ACCA’s global forums bring together experts from around the world to help ACCA understand the key issues, trends and developments that are affecting the profession.
‘The forums are effectively global groups of experts, with ACCA as the super-connector,’ says Mike Suffield, ACCA’s director of professional insights.
There are 13 forums, all of which will be individually described in this and forthcoming issues of AB. Most focus on a single subject area, but some (such as the ethics forum) cut across some of the other areas.
During the forums’ meetings, experts from business, practice, the public sector and academic spheres come together to debate hot topics for the profession – describing what is happening in their country or sector and sharing problems and solutions.
The forums allow ACCA to lead the profession, influence public policy and regulation, and shape key business practices
ACCA gathers these insights and feeds them into its technical research and professional insights work – activity that eventually becomes known via ACCA’s publicly stated views. ACCA is often called on to present its views on the development of the profession, or to comment on wider business or society more generally.
The simple fact that ACCA has engaged with its members on these topics, used their insights to shape its research programme, and heard members’ opinions puts it in a strong position to respond to consultations or similar calls for input, and participate in roundtables or contribute to publications. As a result, ACCA is able to lead the profession, influence public policy and regulation, and shape business practices on key issues.
Education is another important area to which the forums contribute. ACCA is always engaged in developing its curriculum for accountants. Without understanding on-the-ground developments in business, and the realities of accountancy practice in the many jurisdictions in which ACCA is present, it would be impossible to craft and deliver a relevant, thorough curriculum that truly prepares accountants for the world of work. The education forum, for example, has recently discussed how best to instil and improve critical thinking among accountants as machines take over a larger part of their work.
The forums are a crucial link between ACCA as an organisation and its practising members. While they are a way of reaching out to members, participation in a forum is a prestigious activity, and participants frequently become prominent advocates for ACCA. This advocacy helps it to support members better and to deliver public value.
Suffield says that ACCA is also looking to improve the forums. ‘We are always looking for ways to make them work better: do they need updating, do they sufficiently reflect our members’ experiences?’ Two commitments are already in the pipeline: helping to connect forums that are discussing cross-cutting topics, and bringing the chairs of the forums together at least once a year.
‘The forums are an invaluable part of our external-facing work and do so much to shape and focus our approach,’ Suffield says. ‘We take them very seriously, and that investment pays off – we always get great insights from them.’
Education forum
ACCA’s Global Forum on Education is one of only two forums that are run from outside of ACCA’s professional insights team (the other one is the Global Forum on Ethics). This, says Jane Towers-Clark, an ACCA member of staff on the group, is because the forum is closely linked to the development of the accounting curriculum.
The education forum:
- advises ACCA on relevant educational matters
- discusses delivery and assessment
- contributes to the shape of the future qualification
- supports ACCA’s global learning community
- ensures changes in the world of work are reflected in the ACCA curriculum.
The forum has a range of representatives from locations such as Sri Lanka, Bahrain and the US, and holds three forums a year that accommodate participants’ time zones. ‘There are more academics on this forum than any other, so it is a rare opportunity to blend the perspectives of academic research with pragmatic perspectives from practice and industry,’ says forum chair Kenneth Henry.
During its past few sessions the forum has discussed the changing the profession, including the impact of technology, and how to attract people to these evolving roles. The forum has also been discussing the teaching of sustainability and the accountant’s role in addressing the climate emergency, including incorporating aspects of accounting for sustainability into the ACCA curriculum.
Audit and assurance
The Global Forum on Audit and Assurance is, says its ACCA staff representative Antonis Diolas, a productive gathering. ‘We want practical insights, and the forum allows us to test ideas for our research.’ Before ACCA begins a piece of research into an area of audit and assurance, it runs the outline past the forum, which helps it ask the right questions. Debate in the forum also helps ACCA develop its consultation responses. Diolas cites the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s discussion paper on the audit of less complex entities: ‘There was constructive disagreement in the forum on the appropriate way forward, and this was reflected in our response where we set out the pros and cons of each proposal.’
Because the audit forum allows senior professionals to give their personal views, as well as their organisations’, ACCA gains insight into the range of opinions, and ideas that may be seen as radical at an institutional level can be discussed. The audit forum, like most of the others, offers two time slots for each meeting to suit members in different time zones, and each forum member provides an update from their jurisdiction so that the group gains a broad global view before diving into more specific issues.