ACCA spotlight PQ
Fintech: the future is here
Fintech is opening up a whole new world of opportunities for today’s accountant, says Narayanan Vaidyanathan
F
intech is now firmly part of our lives and has been since the arrival of the ATM more than 50 years ago. It’s a thriving sector with many diverse parts including online or neobanks, payment systems, payment gateways/application programming interfaces (APIs), investment banking back-end infrastructure, insurtech, wealthtech and regtech. And then we have the newcomers like central bank digital currencies, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. But what does fintech in the 21st century mean for accountants and finance professionals? To help answer this question, we’ve recently launched with our strategic partners CA ANZ a report called Fintech state-of-play: opportunities for finance professionals It’s a must-read for anyone wanting to understand fintech, and also for those PQ readers keen to work in the sector. As the title says, we see many opportunities ahead for accountants and financial professionals within this dynamic sector. We polled some 5,700 ACCA and CA ANZ members to understand their views about fintech. Some 50% see career opportunities for themselves in fintech, while 14% do not. The remainder either don’t know (10%) or are undecided (26%), perhaps keeping future possibilities open. When asked about cyber security risks linked to fintech adoption, 83% say they are concerned given the data-driven nature of fintech and the need for it to gain the trust of governments, businesses and the public. Our research also shows that respondents are keen to see PQ Magazine July 2022
government interventions to support fintech adoption, including building links internationally to learn best practice (86%) to working with education partners to improve skills and training in fintech (85%). Our report reveals 10 different job roles for professional accountants within fintech and illustrates how their contributions and skillsets can add value to the organisations that they work with or represent. Roles showcased include CFOs and auditors to digital transformation experts and entrepreneurs. For example, as a CFO your purpose is to provide the strategic direction and stewardship of financial resources and other assets such as IP. And the finetch skills valued as a CFO are understanding how to link the numbers and strategy into a compelling story that investors would find attractive and having the ability to build a finance team and set professional norms, in the absence of mature processes and procedures. To ensure you’re well placed to benefit as fintech grows in scale and scope, our report offers recommendations for accountancy and finance professionals: • Build awareness of the products and services within the fintech landscape globally and the competitive dynamics that will shape it looking ahead. This is a multi-dimensional sector with both business-to-consumer (B2C) and businessto-business (B2B) propositions. • Understand the regulatory considerations relevant to the areas of fintech you’re exploring. In many instances – particularly for emerging areas like cryptocurrencies – there is a need for
those who can help to shape the standards and regulatory treatment as well. • Reinforce an innovation and purpose-driven mindset. Fintech is extremely fast paced and dynamic, and benefits from individuals who are excited about new ideas that can drive sustainable value; and who can pivot fast to changing business requirements. The fintech future is really exciting. And we know that accountants and finance professionals are already bringing a wide range and high-value portfolio of skills into the sector – from understanding new business models, commerciality, and the ability to tell a compelling financial story to investors, to driving trust through assurance and clarity of financial information with emerging norms in corporate reporting. Working in fintech demands a digital-first mindset that can operate without vast paper trails. It requires a flexible approach that can pivot to changing needs in a fast-moving industry. The accountancy profession abounds in skills like these as it has always been adept at engaging with and managing technology. To access opportunities in fintech, professional accountants will need to draw upon the balanced, broad ranging set of skills across both technical and behavioural attributes, as highlighted by the competency frameworks of ACCA in our career navigator and also in CA ANZ’s Capability Model which can be found online. We wish you luck in exploring the fintech world and securing your own opportunities within it. For more go to https://careernavigator. accaglobal.com/gb/en.html and https://tinyurl. com/5n89bscy • Narayanan Vaidyanathan is head of policy at ACCA 23
