International Accountancy Education Standards Board Member Dr. Sidharta Utama spoke during the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Regional Education Conference in Singapore in September 2017 and discussed IAESB initiatives on developing professional accountants’ information and communications technology skills and competency.

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Standards Development &
Initiative: Information and
Communication Technology
Sidharta Utama
Member, International Accounting
Education Standards Board
ACCA Regional Education Conference,
September 13 2017, Singapore

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Outline
• Introduction to IAESB
• IAESB Strategy 2017 – 2021
• Standards development initiative: Information & Communication
Technology (ICT)
– Background, Objective, Scope
– Progress: Literature Review & Survey
– Targeted milestones

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IAESB
• Serves the public interest by establishing standards in the
area of professional accounting education
• Prescribes technical competence and professional skills,
values, ethics, and attitudes.
• Enhances education by developing and implementing
International Education Standards™ (IES™), which increase
the competence of the global accountancy profession—
contributing to strengthened public trust.
What is the IAESB mandate?

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Benefits
• Provides industry-specific accounting
knowledge and skills
• Promotes compliance to a high
standard of conduct and
professionalism
• Enhances organizations chances of
adapting to changes in business and
technology
Qualification, Certification & Licensure
Standards&
BestPractices
Continuing Professional
Development
IESs 7 & 8
Assessment
IES 6
Practical Experience
IES 5
Content of Professional
Accounting Education
IESs 2, 3, 4
Entry Requirements
IES 1

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Developing Professional Competence
INDIVIDUAL
ASPIRING
PROFESSIONAL
ACCOUNTANT
PROFESSIONAL
ACCOUNTANT
IES 1
IES 2 – IES 6
CONTINUOSLY
IMPROVING
PROFESSIONAL
ACCOUNTANT
IES 7

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IESs 2, 3, & 4
Technical Competence (IES 2; 2015)
Professional
Skills (IES 3) Professional Values, Ethics, and
Attitudes (IES 4)
Content of Professional Accounting Education

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Standards Development
Focus on the following areas:
• Continuing professional
education
• Professional skepticism
• Public sector accounting,
reporting and assurance
• Information and
communications technology

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1. Analyze the adequacy of general information technology
controls and relevant application controls
2. Explain how information technology contribute to data
analysis and decision making
3. Use information technology to support decision making
through business analytics
IES 2: Learning Outcomes for Information
Technology Competence Area (Intermediate Level)

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Increasing pace
of change in ICT
Transform the
operational and
interpretative
aspect of
accountancy
May change
competency
requirements for
professional
accountants
ICT Standard Development - Background

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Objective
Serve the public interest by identifying the ICT skills needed by
aspiring professional accountants and professional accountants
to perform their role competently in a digital economy

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Scope
Results of evidence gathering
process to determine if:
• ICT advancements requires
new or revised
competencies area
• Existing competence areas
are sufficient to support
needs of professional
accountants
Standards development may include:
• amending extant IESs competence
areas
• adding specific competence areas
• adding explanatory materials within
extant IESs
• developing new IESs or
• providing more guidance
* Through literature review, stakeholder engagement with IFAC member bodies, accounting
firms, academics as well as liaising with other Standard Setting Boards

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• Growing demand for advanced IT knowledge and skills for accounting
professionals, for example:
– AACSB International Accounting Accreditation Standard A7 (2016): “consistent with the mission,
accounting degree programs integrate current and emerging accounting and business statistical
techniques, data management, data analytics and information technologies in the curricula.”
• Improvement in soft-skills necessary to capture the benefits of ICT knowledge,
for example:
– ‘accounting students need to be trained as informed skeptics in the area and need to be able to
understand the limits of “measurement and representation, the subjectiveness of insight, the
challenges of statistics and integrating data sets, and the effects of underdetermination and
inductive reasoning” McKinney, Yoos and Snead (2017)
Implication to the accounting profession (Based on
Literature Review by Birt)

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Areas of Focus in ICT
Business Acumen
Behavioral Competence
Digital Technologies
Data Interrogation, Synthesis and Analysis
Communication

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Survey Results on ICT Skills – Background of
Respondents
Number of Respondents (n = 192)

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Agree Disagree No
Opinion
Responses
ICT skills “disruption” has the potential to affect all professional
accountants performing a variety of roles.
180
94.2 %
9
4.7%
2
1.0%
191
Advances in technology pose a challenge to the existing ICT
skills of professional accountants.
173
91.5%
12
6.3%
4
2.1%
189
The IAESB should consider ICT skills in the context of current
and future skills needs.
184
95.8%
3
1.6%
5
2.6%
192
ICT skills consideration needs to focus on Initial Professional
Development (IPD) of aspiring professional accountants and
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of professional
accountants.
180
94.2%
2
1.0%
9
4.7%
191
ICT skills includes an understanding of different technology
platforms (software and hardware) and how the use of
technology impacts the professional accountant’s role.
181
94.3%
5
2.6%
6
3.1%
192
Does your organization agree with
the following statements?

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No. Areas Average Score
1. Data Interrogation, Synthesis and Analysis 4.7
2. Behavioral Competence 4.6
3. Business Acumen 4.5
4. Communication 4.5
5. Digital Technologies 4.4
In the context of a professional accountant’s future ICT skills
needs, how important is each of these areas? (Likert scale 1
to 5)

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What does your organization see as the most important
standards development activities to support skills
development of professional accountants in ICT?
Percent Responses
(a) Amending existing International Education
Standards (IESs) competence areas or learning
outcomes
34.8% 48
(b) Adding new specific competence areas or
learning outcomes to existing IESs 44.2% 61
(c) Considering additional explanatory material
within IESs 35.5% 49
(d) Developing new IESs (whether multiple or a
standalone ICT IES) 24.6% 34
(e) Providing guidance 45.7% 63
(f) All of the above 32.6% 45
(g) None of the above 0.7% 1
Other (please describe) 2.9% 4

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Timeline
November 2017 meeting Discussion of final project scope issues
and project proposal
2nd Quarter 2018 Identification of ICT skills and a gap
analysis of such skills with the IESs
Targeted Milestones

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www.iaesb.org
Information

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• Birt, J. (2017), ICT Literature Review, working paper
• IAESB (2015), IES 2: Initial Professional Development
– Technical Competence
• IAESB (2017), General survey results on ICT
• IAESB (2017), Strategy 2017-2021 and Work Plan 2017-
2018, March.
References