accounting leaders ranked artificial intelligence, digital transformation and need for new skills above innovation and growth as the top issues facing the profession, in a recent poll.
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The Association of International CPAs & Chartered Institute of Management Accountants held the Future of Finance Summit last week, where they surveyed 175 senior finance and accounting leaders on the biggest challenges facing the profession and the skills most needed for the future.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of leaders identified generative AI and AI as the top issue, 60% named the acceleration of digital transformation, and 58% named the need for new skills on the team. This places innovation and growth (56%) as the fourth most commonly cited issue.
But that’s not necessarily surprising: “Those four are all related. How they are getting to innovation and growth is through AI and digital transformation and the need for new skills,” explained Tom Hood, executive vice president of business growth and engagement at the AICPA. He predicts these issues will only pervade in the year ahead.
Leaders identified top skills needed for the future. Eighty-two percent identified strategic and critical thinking, 62% named AI fusion and digital skill, and 60% named communication and storytelling.
“Most of these skills and the top issues are not new surprises,” Hood said. “We’re at a strategic inflection point where we’re about to go from a past-tense profession to a future-tense profession in corporate finance and accounting. That means we’re spending a lot less time getting the numbers right and producing the financial statement from history, and spending a lot more time projecting what the impact of the business is.”
