BONUS | International Management Accounting Day: Jeff Thomson - Creating Value in Critical Times (with Rouba Zeidan)

International Management Accounting Day:
https://www.imanet.org/about-ima/international-management-accounting-day


IMA's website: https://www.imanet.org/
About IMA: https://www.imanet.org/about-ima



FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)


Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things
affecting the accounting and finance world and happy
international management accounting day. Every year. On May 6th,,
IMA celebrates this global day of recognition to commemorate the
important role management accountants play within their
organizations to help bring more light. To this day, our cohost
Rouba Zeidan spoke with IMA's President and CEO Jeff Thompson.
Let's listen to what Jeff had to say about today and how the
management accountant is even more vital during today's uncertain
business environment. 


 


Rouba: (00:43)


So today IMA Institute of management accountants celebrates
international management accounting day. This is a global day,
which recognizes and commemorates the important role that
management accountants play within the organization. What does
this day really mean to you? 


 


Jeff: (00:59)


Well, the day it means quite a lot to me. from a relative
perspective is up in my top three or four or five days. You know,
my wedding anniversary probably, I have to say for the record
goes up above. The day I earned my CMA is way, way up there. So
way, way up there all seriousness, is international management
accounting day because it tells me and it tells us that we've
arrived as a community, we've arrived as a profession. We make a
difference. We make a difference in people's lives, we make a
difference in, organizational capability, as not only stewards of
the business, but value creators of the business. And as we've
seen through, the events of the Corona virus global pandemic, we
make a difference for society, capital markets and you know,
management accounting. I'm still in some markets it's not totally
understood that accounting is that how, why do we call it
management accounting? But the fact that we have an international
management accounting day set tells me that we have long arrived
as a profession that makes a difference and does a great things
for individuals, organizations and society at large. 


 


Rouba: (02:31)


Excellent. So since its inception in 1919, so that's just about a
hundred years ago. Ima's been actively supporting the evolution
of the profession through thought leadership, bridging the skills
gap and building a strong network around the world. But what is
the core role the organization is really played in bridging the
transition into this digital age that we're currently
experiencing? 


 


Jeff: (02:55)


Well, number one, we're very, very proud to have just turned one
hundred years, less than a year ago. So we call it 100 years and
counting. But we're very, very proud of our first hundred years
on the legacy that we've built contributions, service to society.
But we're also very, very excited about the path forward. First
and foremost, I would say that IMA has always stood for ethics
and when you think about ethics and financial reporting, think
about, ethics and, budgets and forecast, strategic plans and all
the things that creative accountants do. Ethics, we've always
stood tall on ethics. I've had an ethics committee for decades.
We've had a, we've had a statement on ethical professional
practice for decades. We've have educational programs and
trainings, for decades and that has been one common denominator
that has propelled us first 100 years. 


 


Rouba: (04:05)


Beyond having, I mean, this is a favorite part for me beyond
having some of the coolest accounting figures in the world. So
the likes of Robert Plant of Led Zepplin, Mick Jagger of the
rolling stones and Janet Jackson who studied accounting in
college. I mean is management accounting still an in demand
profession in the face of automation and the likelihood of
hundreds of thousands of jobs being annihilated from existence in
the next decade. 


 


Jeff: (04:31)


There's a lot of risk and opportunity for our great profession of
accounting and management accounting. I tend to be the optimist,
but I'm only the optimist if we have a sense of urgency and a
call to action. And here's what I mean. Accounting is actually a
cool profession. We do very, very interesting, type of work. Some
of it is could be routine and more mundane, sometimes, putting
counts together, the financial reports and transactions.
Sometimes that could be mundane. But, we also, do some really,
really interesting work in data analytics, risk management, in
technology. You know, the CFO team over time has evolved from
being strictly in the accounting lane, the accounting zone of
accounting for the past. But over time they've evolved to not
only accounting but an interdisciplinary approach to the
business. Talking about the CFO team, not just accounting, but
finance, not just accounting and finance, but add operations add
technology, add strategy. So today's accountant, today's CFO has
to know something about all of those domains to create value
across the supply chain. And so that requires not just an
interdisciplinary approach to the business on how value is
generated, but up-scaling.if we upscale, in data analytics, in
data visualization, in strategic management, we will continue to
have a relevant and influential profession. 


 


Rouba: (06:15)


So across every sector and industry around the world, CFOs,
controllers, budget analysts and accounting managers use
financial data to inform organizational strategy and value in the
face of obviously intense competition, uncertain global economic
conditions and disruptive technologies. But when you contrast
this with the current global pandemic, which is unprecedented,
and it's set to bring forth one of the worst and most challenging
economic outcomes since the 1930s, what value can the profession
continue to create, if at all? 


 


Jeff: (06:48)


Well, I think this is an opportunity actually, and a challenge,
for the CFO, the CFO team to shine. This is happening at Ima with
our CFO, Doreen Remmen, happening around the world. You know, in
times of stress and disruption and grave grave challenges,
whether it's a world health pandemic that started out as an
outbreak, then became an epidemic and then a global pandemic that
shut down essentially has shut down the world in many, many ways,
very tragically. That of course that has dire and direct economic
implications. The opportunity for the CFO, CFOs around the world
are rising to is, you know, we rely on our CFO and the CFO team
to enable and create strong balance sheets, strong working
capital, liquidity options, sources and strong liquidity in
general. You know, their day to day work, which sometimes doesn't
get recognized, creating budgets and a cash position and sound
investments and a pathway to the future. Sometimes that day to
day work is not necessarily recognized, but in a global pandemic
where you have to rely on your balance sheet, your cash position
to, see you through the rough spots so that you come out of it
stronger. CFOs typically have direct or indirect responsibility
today or operations strategy, even human resources. So you think
about, all that we can and should be...