The Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) and IFAC held a joint workshop on June 21, 2017 in Guyana with representatives from 10 professional accountancy organizations in the region. Participants gathered together with the twin objectives of examining the role of the accountant in a changing world along with the trends (technological, economic, social, etc.) impacting the profession and tomorrow’s accountant as well as to discuss the challenging issues facing the accountancy profession and the future-readiness of today’s accountant and professional accountancy organizations.

1. Regional PAOs: Taking Stock, Are You Future
Ready?
Lisa Padmore, FCPA, FCGA
21 June 2017

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Agenda
• What does a future ready PAO look like?
• What are the challenges to overcome?
• What does your organization need and what will you do?

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A functioning PAO
• Acts in the public interest;
• Develop and produce capable and competent accountancy professionals;
• Promote and enforce strong professional and ethical standards;
• Act as a resource to government, regulators, and other stakeholders; and further the
quality of financial management and reporting, which in turn:
• Attracts foreign direct investment;
• Promotes growth and development of the small- and medium-sized entities sector;
• Enhances transparency and accountability in the use of resources in the public sector;
• Improves the design and delivery of vital public services; and
• Enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of official development assistance.

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Caribbean PAOs
• Financial stability varied from PAO to PAO
• Institutional capacity to meet current scope of services?
• Quality assurance programme facilitated by ICAC contract with ACCA;
uncertainty about effectiveness to date
• Formal adoption of international standards, effective implementation still an
area for concern
• Caribbean PAOs generally aligned with IESs but lack effective monitoring of
CPD requirements
• Systems for investigation and discipline: varied across Caribbean PAOs
• Public financial management initiatives varied from PAO to PAO

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Future trends in the accounting profession
• Evolving smart and digital technology
• Continued globalization of reporting/disclosure standards
• New forms of regulation

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Technology
• The virtual firm
• Broader communication with stakeholders
• Greater use of social media for collaboration with the general public
• Use of big data
• Data analytics replacing detailed substantive procedures
• Data intelligence being used by CFOs to inform transformation strategies
• Robotics
• The future ready professional accountant
• PAOs that cater to both professional accountants in public practice as well as professional
accountants in business

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Globalization
• Increased mobility
• Caribbean professionals seeking opportunities in larger markets
• More professionals trained outside the Caribbean seeking admission to our PAOs
• Mutual recognition agreements are a regional imperative
• Opportunities to develop alliances with PAOs and ROs outside of region

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Regulation
• The overreach of regulation in larger markets and its impact on the Caribbean
e.g. PCAOB regulations in USA
• Caribbean accountants need to be up-to-date with not just local regulation but regulation for
countries which have no legal jurisdiction over them
• Additional regulation from new forms of legislation e.g. AML, BEPS

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Break out session
What does your organization need
and what will you do?

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Presentation of group discussions

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Joy Thomas, President & CEO of CPA Canada:
“If you’re afraid of change, you’d
better get used to a lifetime of fear.”

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Thank you for your attendance and
participation