Accountants need to work with Government.

This was said by the former CPA Australia president Graeme Wade during his presentation at the CPA Australia-Fiji Branch 2017 Congress at the Shangri-La Fijian Resort and Spa, Yanuca Island, on Thursday.

He said that they need to appreciate some of the newest trends of accounting in business that needs to be involved in regulation and public policy, design and not sit back and wait for government’s decisions.

“Accountants need to inform the government the best way forward.”

Mr Wade added that they would love to see them involve directly partnering the working lives of accountants and clients.

Fiji has got enormous opportunities to be a net provider to offshore accounts, but in order to do that, it needs regulation that the outside government can rely upon, he said.

“Fiji has got a very vibrant accounting community as evidenced by the size of the congress,” he said.

Mr Wade said that accounting is a critical part of all economies.

It plays a very important role in the operation of the economy and the development of regulations around the world.

Mr Wade talked about the role of accountants and how this changes over time.

He said there are so many opportunities available now for accountants and it is important for them to be aware of their relevance to the world.

“The relevance of accountants changes on a daily basis and you need to keep up with the latest changes and the impact of changes,” he said.

He referred to the work around the big data and the analysis of the information that is flowing to accountants.

Big data are the extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends and associations especially relating to human behaviour and interactions.

Much investment is going towards managing and maintaining big data.

Mr Wade addressed the importance of it to large and small businesses that probably don’t realise how valuable and how accessible that big data is.

Exploring the big data and the value of that in advising clients is important, he said.

Mr Wade also addressed the impact of technologies and offshoring in particular.

He emphasised the need to mentor young people about the opportunities in the profession, garner the information and learn from them.

Commenting from the CPA point of view, this Fiji congress is a stand-out and a lot of lessons are drawn from these types of congresses around the world.

“The lessons learnt and the messages given are consumed by members all over the world.”

He said the turnout was unbelievable as the room was fully occupied.

The congress ended yesterday.

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