Changing Skills, Changing Job Titles

Accountants are becoming more integral to their employers’ decision-making processes than ever. Rather than being simple bean counters, keeping track of companies’ businesses without really having an impact on the direction of those businesses – even if they work in-house – accountants are enjoying a greater voice in strategic business decisions. Rather than just collecting data and presenting it to management, accountants are being called on to analyze the numbers and the business environment and then to tell management about how companies are truly performing, how they can be expected to perform moving forward, and what steps management might take to improve future performance. This new emphasis on strategic input in accounting means that it will be more important than ever for accountants to have a deep working knowledge of technology, leadership ability, an understanding of the broad business environment, and the ability to communicate with colleagues in a diversity of corporate departments and functions.

At the same time, new accounting specialties are emerging in response to a changing business world. The prevalence of the Internet means there’s now a need for finance types with system-security and Internet strategy expertise.

Globalization, and the cross-border transactions and international trade agreements mean that the need for professionals with a specialization in international accounting is growing. Environmental regulations and the threat of related legal problems demand more environmental accountants. And increased regulatory scrutiny of the accounting industry and the business community as a whole, as well as the accounting industry’s desire to rehabilitate its reputation by doing unassailable work, means that the field of forensic accounting – which involves seeking out corporate financial malfeasance and potential breaches in financial system security – is on the rise.

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