Helen Brand

In a recent address to the PrimeGlobal business leadership conference in Edinburgh, Ms Brand extolled the positive impact of advancements in artificial intelligence on the accountancy profession, explaining how advanced tech is liberating financial professionals, particularly in Scotland, to provide high-value, strategic work and to evolve their roles within businesses and finance.

Ms Brand said: “We’ve all heard it said many times that the unstoppable rise of digital applications is a threat to many jobs and roles in today’s economy. In the case of professional accountants that’s only true if you believe their skills are limited to tasks like running spreadsheets and the balancing of columns of figures.

“AI-powered machines can carry out routine, repetitive tasks more quickly, more accurately and more cheaply than humans. But that conception of an accountant’s work is a part of history, if it was ever true at all.

She continued: “Now, we are seeing technology liberate accountants to carry out work of higher value, with strategic importance, to serve employers and clients in a much broader sense, as leaders and experts in the changing world of business and finance.

“This is why the accountancy profession is so important; why employers want them and need them in their businesses; and why accountants are irreplaceable.”

In response, Stephen Heathcote, chief executive of PrimeGlobal, echoed Ms Brand’s sentiments. He reaffirmed: “ACCA has incredible reach across its members and stakeholders globally, our partnership with ACCA enables our firms to learn about emerging practice and upskill their professionals for future need.

“We share Helen’s view that the role of the professional accountant is an exciting one – critical to wider society and sustainable prosperity – and is needed more than ever before.”

Ms Brand also highlighted Scottish accountants’ remarkable adoption of new working methods, citing ACCA’s recent UK Talent Trends in Finance 2023 study. The report, based on a survey of over 8,000 finance professionals, found the UK to be a global leader in remote and hybrid working, with Scotland leading the charge.

Ms Brand said: “The report paints a picture of a highly ambitious and mobile accountancy profession, and points to a talent crunch that makes it tougher than ever for employers to attract and keep the best talent. Over a third of UK respondents expect to move jobs in the next year, and 58% in the next two years.”

She also praised the generation entering the accountancy profession now – including those in Scotland – as “enterprising, digitally savvy, super-connected, ethically-motivated citizens who can drive economies to new heights of prosperity, while also tackling chronic inequalities which continue to disfigure the world, and pose a threat to long-term sustainability, as well as economic and political stability”.