More than 180 top CFOs and financial executives across all major industry sectors converge on April 26 in Ho Chi Minh City to exchange views, discuss key industry concerns and share best practices at Vietnam CFO Summit 2013 themed “The Future CFO – The complete finance professional” organised by ACCA.
The conference featured a line-up of senior industry experts. Mr. Le Dang Doanh, Senior Economist and Former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management; Mr. Hugh James McIntosh, Country President and General Director, TNK Vietnam B.V.; Mr. Rizwan Qamar, CFO Pepsi Co., Vietnam.
The summit is organised in the context in which CFOs are urged to abandon their comfort zones, be flexible and think out of the box in response to increased competition and complex challenges. The finance function used to be charged only with accounting, measuring the company's performance and delivering reports to senior management and shareholders. But today CFOs are now leading businesses from the front. They not only need a sound grasp of financial know-how vital for the success of their organisation, but must also fully consider the all the key competencies required by finance professionals, from performance and financial management and taxation, to principles of Integrated Reporting and how these will support the future success of their organisation.
In this summit, ACCA presents a survey of more than 500 chief financial officers for ACCA’s report, The complete finance professional 2013: Why breadth and depth of finance matter in today’s finance function, identified the key financial areas that CFOs said they need in the finance function.
Apart from the need for accounting professionals to behave and act ethically and professionally, financial management and financial analysis were seen as particularly high-impact areas, followed closely by governance risk and control, strategic management accounting and corporate reporting. Internal audit, tax advice and planning were also widely considered to have considerable impact.
Mr. Stephen Heathcote said: “The event was a great opportunity for ACCA’s guests to understand the challenges and opportunities the accountancy profession faces now and in the future. Our Complete Finance Professional campaign shows that Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) want their finance staff to have a broad range of skills and expertise throughout the finance value chain.”
“This need is supported by ACCA’s annual survey of employers we conducted last year, which showed that nearly 90% of employers said the ACCA Qualification was relevant to all employment sectors; this confirms our belief that ACCA offers a relevant qualification that meets the needs of business, individuals and employers to ensure that we develop the complete finance professional capable of achieving strategic roles in business,” added Mr. Stephen Heathcote.
Nam Pham
Vietnamese
