Chief Executives Forum: Stronger together

Vice-President of the Board – prof. Stanisław Hońko - took part in person in the meeting of the IFAC member bodies  Chief Executives Forum on 27-28 February 2023. The meeting was organized at the headquarter of IFAC in New York and gathered ca 70 leaders from professional accounting organizations (PAO) from the Americas, Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe.  Almost the same number of PAOs leaders attended the Forum online. It was organized under the title Stronger together: working to enhance attractiveness and resilience of the profession.

The discussion during the Chief Executives Forum focused on the  following issues:

• Challenges facing the profession in attracting and retaining talent.
• The power of a strong brand for the accounting profession.
• The role and responsibility of accountants in global anti-money laundering efforts and sustainability reporting.

All participants both those present in the conference room and those connected virtually were spilt into discussion subgroups in which they shared their views. After brainstorming in the subgroups, the main conclusions were presented by the chosen leaders of the subgroups at the plenary meetings.

During the discussions emerged the following conclusions:

Challenges facing the profession in attracting and retaining talent

1. The outflow of young people to other more attractive professions is because accountancy is perceived as demanding long-term training and education.
2. The accounting profession has to compete with other professions to attract and retain young people (in 2021-2022 300 thousand of accountants quit the accounting profession as reported by the Wall Street Journal).
3. One can observe decreasing formal requirements to enter the accounting and auditing profession due to the demographic crisis.
4. The need to consider and accept the new generation's approach to work which should be balanced with life.
5. The new trend of going later to retirement and coming back to part work from retirement due to the lack of young people replacing retired accountants.
6. New work patterns include increasing the importance of remote work, focusing on emails as the only way to solve and deal with problems, and resulting deterioration and lessening of personal contacts.

The power of a strong brand for the accounting profession

1. Creation of the PAO brand means “active creation of what others think about us”.
2. PAOs should stop being a society of self-admirers and should open themselves to the outside world and communicate in a transparent, attractive, and precise way what they offer to the members and the society.
3. Brand creation engages time, strategy, and consequence.
4. It is important to support young people in the workplace: the role of mentors is invaluable.
5. The concept of accountants as “superheroes” for the economy and society as they are the main providers of valuable information and the guardians of the economic processes.
6. Investing in the soft competencies of young accountants, especially their ability to communicate, contributes to their high esteem.
7. Importance of maintaining contacts with high schools, through research and education projects which ensures connecting the young with the accounting profession.
8. It is necessary to refer to ethics, honesty, and quality as the main traits of accountants at work.

 Global anti-money laundering efforts

1. Accountants are the first to spot illegal transactions.
2. Appearing of suspected transactions is the test for the honesty of accountants.
3. This wide area has a strong promotive role for accountants.

Sustainability reporting

1. This area is a chance to change the stereotypical perceptions of accountants as dealing only with numbers.
2. Accountants have to be open the embrace this area and have to be supported by their organizations to do this.
3. Sustainability reporting is still developing and there is a need for guidance, standards, and instructions.

The meeting of CEOs in New York organized by IFAC was exciting, inspiring, and well-organized. It was a great opportunity to exchange experiences and share views from a global perspective. Accountants Association in Poland represented by prof. Stanisław Hońko, Vice-President of the Main Board,  appreciates this possibility to be present at the Forum showing that accountants stay together in times of significant challenges and opportunities.