President Sinead Donovan was in the US this week, meeting with a variety of members and stakeholders. The insights gleaned on the trip will be put into action in the coming weeks and months, but among the key takeaways is that the US remains a destination of choice for Irish ACAs so our task is to drive greater awareness of the opportunities for members; our response to issues like the attractiveness of the profession, adapting to new sustainability reporting standards and cybersecurity will be shaped through collaboration with our US partners; and finally, our profession will continue to play a key role on both sides of the Atlantic driving and servicing inward FDI in support of Ireland’s economy.
Member engagement
There is no doubt that the US remains a destination of choice for Irish ACAs and the President heard directly from these members during several office visits and two member events. The ACA proves to be a door opener for so many of our members when they arrive in the States, as indeed does the Mutual Recognition Agreement for members practicing, so our task now is to drive greater awareness of the opportunities and help new and existing members to access these.
Partner engagement
As ever, the challenges for the profession are the same whether in Naas or New York. The attractiveness of the profession and sustainability reporting standards were two topics that, as expected, the President devoted a lot of time to in meetings with among others IAASB, AICPA, Chartered Accountants Worldwide Network USA, Deloitte EY, PwC, KPMG, and Harvard University.
How we as a profession adapt to the new reporting standards and educate our members on them will be shaped through such collaboration, and Chartered Accountants Ireland will be at the heart of that. The same goes for selling the attractiveness of the profession, with a focus on demonstrating the different routes into the profession and demonstrating through our actions our commitment to a healthy work-life balance. Perception is still an issue.
In meetings with Boston College, the scale of the profession’s role when it comes to cybersecurity was reinforced. There are approximately 4million open roles in cyber security globally, and accountants are ideally placed to play a central role in tackling the challenge. The Institute held its inaugural seminar for members with Boston College in Dublin last April, and there is so much scope to expand this education to position members to have an impact.
Working for Ireland Inc
It was great to meet the IDA and some of the companies (powered by ACAs) supporting inward FDI. Against the backdrop of a new global minimum corporation tax rate from 2024, and stiff competition for investment, our profession will continue to play a key role on both sides of the Atlantic driving and servicing that investment so well for Ireland’s economy. For our part, we will continue to ensure the Institute has a strong voice in demonstrating how the profession can continue to support FDI and be a strong resource for companies.