The Accountant’s Survival Toolkit for a Digital Future

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 02

1 Self-Knowledge 03

2 Empathy 04

3 Influence 05

4 Resilience 06

5 Learning 07

6 Training 08

7 Ethics 09

8 Culture 10

9 Governance 11

Primary research taken from ACCA

Global’s Professional Insight Report:
Emotional Quotient in a Digital Age
05 November 2018
 Executive Summary
Mastering Your Emotional Intelligence
“ There’s an elephant in the room.
And you can’t afford to ignore it.
Y
ou might be wondering
how you got here, or
maybe you expected
something different? The
truth is, you’ve been set
on a groundbreaking
path. It’s one which is going to rewire
your perspective and equip you with 9
critical guidelines that will safeguard your
career and put you ahead of the curve.
Advances in digital technology across
the sector now require a more holistic
skillset, one that functions beyond the
technical. It’s fast becoming of great
importance and critically, this skillset
includes emotional intelligence. Think
of it as an emotional quotient, or EQ,
measured by one’s ability to respond
emotionally to a changing, digital
workplace. It’s now a more automated
place, full of systems that make decisions
based on preset parameters and beyond
that, machine-learning and artificially
intelligent (AI) systems that ‘think’ for
themselves. Everything is becoming
more flexible and decentralised, where a
specific understanding of systems outside
of the traditional accountant’s remit,
such as blockchain and the associated
ethical issues, are more vital than ever.
In this evolving environment, what are
the challenges for individuals at all levels
of seniority and, as human-beings, how
should we respond to this new world in
order to remain relevant and ultimately
keep our jobs?
Of course, most people will have
a sense of all of this. It’s likely that
you’ve considered your response to
the digital world. How it motivates you
to think a certain way. To act a certain
way. You’ve no doubt questioned
how you interact with your network
and how these interactions affect
key elements of your psychology,
aspects like motivation and trust.
Nonetheless, there may exist a false
illusion that being in touch with your
‘self’ compromises your judgement,
because all that matters at the end
of the day is ‘the bottom line’. But
nothing could be further from the
truth. It turns out that emotional
intelligence is the elephant in the room
of the accountancy sector, and without
EQ being front and centre, your
business could be at risk. Therefore,
the task is to build strategies that
recognise and respond to this
requirement.
One definition of emotional
intelligence is the ability to identify
one’s own emotions, those of others,
and learning how to manage and
apply them to practical tasks. And
in the most simple terms, your EQ
is the framework by which you can
achieve this. This means recognising
the inherent value of your emotions
within the context of your business
role, something all the more relevant
as our digital world flourishes. It goes
without saying that the threat posed
by new and disruptive technologies,
is ever-present. There are certain tasks
at which machines are just better.
However, there are also aspects of
the human skillset that are far more
difficult to replace and it is these that
will provide a competitive advantage.
Building these EQ competencies
into the accountancy profession,
competencies which are hard for
machines to replicate, is the leverage
required to survive.
Key to the development of one’s
personal EQ is a concept known as a
‘growth mindset’; essentially the high-
level point from which improvement
of all emotional competence is made.
A prerequisite is the desire to work
and improve, to place oneself in an
environment that allows for change
to happen. Experience matters and
generally speaking exposure to specific
situations allows for improvement to
take place. Practice makes perfect,
right? Naturally. But also choosing
02
”
the right tasks is essential. And there
are certain ones at which AI performs
very well, almost certainly better than
you. It’s these tasks which will be
replaced imminently, those that require
so-called ‘specific AI’. So, the main
challenge is identifying aspects of the
business which catalyse more
effective human interactions,
which could only be replaced
by ‘general AI’ and which is still
(thankfully?) some way from being
developed to the extent it actually
threatens to replace you.
The main aspects of EQ can be
generally defined as change-readiness,
increased diversity, ethics and beliefs,
cognition and learning, human-
machine interaction and shifting power.
Change-readiness is the empathy
needed to deal with technology-
related job-losses and the strategies
through which you can overcome the
fear of change. Increased diversity
means taking in the perspectives of
a wider pool of stakeholders, made
accessible through remote working and
technology tools. Ethics and beliefs
are the core structure through which
an accountant’s decisions are made.
Cognition and learning refers to the
tools and willingness required to
adapt to a fast-changing world.
Likewise, human-machine interaction
deals with many of these aspects;
how we acquire new knowledge and
disseminate it. And finally, shifting
power relates to new governance
structures, where the push and pull
of different specialities demands
that emotional influence plays a
key role. Each of these categories
are interconnected by 9 core
competencies; Self-Knowledge,
Empathy, Influence, Resilience,
Learning, Training, Ethics, Culture and
Governance. Read this paper, and
you’ll be part of an exclusive-set; one
that’s emotionally prepared for the
future. Enjoy and good luck!
1
“
You are your specialist subject.
So never stop specialising.
I
t was Socrates who famously taught
the maxim “know thyself”. 2,500
years later, the world has changed
but his advice remains as true as ever.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a director,
partner or executive fresh out of
accountancy college, understanding how
one’s emotions underpin one’s behaviour
is vital to self-knowledge and professional
development. Part of your EQ is that
capacity to recognise the relationship
between emotion and behaviour. How do
I feel about myself? How does that affect
other people’s perceptions of me? To
what extent do my emotional responses
govern my ability to learn, influence, teach
and make ethical decisions? Because one
of the main differences between us and
machines is self-awareness. And it’s that
self-awareness that defines our emotional
competency. Without it, you’re no
different to a machine. In this age of high-
volume communications and transactions,
being able to pick out a signal from
the noise, to know one’s priorities, is
a core skill.
And in picking these priorities, you
define the degree to which you want to
specialise. After all, you are your specialist
subject. But what does that mean? In the
digital age, are you better placed to add
value to your organisation by specialising
in one area, or should you adopt a more
generalist approach? Sure, this isn’t
anything new. Your entire life, you’ve
been making decisions about the type
of information you wish to absorb, and
what to ignore in favour of improvement
in other areas. But in the context of a fast-
changing, digital future, who survives? The
specialist or the generalist? In answering
this, two narratives emerge. On the one
hand, with the threats and opportunities
inherent to periods of such rapid change,
natural evolutionary theory teaches us
Self-Knowledge
‘Temet Nosce’
that being able to adapt; to not get boxed
in by one’s highly optimised, context
specific skillset, is of serious importance.
Maximise your responsiveness. React
to the change and leverage it to your
advantage. That is one approach you
might wish to take.
However, the alternate view is that
trends in technology threaten to replace
those that do not have a customised
or bespoke element. And the keyword
here is ‘element’. In essence, if it’s
replicable, it’s automatable. So what
specialties do you bring to the table that
a machine would struggle to automate?
Understanding a brief and outputting a
tailored strategy. Being able to delegate
and manage a team effectively. Creating
new opportunities for growth outside of
the existing knowledge-base or data-
signals. It’s these intuitive skills that will
best prepare you for survival in
a digital future. Of course, your individual
personality will define what suits you
best; your skills and expectations in the
long-term. Nonetheless, this all requires
emotional competency and
self-knowledge. And like any skill, it’s
a muscle you need to constantly train
in order to remain competitive. It’s not
good enough to assume that these
developments will occur passively.
Like software, your psychology and
self-knowledge require active updates.
As an accountant, you receive a great
deal of knowledge from multiple
sources. Ultimately, your main skill is a
sense of judgement. What’s the reason
for this information? What’s the motive
of the source? How do I read between
the lines to create the best possible
business outcomes?
03
”
As professionals, self-knowledge is our
defence mechanism. It’s the very root of
survival, drawing on past experiences
to determine how we can make better
decisions in the present. Our belief
systems are central to the protection
of ourselves and our stakeholders.
And in a fast-moving, digital world it’s
more important than ever to keep this
awareness present at all times. Even a
faulty click can seriously cost a firm, both
reputationally and financially. Therefore,
at the heart of the entire theme is the
concept of trust. It is, after all, one of
the basest of animal traits. And it’s the
refinement of that evolutionary instinct
that reinforces one’s ability to survive
the shifting, digital landscape of the
accountancy workplace.
There are undoubtedly circumstances
under which humans prefer dealing with
humans, rather than technology. It doesn’t
matter which industry you observe,
the same is true. In many instances, a
customer is prepared to pay a premium
for a product or service which is inherently
human; something handmade, which
could not be provided to the same
standard of quality as a machine working
alone. At the centre of this is whether or
not we can entirely trust the automated
technology we increasingly work
alongside. Once again, self-knowledge
determines the extent to which we give
technology the benefit of the doubt.
How do you interrogate the facts
at an appropriate level? It’s only by
evolving these traits of critical analysis,
in combination with an understanding of
one’s emotions and motivations to act a
certain way, that will give you the edge
in a fast changing digital world, and the
ability to operate symbiotically with the
changing infrastructure and processes.
2
“
Emotional sensitivity is the compass
leading to new opportunities.
Y
ou know it yourself. It’s
something so fundamentally
human, it’s easy to forget
we’re doing it. In many ways
it’s a need, one required
to function correctly in our
professional and personal lives. In fact, it’s
only when describing fringe psychologies
that the importance of human empathy
really comes to the fore.
It’s fundamental to the very fabric of
society. Unquestionably, at present, it’s
an ability that we hold exclusively over
machines. Sure, you can program a
computer to ‘feel’. Great advances have
been made in the palliative care sector,
to produce machines that cast the
illusion of empathic sensitivity.
But this is ‘specific AI’ to that field.
From a general business perspective,
it’s untapped territory, making it a critical
advantage as we enter a more machine-
oriented workplace. And when you get
under the skin of the issue, it’s clear to see
that such qualities in a company’s staff,
regardless of seniority, directly benefits
the firm and secures its future success.
It’s not just about how you manage your
clients. It’s also about company culture
and it’s one of those issues which can
really affect the bottom-line.
As we age, the belief that we can sense
how others are feeling without any verbal
signals improves consistently. And it
stands to reason. When you were a child,
it’s highly likely you only cared about your
own demands. You had a much lower EQ.
The world around you, according to you,
was tailored to meet your needs and rarely
would the needs of others come into play.
Your ability to empathise improved with
age, as you learned that in order to get
what you want, you also have to cater to
others. And really, that’s how business
works. A good salesperson has a strong
degree of empathy; they seek to achieve
the outcomes of their client, rather
Empathy
The Golden Rule
than focusing on their own commercial
gain. Only in doing so will they achieve
success. And the same principles are true
in the accountancy sector. To an extent,
we’re all salespeople in the workplace.
Whether it’s selling a new idea, supplier or
strategic agenda, we need to understand
the motivations and feelings of others in
order to achieve those aims. In essence,
what you’re managing is your sense of
compassion. To what extent can you
put yourself someone else’s shoes, no
matter who they are and where they sit
in the business, in order to maximise the
relationship and create value.
Of course, when training accountants,
one of key learnings is the ability to
tailor your communications to a specific
audience. The media industry works like
this every day, as per the expression “give
the reader what they want”. Target your
communications effectively, and you’ll
sell more of whatever it is you’re selling.
It sounds intuitive, but like many other
elements of your personality, it requires
training to stay at an executive level. It’s
the stuff of success, the knack
of influencing decisions by understanding
who it is you’re addressing, and why they
are likely to follow your particular course
of action. It’s a subtle art. Try to overdo it
and you’ll fail. Your audience is sensitive
and can easily detect insincerity.
But get it right, through a process of
understanding and genuine engagement,
and the rewards are there. It’s about
trusting your own intuition to
respond correctly in a particular
set of circumstances.
Take self-employed members of your
business. It may even be yourself as
you read this. Self-employed workers
in the accountancy sector rank highly
when it comes to this sense of empathy
and compassion. These individuals
04
”
operate in a highly entrepreneurial way,
so responding to non-verbal signals
from clients is critical. As with the Self-
Knowledge section of this paper, it’s about
generating trust, and through trust comes
value. With a lack of formal procedure,
they must respond to all available signals
in order to achieve the client’s outcomes
client. From the moment they walk
through he door, striking the right tone
according to the workplace environment is
key. This is something that machines can’t
do. Yet. There are semantic algorithms
being built that can respond to particular
audience types in real-time, but to do this
with the lightness of touch required in
reality is still very much a human ability,
and one which is critical to an increasingly
automated workplace.
Likewise, those working on a permanent
basis in large organisations must take
on the perspectives of a wide group of
stakeholders. Irrespective of seniority,
having the emotional competence to lead;
to understand one’s priorities in relation to
others, is of fundamental significance. As
described in the Executive Summary, it’s a
‘growth mindset’. One’s sense of empathy,
and the willingness to improve that sense,
equates to one’s levels of influence. As
an accountant drives multiple, complex
stakeholder interactions in the new
digital age, reinforcing these types of
positive feedback loops, and avoiding
the negative ones, is a priority. Ultimately,
emotional sensitivity is the compass
leading to new opportunities.
At a human level, demonstrating
warmth and understanding, and
recognising the fears and motivations
of others, is how you win trust. It’s how
you find new business, keep your staff,
and maintain a healthy outlook which
supersedes the ubiquitous digital agenda
within our profession.
3
“
Strong leadership and negotiation
means using the whole toolbox.
W
hen we think of
making persuasive
arguments, it’s often
the use of rationality;
facts and figures,
which leads us to
success. And of course, these factors have
a part to play. But less common by far is
the emotional factor, your use of EQ.
The question is, are you undermining your
influence by inadequately recognising the
potential of emotions and associated
factors? In the accountancy sector, many
influencing styles harness rationality.
After all, it’s a numbers game and a
deeply analytical one at that. But, in not
using emotive elements, are you leaving
‘value on the table’? Today, there’s no
shortage of rationality. In a digital world,
we’re surrounded by data. Whatever the
metric, you can trace it, package it and
pull it apart, and there’s no shortage of
tools to help. And it’s true that data is
an excellent, objective point from which
to frame a question. Did X lead to Y?
Sure, and I’ll prove it. Yet at the highest
levels of influence, you still need to drive
an emotional response from the parties
involved. It’s not enough to deliver raw
data without making it human. The notion
of ‘death by PowerPoint’ speaks to exactly
this phenomena; an inadequate framing of
the agenda in a sufficiently human way.
Today, sports journalism is already written
by machines. A lot of the data within
these texts is formulaic, but machines are
getting better at giving the impression
of emotion, based on preset parameters.
The same goes for music, art and even
poetry. Indeed, for the last 10 years
computer programs have come into
existence that make it very difficult to
determine if a seemingly subjective
piece has any sense of ‘self’ at all. What’s
more, the machines are improving at an
astounding rate. And their prevalence is
only going to increase across all aspects
of our culture. Their impact will be vast.
Influence
The Art of Persuasion
As accountants, we’ll be interacting
with them a lot more, and they have the
potential to influence elements of our
profession beyond aspects of calculation
and analytics. Therefore, it will become
increasingly important for the professional
accountant to essentially act as a go-
between, an enabler for these types of
computer-human interactions. In effect,
accountants will become translators.
They will need to manage how these
interactions occur and are consequently
interpreted. And getting this right will be
paramount, influencing stakeholders in
the correct way to ensure the intended
outcomes occur.
It appears that within the next-generation
digital workplace, accountancy will need
to shift the emphasis of power from
harder, more fact-fuelled influencing
styles to softer, more emotive ones.
With the introduction of more advanced
AI, hierarchies of control are set to be
somewhat flattened, and those with the
‘growth mindset’ to adapt and improve
will find themselves using increasingly
novel ways to challenge the status quo.
Leveraging your human qualities in the
face of extremely efficient machines and
data-analysis software will be one way to
achieve this, the ability to put forward an
alternative point of view in order to drive
emotional engagement. The accountant
will be required to inspire, rather than
simply calculate. We will be asked to
act as the interface for a new wave of
computing, humanising data in order
to achieve highly specific aims. And if
this sounds like a tall order, it’s not just
freshly trained graduates that will carry
this expectation. All levels of
management, if the intention is to
continue within the industry, will be
required to build resilience.
So, high on the agenda is the ‘growth
mindset’ which allows us to build the
05
”
emotional competencies in order to
unlock these novel skillsets. You’re being
more empathetic. You’re tailoring your
communications. You’re leveraging your
emotional sensitivity and awareness as a
critical tool of influence and engagement,
in a sector which has traditionally been
perceived as highly objective and discrete
with the levels of subjectivity.
It’s becoming clear that balancing
these traits in order to achieve specific
outcomes, in tandem with more advanced
technologies, is the calling of the modern
accountant. And specifically, it’s the
art of finding information between
the cracks; being selective in such a way
that honours your ethical framework, in a
world saturated with ways in which to hide
amongst the data, while simultaneously
remaining persuasive at all levels of the
business. The profession has moved
beyond the purely rational. Beyond the
logical. You’re being asked to improvise.
In essence, the key criteria is adaptation.
Being able to respond dynamically
to new information and deliver it to
key stakeholders in such a way that is
seamless, human and effective. New skills
are being called for. It’s no longer enough
to have a degree in accountancy. The
stratification of the industry is calling for
software-developers, big-data analysts,
historians and client managers, and
amongst this complex mix of individuals,
the necessity is for all parties involved
to have at least some grounding in
stakeholder relationship management.
In order to lead in this space, one needs
to be able to argue well and negotiate
a point, and that means using the whole
toolbox of skills at your disposal. A
combination of curiosity, insight, verbal
and written rhetoric and an understanding
of how each part fits together is now a
basic requirement. As the technology
improves, it’s the core aspects of your
human ability to influence which will be
called upon, as well as your objective
rationality as a traditional accountant.
4
“ Are you ready for change?
Because the world won’t wait.
N
“ othing is so painful to the
human mind as a great and
sudden change”, wrote
Mary Shelley in her 1818
work of classical literature,
Frankenstein. And just over
200 years later the new prometheus of
artificial intelligence and machine learning,
much like the threat of electrically
powered mass-production in Shelley’s day,
is set to change the modern workplace so
dramatically that building resilience is key
to your survival. We are now beginning
to experience a new chapter in human
history, ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’,
yet unlike the previous revolutions that
brought mechanisation, electrification,
digitisation and automation, this new
era is moving at an exponential rather
than linear rate. No sooner have we
equipped ourselves for one technological
advancement, another takes its place. And
it’s not just accountancy, every sector is
seeing upheaval in terms of production,
management and governance. As
accountants, we must prepare and
the way in which we will achieve this is
through a process of ‘change-readiness’,
not only having the empathy to deal with
technology related job-losses, but also
to maintain a growth mindset to help
overcome that fear of change.
First and foremost, in order to build
resilience, it’s important to maintain the
energy to overcome failure. Indeed, it’s
a fundamental aspect within a ‘growth
mindset’, the emotional endurance
required to deal with change. By
understanding this, the entire gamut of
resilience-based tactics become available
to you. When you are confronted with a
challenge in the fast-changing workplace,
rather than becoming de-energised it
is vital that you feed on the adversity;
absorb the change and find ways in which
you can use it to your advantage.
Resilience
Future-proof or Fail
Of course, conceptually speaking,
dealing with change is not new for
professional accountants. But because we
regularly operate in digital environments,
this accelerates and heightens
the pace of change, creating a type
of positive feedback loop. In essence,
leveraging this feedback rather than
being saturated by it is the core
differentiator between adapting
successfully or being overwhelmed.
Like so many aspects of life, being able
to recognise and control one’s emotions
and state-of-mind under a particular set
of circumstances is crucial to generating
a positive outcome. It would be easy to
become distressed every time something
doesn’t go our way, so as professionals
we must learn to harness that trait to our
advantage. The ability to manage stress,
in uncertain and fast-changing situations,
is what sets apart leaders and high-
performers apart from those that tend to
operate at a lower level. On a biological
basis, it’s the stress hormone cortisol
that has a large part to play, with CEOs
and other top-flight executives actually
having the ability to train themselves to
manage this hormone. Are these people
biologically special, that is to say do they
have some physical prerequisite that
allows them to function in this way? No,
but what they do exhibit is the common
‘growth mindset’ to manage change and
build resilience to changing
environmental conditions.
Maintaining curiosity and seeing change
as an opportunity rather than a threat
is fundamental to this ability, and in
the evolving accountancy workplace
more critical a skill than ever. No-one is
fundamentally better or worse at this than
anyone else. Your colleagues, across all
levels of the business, are dealing with the
06
”
same issues so take credence in the fact
that you are in no way at a disadvantage.
However, the growth mindset and
building emotional resilience to change
is a skill that must be nurtured. Instead
of succumbing to a negative feedback
loop of uncertainty, finding formal
learning environments such as group or
private training sessions can help, as can
sharing knowledge with your colleagues.
It’s in the interest of your business at
large, in addition to your professional
development, that you undertake the
challenge of responding quickly to new
information. Conferring with specialists
will become more important than ever, as
we move into a world governed by
self-optimising tools and infrastructure.
What’s clear is that, as an accountant,
you need to be ready for change; the
world won’t sit around and wait. The rapid
scaling of new technologies is already
affecting large swathes of the sector and
this pattern is likely to become more
intense as we move into the future. The
speed of this change has the potential to
completely alter entire business models,
with cloud technologies creating huge
change; particularly for small-medium
sized practices as services become more
modular and affordable. Maintaining
the emotional competency to deal with
technical changes is the defining factor
between success and failure. You need
to be able to redefine your identity, and
not be rigid in what you believe you
can and cannot do. You must engage
constructively with the change, rather
than resisting it. Be open to learning from
your customers and suppliers alike, and
share with your business partners in order
to build company-wide resilience to a
shifting, digital landscape.
5
“ The difference between knowing
and understanding is critical.
O
ne of the most wonderful
aspects of the human
brain is its flexibility
and ability to process
new information, and
then use it to create
fresh meaning. In many ways, that’s the
definition of intelligence. But of course,
in terms of information, there’s a lot
more available to us today that there
was 100 years ago. Even 50 years ago,
we consumed the equivalent of one
newspaper a day. 20 years later, you
were seeing a 500% increase on that
consumption. And today? Well, estimates
vary, but the average business leader
could be consuming as much as 100
newspapers worth of information on a
daily basis. And unlike machines which can
be built to scale according to demand,
we rely on evolution, which has natural
limits set on the pace of adaptability. From
an evolutionary perspective, we have
in-built filters that allow us to pick out
the most crucial elements of information;
discard the superfluous and keep those
that may affect better outcomes, like
our survival. Yet what’s more, we like to
learn. The majority of people feel good
about themselves when learning, which
on a business-level is also good for
company culture and morale. Ultimately,
a well-trained workforce is a happy and
emotionally resilient one, and maintaining
that curiosity in a digital age is of the
utmost importance.
What seems apparent is that the more
senior you are, the harder it is to learn and
the more stressful the process becomes.
When we are young, our brains are at
their most pliable, or plastic to use the
neuroscientific terminology. However, as
we age, that ability diminishes by default,
so we must remain active in the sphere of
learning in order to maintain our capacity
to learn. In short, if you stay curious, you’ll
fare better and be more resilient to a
changing digital workplace. That’s not to
Learning
The Path to Self-Improvement
say that being less senior is a free-pass,
it’s just that you’re more likely to
already be equipped with many of the
digital skills required to adapt to the
demands of the accountancy workplace.
That said, many features of building
out your EQ appear to benefit from
deeper and longer experience, so what
you may have in technical skill you may
lack in emotional competency, if you’re
earlier on in your career. What’s true across
the board however, is that in a digital age,
both emotional and technical skills need
to be mastered on a continuous basis.
Irrespective of one’s age, what’s universally
accepted is that learning is not a purely
analytical pursuit, inasmuch as it is an
emotional one. It’s easy to say “I’m not
a technical person, so I can’t achieve
a certain outcome” whereas, it’s
actually that willingness to engage, to
overcome the fear of learning something
new that’s half the battle. As individuals,
we’re not inherently good at one thing
or another. We just happen to gravitate
towards activities in which we feel
confident and it’s that trait that leads to
specialisation in a certain field. However,
as mentioned in the Self-Knowledge
section, while speciality is good, in the
context of a new, digital workplace you
need to operate as a generalist too; to
function at a professional level outside
of your comfort zone. Maintaining the
‘growth mindset’, despite becoming more
difficult over time, is at the heart of the
learning experience. And in the same
way as social-media tribes create echo-
chambers of information and cognition,
as an accountant it’s important to avoid
cognitive echo-chambers if you intend
to self-improve.
The accountancy sector faces the
challenge of creating an environment
of open, genuinely informed debate
in a world awash with new tools and
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”
information. Avoiding what might be
termed ‘cognitive tribalism’, the filter-
bubbles you learn about in the press and
across a range of professional literature,
is key. Much of this will draw on your skill
as an accountant, to leverage the
rational judgement so central to our
profession; reading between the lines
of information without being trapped
by its familiar flavour. Technology has a
particular knack of grouping information
in such a way as to drive thematic pattern
formation, so it’s important to be aware
of these tropes. You should not expect
to passively benefit from all of the
information to which you are exposed.
One must actively pick out the information
that is being presented in a workplace
saturated with it, and in using a ‘growth
mindset’, challenge all of the information
with which you come into contact.
In the digital age, irrespective of your
seniority, you will have to learn new things
to keep up with accountancy. Like every
other high-level profession such as law,
medicine and engineering, complacency is
not an option if you want to survive. And it
appears that bolstering your EQ is central
to this process; maintaining the attitude to
learn and being critical of the information
you acquire. In effect, by starting with
your EQ, you can catalyse other learning
experiences, so it’s important to improve
those aspects of your personality;
resilience to failure, perseverance and
sustained application to new tasks in order
to succeed. As the workplace becomes
more automated, and the accountancy
software we use more ‘intelligent’,
adapting your ways of learning is not a
competency, in reality it’s tantamount to
your survival in the profession. By creating
structured and non-structured ways of
learning, either through formal training
or private research, you can build the
resilience required to thrive throughout
this new, industrial revolution.
6
“ Want a bigger piece of the pie?
Share your knowledge with others.
I
f you were to draw a biological
analogy, training would would be the
life-blood of any business. Without it,
the whole system fails. What training
allows for is a company to remain
competitive, to ensure its workforce
operates at the cutting-edge of their
respective industry. And this is no more
true than in the accountancy sector. Due
to the highly technical nature of the
business, professional accountants have
always been required to keep up. This
is nothing new. But as established in the
Learning section, the requirements have
begun to shift dramatically and with great
pace. AI, data-analytics and blockchain
technology are set to imminently disrupt
the industry. Unlocking potential now
requires new methodologies and it is the
responsibility of all levels of a practice, no
matter how large, to ensure these needs
are met. With increased demands for
flexible working, clear career progression
and early leadership opportunities,
employees are now demanding more;
and this inevitably includes proper
workplace training. If you want to attract
the best talent, you need to provide
the whole package. In an increasingly
fragmented digital world, only the very
best qualifications allow your teams to
stand out from the crowd and give us, as
individuals, the resilience we need in a
fact-paced, automated and digital future.
Based on our research project
”Professional Accountants - the future
(2016)”, ACCA spoke to thousands
of employers around the world. The
emerging theme was one of uncertainty
and consequently, the demand for a
different class of accounting professional
and practice became apparent. At the
heart of this is technical excellence.
Without it, no accountancy practice can
survive. What’s required are individuals
that go beyond forward-thinking, to
combine deep emotional and
Training
Looking After No. 2
ethical competencies with a level of
technical understanding and innovation.
It’s no mean feat, but at ACCA our
experience has led to an understanding
of what it takes to produce these types
of individuals. With emotional intelligence,
or EQ, forming just one aspect of
the smart, creative, digital, visionary,
experienced, technical and ethical
competencies, ACCA and it’s evolving
qualification has in many ways redefined
what it means to be an accountant in the
modern world.
The breadth and depth of requirements
in 2019 and beyond has changed
significantly from the past. No longer is it
enough to simply learn. As seniority levels
rise, and responsibilities increase, there is
an expectation that you will teach others
how things are done. Those who are
new to the industry will exchange more
state-of-the-art technical knowledge with
their seniors, and amongst their peers,
while those with more experience will be
expected to adapt and share in a way
never before witnessed. In order to remain
competitive, it’s become more important
than ever to share knowledge at all levels
of a business. If you want a bigger piece
of the pie, it’s no longer about maintaining
exclusivity to build your edge. No, today
and in the future, the ability to train
others and share your knowledge across
the whole, more stratified hierarchy will
become necessary. Survival has become
a group experience and if you don’t
engage at a fundamental level, you’ll be
left out in the cold.
The notion of ‘transferrable skills’ isn’t
just a feature of the individual anymore,
it’s now a process. A call-to-action.
And your emotional competency is a
powerful component in the process
of value transfer, as described in each
section so far. You need to understand
08
”
how you learn. How you influence.
How you translate the non-human to
the human, because inevitably we will
need to respond to the digital sphere
as a direct colleague in the future, not
just as a tool. To an extent, you might
describe it as a mass-hybridisation of
the accountancy sector. Each of us will
have our specialities, but for our wider
advancement as an industry, we will be
expected to create a tissue of experience
that can be accessed by all. The global
drivers of change are regulation,
governance, digital technologies, strategic
vision and globalisation, and without an
understanding of all of these components
to a greater or lesser extent, your capacity
to function as an accountant will be called
into question.
We are now entering a golden age in the
industry. But to access it, we must support
one another. Demonstrating compassion
for our colleagues, at whatever stage of
their career, is a must-have. And it doesn’t
matter if you’re a large institution, or a
small to medium-sized practice (SMP),
the rules of engagement are the same.
Historically, it may have seemed a luxury
to show a level of emotional engagement
within a resource-strained environment.
Today, however, it’s a priority. And part
of that emotional capacity is to put the
training of your peers and staff much
higher on the agenda. New technologies
will increasingly make the workplace seem
like a very task-oriented and impersonal
place, so any help we can provide as
individuals to those around us will make
all the difference. As a sector, correct
training and better, more seamless ways
of distributing that knowledge will make
us better than the sum of our parts. By
placing humanity and compassion at the
centre of our digital businesses, we will
relieve pressures and increase efficiencies
across the board.
7
Corporate Individual Responsibility
“ Taking the high-ground isn’t always the
easiest. But it is the most profitable.
W
ith great power
comes great
responsibility. It’s
an expression that
gets bandied about,
but almost nowhere
is it more true than in accountancy. As
professionals, we’re the gatekeepers.
Every day, the checks and balances of a
complex global economy pass over our
desks and in doing so, we are expected
maintain the highest ethical standards;
to operate within the most absolute of
regulatory frameworks and to prevent
financial misconduct on any kind. To
do this, we rely on our training and
intuition. We instinctively know right
from wrong and as a consequence, our
function as an organisation’s conscience
holds great importance. Our personal
ethics and professional beliefs become
intrinsically linked over time, a set of core
values that protect our stakeholders and
ourselves. But what happens when new
technology is introduced that disrupts
the existing framework? What are the
implications of these less-understood
ambiguities? How to we structure our
established will to ‘do the right thing’
when algorithmic decision-making and
esoteric innovations like blockchain and
digital ledger technology (DLT) allow for
gaps in the traditional approach? These
are existential questions at the very heart
of our profession and it’s through the
management of our emotions that we can
find a guiding light.
On a practical level, there is a control
dimension to accountancy roles.
Processes, systems, strategies; it’s easy
to be creative with the tools that are
available today. But tomorrow presents
new challenges, not least of which are
aspects like the setting of boundaries,
and maintaining a quality of life in an
‘always-on’ environment. And one
defining factor of this phenomena is
increased automation, which removes
Ethics
to an extent the ethical responsibility
we hold in the profession. These novel
software systems get fed with data and
then we are expected to maintain the
same level of objectivity about their
actions as we ever would. According to
the International Ethics Standards Board
for Accountants (IESBA), this represents
one of the most fundamental risks to
accountant ethics. Take the simple
example of a recruitment algorithm that
optimises based on previously successful
candidates. Efficient. Yet, if the data fed
to the algorithm does not represent non-
traditional profiles, then instantly we have
a glaring issue for the equality agenda.
With the efficiency that new technology
provides, it is important to draw on
our self-knowledge and constantly
question it though the lens of our ethical
judgement and beliefs. When does the
final decision sit with a machine, and
when does that machine require the
oversight of a finance professional? It’s
a delicate equilibrium, particularly given
that you will be expected to balance these
decisions with your commercial, business
acumen. At what point do you do what’s
profitable, at the expense of the right
thing, yet due to the inherent detachment
of the technology, justify to yourself
that it isn’t your problem anymore?
It’s a tough job. And this is where your
emotional competency comes into play.
The confidence to influence high-level
executives to follow ethical protocol and
see beyond the binary choices of ‘we
can or cannot do this’, or rather, how do
we frame our decisions in terms of long-
term, sustainable gain instead of a quick
win? The answer here is through
our emotional competency.
Of course, with so much automation
and technological complexity, it’s easy
to argue pure ignorance. In some cases,
to the detriment of one’s credibility, that
may actually be the case: “I didn’t know
09
”
that’s how it worked, so I can’t be held
responsible for this outcome”. No, the
responsibility of a modern accountant
is to maintain the ‘growth mindset’ that
will ensure a flexible understanding of
the systems under our control. It’s not
enough to take everything on face value,
and be purely objective in the face of
such objective technology, which exists
without any pre-coded moral function. A
smart-contract will do what it is going to
do, and though you might not necessarily
understand how to code one; that is
someone-else’s professional role, as the
ethical arbiter of the technology, it is
fundamental that you understand the
outputs of those automated lines of code
in order to make the correct business
decisions. That is the new challenge
faced by accountancy professionals
around the world.
We stand at the gates of a new,
technological revolution, one that
promises to provide insights and
efficiencies many factors greater than
currently in existence. The question facing
our profession is, how do we learn to
control this technology and hold it to the
same standards of account as we have
always done. How do we align our ethical
principles with technology that knows
none? What are the skills required for
such a demanding task? The answer is
that, through a process of self-knowledge,
empathy, learning and influence, we
can continue to make the right choices.
Just because we can take a certain path
does not mean we always should, and
building the emotional competence
to manage that fact, within a vastly
accelerated digital world, is now one of
the very elemental features of the modern
accountancy profession. It will require grit
and determination to maintain the ‘growth
mindset’ required for this, but if you
manage it, you will be part of a highly-
advanced movement into the future of
the sector.
8
“ Success is critically defined by the
ability to take on multiple perspectives.
I
t’s no secret that the workplace is
becoming increasingly decentralised.
In just one lifetime, the concept of
remote working has gone from being a
bonafied rarity to the norm. For many
in the working world the hustle and
bustle of office life is far away. Modern
businesses are coming to the conclusion
that certain functions benefit from being
spread out, particularly in the case of
software and business development.
In an ‘always-on’ world, maximising
the value of a high-speed internet and
cheaper access to travel has meant
an increased variety of cultures and
backgrounds. It’s not to say that the
modern accountancy practice no longer
recognises the osmosis of knowledge,
and the rapport that occurs between
colleagues when based in the same
building. No, instead what is being
advanced is a recognition of the
competitive advantages to having a mix;
a hybridisation, not only of the traditional
workplace with a new, digitally distributed
one, yet also in terms of staff who are able
to bring with them a wealth of different
perspectives which serve the greater
good of the firm. The challenge presented
by a wider pool of stakeholders in the
digital age is that increased diversity
presents a new bone of contention in
our capacity to remain respectful,
constructive and efficient.
Undoubtedly, the fact that digital
technologies have enabled wider, global
interactions means dealing with a new
set of emotional problems. What we have
gained in terms of time-management
through distributed teams, profitability
through data-handling, and faster
innovation through communication
and access to research, we have also
been required to balance with cultural
differences, shifting interdepartmental
priorities and fundamentally varying
skillsets and personalities. Where we have
increased efficiency, we have opened
Culture
The World On Your Doorstep
the new issue of ‘cultural load’ and to
gracefully navigate this territory requires
we draw upon our EQ. For example, a
finance team might be split between an
in-house function in Europe and a shared-
service centre on the other side of the
world. This has the capacity to
increase disconnection in terms of
how people respond to race, gender,
orientation or other aspects which may be
very normal in one culture, but not at all to
the other. In many ways, it’s an exclusively
modern problem.
Conflicts can and will occur. Micro-
aggressions undermine efficiency.
Friction may or may not be intended,
yet all the while company morale is
damaged as individual senses of being
valued and having common purpose are
undermined. At the end of the day, this
is bad for business. And it’s true that due
to different degrees of ‘digital savvy’,
often split between older and younger
generations, there is a heightened
volume of frustration and loss of patience,
especially when the connection you have
with your colleague or interlocutor is not
as direct and shared an experience as it
might once have been. So again, with our
training in self-knowledge and empathy in
mind, as well as our emotional capacity to
build relationships through influence and
knowledge-sharing, it is important
to manifest your emotional competence
into practical outcomes, which will
smooth interactions and oil the cogs
of your digital workplace. While it
may seem secondary to the more
analytical and objective parts of the
accountancy business, it’s really
just as important.
And in addition to the technological
divide, where those more familiar with
digital tools and techniques may become
frustrated with less confident users, and
vice-versa. There’s even an element of
‘digital-culture’ at play. Take for example
10
”
the office junior, who may share data
with a peer of theirs on the client-side,
and think nothing of it. Because the
younger cohort has a fundamentally
different relationship with technology
to older users, and through no inherent
fault of their own behave a certain way,
these digital natives could be seen to
undermine existing norms and practices
and this inevitably creates tension and
conflict. The diplomacy required by all
parties to find common ground requires
emotional competence and maturity to
happen. We need to begin to understand
that there may not be a single right or
wrong answer, and that we must take on
the perspectives of others in a much more
dynamic way that ever before in order to
handle this new way of working together.
This is not to say that recognition of
alternate views means backing down
on your own self-knowledge and ethics.
But what the process does require is
the flexibility that a sense of empathy
and compassion provides, in order to
strike a balance that satisfies all parties
to the most utilitarian extent. It is
important that we embrace a wider range
of perspectives in our digital age, as
increasingly it will become important to
the acquisition of new digital skills as new
fields emerge and we respond to the
existence of more advanced technologies,
which are a learning curve for us all.
Increased diversity in the workplace is
proven to be profitable, but for it to
work it requires that the individual take
on multiple perspectives, and that we
upgrade our emotional skills to deal with
these new relationships. If the advent of AI
and other digital technologies has taught
us anything, it’s that our human capacity
to relate seamlessly with colleagues is
becoming more vital than ever, and
we must avoid confining ourselves to
the comfortable echo-chamber of our
own experience.
9
Governance
All for One. One for All

“ Hierarchies are being flattened.

Decision-making is becoming distributed.
I
n many ways, this final part of your
emotional intelligence update is
directly associated with the cultural
ideas referenced in the previous
section. Governance, after all, is
all about decision-making and
hierarchies, and therefore in dealing with
people is bound directly to the idea of
how we manage these processes in the
digital age. You may well have heard of
ecologist Garrett Hardin’s 1968 theory
on ’The Tragedy of the Commons’, which
essentially highlights a social dilemma
that occurs when groups have access
to shared resources. Though this idea is
primarily applied to the social sciences,
sustainability and economics, there are
fundamental parallels in the the world of
digitally decentralised businesses, like the
accountancy practices of 2019 and the
future. Traditional, pre-digital governance
structures in centralised offices, would
have operated like an autocracy. The
boss would direct the managers and the
managers would direct the workers. It’s
how it’s always worked historically, and
though there have always been external
client relationships at play, in general
a firm would have sat under one roof,
with a single set of rules governing the
hierarchical structure and behaviour of
its business. Today, that view is being
challenged on an ever-increasing basis.
In the new, hybridised, distributed
workplace which in many ways reflects
Hardin’s theory, nowadays we are
automatically presented with issues
where multiple stakeholders in a business
have more flexible, open-access
to company resources across a wider
area. Though there will still be guidelines
and layers of control in place,
hierarchies are being flattened and
decision-making is becoming more
distributed. As mentioned, due to the
matrix of new skills now required in a
modern accountancy firm, individuals at
all levels of seniority are having to make
sacrifices and become ever more dynamic,
in order to deal with the emotional
challenges of this new company structure.
No longer does the didactic, top-down
system of executive power deploy as
it has done historically, and did even
until recent times. There are now up to
four distinct generations working within
the same firm. It’s true to say that the
younger cohort have a distinctly different
skillset to their older counterparts, and
that company culture is shifting to a
more meritocratic basis; one that present
opportunities and challenges of its own.
Of course, that’s not to say that more
senior, experienced professionals are
losing their grasp. They have the contacts.
Often, they hold the purse strings.
Certainly, they have the experience. But
what it does mean that those individuals
are having to adapt their emotional
competencies to adapt to the demands
of the new way of working, and likewise
new starters in the industry are redefining
decision-making processes in a way that
was previously unheard of. They need
to use empathy and perspective-taking
to understand where the priorities and
challenges exist for more experienced
colleagues, while respecting the skills
of the latter. This requires bilateral
emotional maturity.
Everything is becoming more agile. Even
the language of business is changing.
Being directive and authoritarian in style
is not likely to build the communication
bridges needed. In order to react, one’s
EQ and the fundamental traits of self-
knowledge, empathy, training, learning
and influence come to the fore.
You need to change your style of
business communication. As with the
cultural side of the debate, because of
shared-services in different geographies,
professionals are now having to think
about alternate power-structures in
other parts of the world. How do my
foreign partners work operate? What are
”
their priorities? How do I engage with
them? This is subtle work, traditionally
the preserve of politicians and senior
dignitaries. Today, a graduate fresh out
of accountancy college is being asked to
do the same. At all scales, from micro-
enterprises to multi-nationals, operating
in multiple geographical contexts,
new business models are emerging,
catalysed by access to new technology
and infrastructure.
In reality, progress and governance are
one and the same. Without understanding
the latter in a modern context, you cannot
hope to take advantage of the former.
Success is now defined by your ability,
as an individual, to respond to the global
economic framework with an emotional
sensitivity that simultaneously accounts for
all of these dynamics. It’s no longer about
just being an accountant. You’re required
to create an inclusive working culture.
You’re required to think beyond the latest
technologies and more towards mutual
benefit on a social level. Quality of life
and professional development is no
longer a singular pursuit, but a common
goal. It’s a shared experience. And in
order to access this new model, you
are required by default to build on the
competencies outlined in this paper.
Because the world won’t wait, and
everything is moving so fast that if you
don’t adapt, if you don’t evolve as an
accountant, you’ll be left behind.
But if you do, then the world is yours,
and you will go on to define one of the
most exciting phases of human history. So
take your place at the table of progress,
develop a mastery of your emotions and
re-shape the accountancy industry as we
move into the future!

11
About ACCA

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is

the global body for professional accountants, offering business-
relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application,
ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding
career in accountancy, finance and management.

ACCA supports its 208,000 members and 503,000 students in

179 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in
accounting and business, with the skills required by employers.
ACCA works through a network of 104 offices and centres and
more than 7,300 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide
high standards of employee learning and development. Through
its public interest remit, ACCA promotes appropriate regulation
of accounting and conducts relevant research to ensure
accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.

ACCA has introduced major innovations to its flagship

qualification to ensure its members and future members continue
to be the most valued, up to date and sought-after accountancy
professionals globally.

Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core

values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and
accountability. More information is here: www.accaglobal.com

9 Pathways to Harnessing Your Emotional Intelligence

To discover our latest research visit our Professional Insights page: accaglobal.com/insights

ACCA The Adelphi 1/11 John Adam Street London WC2N 6AU United Kingdom / +44 (0)20 7059 5000 / www.accaglobal.com