Never more opportunities for accountants as today
Malta Institute of Accountants launches new corporate identity
The demand for accountants is on the increase and it is important that we work to ensure that there continues to be enough supply of accountants to meet the growing requirements of the market, the president of the Malta Institute of Accountants (MIA), Simon Flynn has said.
Mr Flynn said that despite the increase in accountancy graduates every year there certainly is no surplus of accountants. "Finding enough accountants to satisfy growing demand remains a challenge that we must face. Malta's economy is gearing itself more and more towards the financial services and related sectors where the accountant is critical to the success of the businesses concerned. The demand for accountants has increased and this trend is expected to continue in the future."
He urged students who are at the point of deciding which career to pursue to seriously consider taking up accountancy as their profession: "It is important that we sustain our profession by attracting to it the best talent on the island. While numbers are important to meet the market's needs, quality remains of paramount importance. Many eminent members of the profession have worked over the years to build up the reputation that the profession has today, both locally and overseas. It is our job to ensure that the high standards attained over the years are carried forward into the future. This can only be done if we invest in the people who will make up the profession of the future. Accountancy is also a very exportable profession and presents many opportunities for career development overseas. This is something that has been happening for some time now, mostly with excellent results.
Maltese accountants also have a competitive advantage stemming both from the fact that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been applied in Malta for a number of years and from our fluency in English. This makes it relatively easy for accountants to move around internationally, gaining experience and expertise that are later ploughed back into the local economy. It is crucial that we do not lose these advantages."
Mr Flynn explained how today there are primarily two avenues to becoming an accountant. "The joint examination scheme that the Institute operates with ACCA and the BA (Hons) Accountancy course at university are today by far the most popular routes to becoming an accountant. ACCA remains a preferred alternative for those who do not want to study on a full-time basis or for those who already have a first degree and see ACCA as an opening towards a profession. Indeed accountancy is many times a profession that people choose later in their student life and there is absolutely no harm; indeed there is probably benefit, in students particularly at secondary level to broaden their knowledge of languages, humanities and sciences before branching into accounting and business related studies. I think that this will ultimately make for more complete accountants who are able to go beyond the basic number management aspect of the profession and have stronger interpersonal skills, be multilingual and have better general knowledge. A strong command of written and spoken English, for example, remains a key element in making a successful accountant in today's world. The MIA is itself very active in the educational field. Through a joint venture that we operate with BPP UK we prepare a large number of students to sit for ACCA exams. There are today over 800 registered students with ACCA in Malta."
Mr Flynn also explained how the MIA has been going from strength to strength: "Our membership base currently stands at 1,400 and is growing steadily. We estimate that about 80 per cent of accountants in Malta are members of the institute. Clearly there is value in belonging to one of the largest professional bodies in the country. Apart from providing technical guidance on a number of issues the institute is also very active in offering its members opportunities for continuous professional education (CPE). There is a legal requirement for accountants to undertake a minimum number of CPE hours every year. This is an onerous requirement that serves to ensure that the profession is always abreast with modern developments and new regulations. Another aspect of the way the profession is regulated that is challenging yet important is that of quality assurance. In line with EU legislation the Accountancy Board's QA unit recently started carrying out periodic reviews on members in public practice. All this comes at a cost to members but serves to improve the quality of service the public gets from accountants and auditors."
Mr Flynn explained how the institute is embarking on a number of initiatives this year in order to better serve its members and students. It is, for example, strengthening its infrastructure by moving both its member facing and its teaching functions to new state-of-the-art premises.
"The MIA plans to move its offices by the end of 2008 and the joint venture company we have with BPP will now also start to operate from these premises. This will enable us to continue to grow our potential to offer services to members and students. We plan, for example, to expand our technical team which has been so successful in recent years in developing guidance to members and in assisting the profession locally. A landmark initiative that is about to be concluded - on behalf of the Accountancy Board - is the drawing up of a set of accounting principles that will be applicable to companies in Malta that in truth do not need to prepare financial statements applying all the complexities that IFRS contemplates and that are mainly intended for larger entities. This will bring about a process of simplification in the preparation of accounts and make them more relevant and understandable to their users. Accountants have long complained that many clients do not see much value in (and many times have been unwilling to pay for) IFRS accounts for typically local entities. The businessman, on his part, complains that he finds his own accounts at times difficult to understand. These principles aim to solve these problems with a robust yet straightforward set of rules to be applied by these entities.
"On the students' side, our joint venture with BPP currently operates from a number of centres that we lease. We want to move away from this and develop a more comprehensive, accessible and centralised model for students. We firmly believe that this will further improve the service we are giving in what is already a very successful venture, as evidenced by the pass rates attained by our students."
Mr Flynn also announced that the MIA is currently carrying out a re-branding exercise, which includes a new corporate identity: "We have just launched our new logo which has been restyled on the traditional logo that we had in the past. The institute traces its origins back to 1942. We are still a relatively young profession and this enables us to be flexible, adaptable to change and forward looking in our initiatives. We do, however, have a history that we are proud of and going 'back to our roots' enables us to project an image of a long standing institution that over the years has developed its own values. We are also aiming to strengthen our corporate identity - communication is an essential tool in the modern world and we are ultimately here to serve both the profession and, with equal importance, the public interest. We are therefore launching a number of initiatives to be more present in the market while maintaining the discretion and professional approach that have always characterised the MIA. We are also in the process of radically revamping our website which will allow us to offer added value services to members and students".
"The MIA is already a very successful organisation today. It owes this to the many people who have over the years volunteered their time and energy to building the profession in Malta. The worst thing that we can do as a successful organisation is, however, to sit back. Coupled with the growth we are seeing in the demand for accountants at the cutting edge of the profession, it is certainly an exciting, challenging and dynamic time to be an accountant," Mr Flynn added.
Mr Flynn said that despite the increase in accountancy graduates every year there certainly is no surplus of accountants. "Finding enough accountants to satisfy growing demand remains a challenge that we must face. Malta's economy is gearing itself more and more towards the financial services and related sectors where the accountant is critical to the success of the businesses concerned. The demand for accountants has increased and this trend is expected to continue in the future."
He urged students who are at the point of deciding which career to pursue to seriously consider taking up accountancy as their profession: "It is important that we sustain our profession by attracting to it the best talent on the island. While numbers are important to meet the market's needs, quality remains of paramount importance. Many eminent members of the profession have worked over the years to build up the reputation that the profession has today, both locally and overseas. It is our job to ensure that the high standards attained over the years are carried forward into the future. This can only be done if we invest in the people who will make up the profession of the future. Accountancy is also a very exportable profession and presents many opportunities for career development overseas. This is something that has been happening for some time now, mostly with excellent results.
Maltese accountants also have a competitive advantage stemming both from the fact that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been applied in Malta for a number of years and from our fluency in English. This makes it relatively easy for accountants to move around internationally, gaining experience and expertise that are later ploughed back into the local economy. It is crucial that we do not lose these advantages."
Mr Flynn explained how today there are primarily two avenues to becoming an accountant. "The joint examination scheme that the Institute operates with ACCA and the BA (Hons) Accountancy course at university are today by far the most popular routes to becoming an accountant. ACCA remains a preferred alternative for those who do not want to study on a full-time basis or for those who already have a first degree and see ACCA as an opening towards a profession. Indeed accountancy is many times a profession that people choose later in their student life and there is absolutely no harm; indeed there is probably benefit, in students particularly at secondary level to broaden their knowledge of languages, humanities and sciences before branching into accounting and business related studies. I think that this will ultimately make for more complete accountants who are able to go beyond the basic number management aspect of the profession and have stronger interpersonal skills, be multilingual and have better general knowledge. A strong command of written and spoken English, for example, remains a key element in making a successful accountant in today's world. The MIA is itself very active in the educational field. Through a joint venture that we operate with BPP UK we prepare a large number of students to sit for ACCA exams. There are today over 800 registered students with ACCA in Malta."
Mr Flynn also explained how the MIA has been going from strength to strength: "Our membership base currently stands at 1,400 and is growing steadily. We estimate that about 80 per cent of accountants in Malta are members of the institute. Clearly there is value in belonging to one of the largest professional bodies in the country. Apart from providing technical guidance on a number of issues the institute is also very active in offering its members opportunities for continuous professional education (CPE). There is a legal requirement for accountants to undertake a minimum number of CPE hours every year. This is an onerous requirement that serves to ensure that the profession is always abreast with modern developments and new regulations. Another aspect of the way the profession is regulated that is challenging yet important is that of quality assurance. In line with EU legislation the Accountancy Board's QA unit recently started carrying out periodic reviews on members in public practice. All this comes at a cost to members but serves to improve the quality of service the public gets from accountants and auditors."
Mr Flynn explained how the institute is embarking on a number of initiatives this year in order to better serve its members and students. It is, for example, strengthening its infrastructure by moving both its member facing and its teaching functions to new state-of-the-art premises.
"The MIA plans to move its offices by the end of 2008 and the joint venture company we have with BPP will now also start to operate from these premises. This will enable us to continue to grow our potential to offer services to members and students. We plan, for example, to expand our technical team which has been so successful in recent years in developing guidance to members and in assisting the profession locally. A landmark initiative that is about to be concluded - on behalf of the Accountancy Board - is the drawing up of a set of accounting principles that will be applicable to companies in Malta that in truth do not need to prepare financial statements applying all the complexities that IFRS contemplates and that are mainly intended for larger entities. This will bring about a process of simplification in the preparation of accounts and make them more relevant and understandable to their users. Accountants have long complained that many clients do not see much value in (and many times have been unwilling to pay for) IFRS accounts for typically local entities. The businessman, on his part, complains that he finds his own accounts at times difficult to understand. These principles aim to solve these problems with a robust yet straightforward set of rules to be applied by these entities.
"On the students' side, our joint venture with BPP currently operates from a number of centres that we lease. We want to move away from this and develop a more comprehensive, accessible and centralised model for students. We firmly believe that this will further improve the service we are giving in what is already a very successful venture, as evidenced by the pass rates attained by our students."
Mr Flynn also announced that the MIA is currently carrying out a re-branding exercise, which includes a new corporate identity: "We have just launched our new logo which has been restyled on the traditional logo that we had in the past. The institute traces its origins back to 1942. We are still a relatively young profession and this enables us to be flexible, adaptable to change and forward looking in our initiatives. We do, however, have a history that we are proud of and going 'back to our roots' enables us to project an image of a long standing institution that over the years has developed its own values. We are also aiming to strengthen our corporate identity - communication is an essential tool in the modern world and we are ultimately here to serve both the profession and, with equal importance, the public interest. We are therefore launching a number of initiatives to be more present in the market while maintaining the discretion and professional approach that have always characterised the MIA. We are also in the process of radically revamping our website which will allow us to offer added value services to members and students".
"The MIA is already a very successful organisation today. It owes this to the many people who have over the years volunteered their time and energy to building the profession in Malta. The worst thing that we can do as a successful organisation is, however, to sit back. Coupled with the growth we are seeing in the demand for accountants at the cutting edge of the profession, it is certainly an exciting, challenging and dynamic time to be an accountant," Mr Flynn added.