Finance professionals needed ‘more than ever’ in fintech sector

Fintech is the future but finance and accounting professionals are needed “more than ever”, the head of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has argued.

ACCA’s report conducted alongside CA ANZ (Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand) polled around 5,700 of their members and found that 50 per cent see career opportunities in fintech, while just 14 per cent did not.

ACCA and CA ANZ’s report also outlined 10 different job roles for finance and accounting professionals in the fintech sector, and how their skillsets can add value to organisations, including CFO, financial controller, transformation lead, digital accountant, fintech strategist, senior manager and regulatory expert.

‘There’s a diverse range of fintech activity already out there with more being developed. And accountancy and finance professionals can be a part of the fintech world, if they are not already,” ACCA chief executive, Helen Brand, said.

“In fact, they are needed more than ever in this still relatively nascent industry – their expertise, knowledge and ethical lens are invaluable.”

Ainslie van Onselen, chief executive officer at CA ANZ added: ‘We see tremendous opportunities ahead for accountancy and finance professionals in fintech – particularly in driving trust through assurance and clarity of financial information with emerging norms in corporate reporting. It’s an unfolding landscape to be explored.”

Meanwhile, 83 per cent of respondents said they are concerned about cyber security risks given the data-driven nature of fintech and want to see government intervention in a bid to support fintech adoption.

The report recommends government and regulators to look at opportunities “for common principles to underpin a multi-jurisdiction approach” to fintech regulation and to prioritise secure data management and cyber security.

Ms Brand and Ms van Onselen also called for government to actively incentivise innovation and growth for the fintech industry which they said can boost other sectors.

“We therefore call for governments and regulators to consider these approaches, to prioritise these areas identified by accountancy and finance professionals globally,” they said.

“It’s clear from our research that a massive collaborative effort is needed here. It’s also clear that professional accountants and finance professionals can and do have a valuable part to play in the fintech world.”