Shaping the Profession: The shape of things to come
By Marie Gardner, Head of Research
26 October 2023
Marie Gardner details Shaping the Profession, ICAS’ new programme to map out an ambitious future for chartered accountancy and the financial services sector.
The Shaping the Profession (StP) programme represents an ambitious goal for ICAS, which is critical to ensuring the accountants and financial professionals of tomorrow – let’s call ourselves “the profession” for simplicity – truly deliver services that meet the needs and expectations of shareholders, investors and the rapidly expanding list of wider stakeholders.
The current challenging economic climate, emerging technologies and the fast-developing sustainability reporting arena are major factors in the recognised need for our profession to deliver value, ethical leadership, usefulness and insight to the benefit of society at large.
Building trust and acting in the public interest is at the core of the ICAS Royal Charter, which requires us to maintain a high standard of efficiency, probity and professional conduct. Serving the public interest effectively requires us to cultivate public confidence and trust in the profession, and to make sure that we deliver the services that society expects from ICAS members, as well as meeting the needs of business and communities in the broadest sense.
ICAS is determined to be an agent for change, and this means we need to anchor our approach to the perspective of the public interest – stepping outside the narrow sphere of the profession itself and of traditional stakeholders, such as shareholders and investors, to truly understand which societal needs will have to be fulfilled both now and in the future. Some of those are already known to us. But we should also extend our understanding to the perspective of those we seek to serve – wider society.
And the field is vast, which means that although we need to be bold and radical where appropriate, we should also be focused and disciplined in what we do. We must be broad enough in our ambitions to make a difference, but also concentrate our efforts where it matters most.
To help us identify central themes for the work we’re planning under StP, earlier this year we commissioned a literature review to evaluate the relevant quality academic research and professional material. We hope this work will provide the evidence we need to inform the development of our thought leadership and activity on the role, responsibilities, scope and skillset of the accountancy profession of the future.
Our aim with this review is to highlight the possible gaps in research in this field and identify those areas where we can think critically and creatively about the challenges and opportunities facing the profession, and then to drive meaningful change.
As a result of a rigorous selection process, following a well-subscribed call for research issued in May 2023, this literature review is being conducted by Professor Atul K Shah and Dr Yasmine Chahed. Both have extensive backgrounds in relevant academic research, professional engagement and practical experience.
The project is investigating three thematic clusters:
Why?
The purpose and function of the accountancy profession in the economy and society.
How?
The external and internal challenges affecting the profession’s ability to meet society’s expectations, including social mobility, accessibility to and attractiveness of the profession, future regulatory models, and the skillset of accountants.
What?
The specific roles and responsibilities of accountants in relation to ethics; sustainability, in its broadest sense; the use of financial and non-financial information and reporting in decision-making; accountability to stakeholders and corporate responsibility. The preliminary results of this critical kick-off exercise are now available.
We expect that the findings will help to drive the focus of upcoming activities for the StP programme. That could mean anything from commissioning additional research, workshops and events examining key themes for members, joint work with other professional or research bodies, or creating a set of “asks” for future governments.
Peter Drucker, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on management, reportedly said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it”. ICAS strives to propose a future, for our members and the wider profession, that serves the interests of society.
