AGAINST SILO MENTALITY

SHARED FROM:

     RISK MANAGEMENT REPORT WARNS AGAINST SILO MENTALITY

     BY CIMA

     ACCOUNTANTS TODAY, DECEMBER 2010

Risk management is no longer the exclusive domain of the finance function.  Effective management of risk can only be achieved if it is clearly linked to operational performance.  Research found that risk management is no longer solely a financial discipline or simply a concern for internal control.  Risk management must be embedded in the overall organizational culture.  The link between risk and management and performance must be clearly laid out.

Risk management is design to protect and enhance the delivery of corporate objectives.

Getting ready to deal with change

SHARED FROM:

     ACCOUNTANTS IN THE FUTURE

     BY MAJELLA GOMES

     ACCOUNTANTS TODAY, DECEMBER 2010

 

Getting ready to deal with change should be everyone’s priority.  Awareness among accounting profession has become heightened especially in the area of bringing openness and transparency since the aftermath of the accounting and financial scandals.

Accountants need to have a more open minds and collaborate with others if they want people to take them seriously.  With a dynamic environment, accountants need to stay relevant where greater political-professional engagement may be beneficial.

Change within the accounting profession can eventually create positive impact on a global scale.  To be effective, accountants have to set aside the attitude of professional exclusively, leave their silos, and understand how other people work.

Being open, accessible and accepting of change will go a long way.  With the demands and complexity of compliance increasing, the challenges faced are how to manage regulation and make it work in across boarder world.

Being sustainable means:

• Making the most of scarce and limited resources
• Making do with what you have
• Not living beyond your means

Flexibility, adaptability and versatility are now prerequisites.  Corporate navigator who can chant a variable course for the business, who has the correct information and can able to formulate appropriate strategy at the material time, will be of more relevant than an accountant.

EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY

SHARED FROM:

     CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

     BY MAJELLA GOMES

     ACCOUNTANTS TODAY, DECEMBER 2010

 

The world today demand solution to long-term sustainable growth.  Accountants need to find the answers, or risk becoming obsolescent.  By nature of the profession, accountant are charged with creating value and safeguarding assets to ensure growth remains on an upward trajectory.

The profession needs to have a better understanding of the global situation.  Accountants and accounting bodies should play more concerted roles in supervising economic recovery and also assisting national economies in meeting post-crisis challenges.

The usual of spending time in accounting operations are increasingly moving into area such as management support and information systems management.  No matter, these cannot be at the expense of good accounting.

Accountants are generally moving away from just crunching numbers, to be more managerial in their approach.  But creating value is easier said than done.  It is evident that risk and sustainable need to be managed.  It need to be acknowledge that the lack of attention to risk management affects sustainability.

10 KEY ELEMENTS IMPERATIVE TO EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY (Olivia Faulkber Kirtley, Board Member of IFAC)
1	Buy-in: By Board and Senior Management
2	Understanding and analyzing key sustainability drivers
3	Integrating the key sustainability drivers into the strategy
4	Making the sustainability everyone’s responsibility
5	Setting meaningful targets and objectives
6	Instituting suitable day-to-day processes
7	Appropriate training
8	Including sustainable targets in performance appraisal
9	Appointing champions to promote sustainability
10	Monitoring and reporting performance

There is a full realization that the status quo must change to maintain relevancy.  It is vital that accountants continues to address the core issues that are preventing them from adapting to industrial and professional dynamics.

There are 3 major areas that should be the focus of the profession in charting the way forward, according to Tan Sri Dato’ Azman Moktar, Managing Director of Malaysia’s Sovereign Fund Manager Khazanah Nasional Berhad:

1.  Regaining Trust

2.  Demonstrating Leadership

3.  Remaining Relevant

Accountants need to be committed to and actively engaged in the promotion of transparency, good corporate governance and ethical business practices.  Accountants need to be constantly aware of issues, trends and developments that have an impact on the way business is done