Editor’s welcome
Contributors to this issue
Editor’s welcome
CHRIS DOWNING
Chris Downing is Director of Product Management at Sage, with 19 years’ experience in practice and a passion for helping businesses to make the best use of technology. DAVID POTTS
David Potts is director of operations at the AIA, and is responsible for maintaining AIA’s international recognition and implementing the professional body’s regulatory strategies. GIORGIO VASELLI
A
IA will shortly be launching its new professional qualification and online learning platform, AIA Achieve Academy. The new professional qualification sets out the knowledge, skills, behaviours and values that underpin today’s accountants and helps professionals to thrive in their career. The qualification structure has been streamlined, reducing the number of exams from 16 to 10 or 11 depending on whether you are taking the accountancy or audit route, making it both quicker to complete and more accessible and affordable. The Foundation level is now tested through a single integrated, multiple choice exam, covering Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Corporate Governance and Audit, and Business Management and there is a greater emphasis on professional ethics through the inclusion of a standalone paper at Professional Level 2. To allow further flexibility for students taking the accountancy route, there is the introduction of optional papers, Developments in Assurance and Accountability and Business and
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Rachel Rutherford Editor, IA
Financial Management, at Professional Level 2. The new qualification is fully accessible, with students now able to choose to study entirely online through AIA Achieve Academy. The online platform offers a complete learning environment in which students can utilise a range of learning tools and methods. This streamlined qualification will help deliver AIA’s vision of supporting accounting professionals throughout their whole career. In this issue, we consider the impact that Brexit has played on international tax issues and the changes to taxes for multinationals; review the new EU roadmap to combat cyber‑crime, including a greater reliance on digital solutions and electronic verification; and explore the recent international tax and anti-money laundering developments on crypto assets. We also consider the increasing role of AI solutions, which will enable accounting and finance professionals to progress from depending on monthly or yearly cycles, and moving instead towards being able to offer continuous, real-time practices in accounting, trust and insights.
Giorgio Vaselli is special counsel in the Italian Private client and tax team at Withers Worldwide, with particular focus on corporate clients, investment funds, real estate and trusts. LAUREN RAPEPORT
Lauren Rapeport is an associate in the private client and tax team at Withers Worldwide, advising on trusts, tax, probate and succession planning issues, for individuals, trustees and charities. MARK TAYLOR
Mark Taylor is head of tax advisory services for Duncan & Toplis and a member of the firms’ management board, with 30 years’ experience of working with owner managed businesses of all sizes. MARTIN CHEEK
Martin Cheek is the managing director of SmartSearch, providing online anti-money laundering and fraud prevention services. ISSUE 117 | AIAWORLDWIDE.COM
