An accountant's role in a dynamic environment

By Martin Finch 

Martin is an experienced accountant with expertise in reporting in  UK GAAP and IFRS. Martin also has significant systems experience having implemented SAP at his current employer.   Prior to his current role he worked in public practice on a varied portfolio of clients ranging from PLCs to not for profit and charitable organisations.

In the current economic climate many companies and indeed the Government itself are more focussed than ever on operational costs. Accountants tend to be very comfortable recording, controlling and accounting for costs within the business but the value of the work completed by accountants and the potential for accountants to add value to a business often goes un-noticed. A focus removal of non value adding steps (and costs) from business processes will inevitably mean that unless accountants successfully adapt to be seen as value adding, at some point the accountant themselves will be the target for cost reductions.