…as ICAC’s 43rd Annual Conference gets underway in Georgetown

Recognising the important role that accountants play, President Dr Irfaan Ali has underscored the need for these professionals to evolve from the traditional way of doing business by adopting new technology while also exploring new areas of business. The Guyanese leader made these remarks on Friday at the opening of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean’s (ICAC’s) 43rd Annual Conference, which is being held in Georgetown. “I believe that given what AI (artificial intelligence) will do and given what organisation needs will be, accountants now need to evolve into what will be the expanded role of an accountant today,” President Ali stated. He went onto emphasise the importance of also expanding beyond traditional roles of accountancy. To this end, the President challenged the more than 300 participants from across the region at the conference to explore what new or additional skill sets would be needed for professionals to be adaptive in this new emerging environment.

“Those are the questions that you have to answer. How do we ensure that an accountant is not only an accountant now, but how they are incorporated in qualitative analysis, in strategic planning, using the data, not generating the data anymore, but using the data to enhance decision making, using the data to influence policy. That is where the new role is going to emerge,” the Head of State posited. According to Ali, “…for accountants to be relevant in this environment, you have to now also be like a Wall Street trader, policy analyser. Because the accountant now must move into a system where they understand policy. This is the new role. You understand markets in its totality, the functioning of markets. These are the things that I think you need at this moment to discuss. There is no way you’ll be irrelevant, let me say that… but you can be relevant but not functional. You can be relevant, but not adaptive.”