Shaping Business and Performance

Key Insights from the PAIB Advisory Group’s Meeting in Tokyo

In a world marked by volatility, complexity, and a mounting trust deficit, the need for bold, ethical, and future-fit leadership has never been greater. The accountancy profession - despite its ubiquity and critical role at the heart of business, public services, and financial systems - remains under-leveraged, often misunderstood and facing disruption to its business model, identity, and appeal. While the business world turns to innovation, purpose, and performance, the profession must now reclaim its identity as a catalyst for trust, sustainability, and navigation of complexity to deliver long-term value creation.

That is the opportunity we must seize. It is precisely what we confronted at the recent meeting of IFAC’s Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Advisory Group, hosted by the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA) in Tokyo. With members and guests participating from across the globe, the meeting served as a platform for strategic dialogue on how accountants can help shape the future of business and unlock their full impact. During this engaging two-day meeting we explored and challenged one another on some of the most pressing and fast-evolving priorities facing both business and the profession.

In a rapidly emerging new world order, defined by increasing geopolitical tensions, shifting trade policies, accelerating technological disruption, and growing climate and sustainability pressures, businesses are dealing with unprecedented complexity. ACCA’s Chief Economist, Jonathan Ashworth, provided a global economic overview and a cautiously optimistic forecast for 2025, marked by modest growth and persistent uncertainties.

In our regional breakout discussions, it was clear that there are different perspectives and priorities in dealing with global developments on tariffs, trade, energy, security, AI, and regulation. But in an increasingly fragmented world, the profession has a key role in maintaining global connectivity, and is vital in shaping sustainable, inclusive, and resilient organizations and economies. Accountants must guide organizations through uncertainty with strategic foresight, scenario planning, adaptability, and a deep understanding of emerging regional and global dynamics.

Four themes emerged on how we need to be proactive to position accountants at the forefront of business transformation:

Four colored boxes with the four themes that emerged from the PAIB Tokyo meeting

1. Reframe the profession’s identity and value

Outdated perceptions of accountants as scorekeepers do not reflect the varied and impactful roles accountants perform in strategic and operational business partnerships. Across jurisdictions, a radical repositioning is needed, one that positions accountants with modern roles enhanced by AI and rooted in purpose, ethics, and value creation. This means updating imagery (ask ChatGPT to give you an image of an accountant – it’ll likely be a male in a suit and tie with glasses and a calculator), as well as language, including titles and career pathways (such as a shift from Chief Financial Officer to “Chief Value Officer”). Most accountants in business do not have ‘accountant’ in their job title! The profession must also better market itself as a launchpad for careers in business, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and leadership.

A compliance-driven mindset is giving way to new practices and approaches that drive decision making and performance including:

Advancing risk management and culture: In a volatile environment, a strong risk culture is essential. It equips organizations to respond quickly to emerging threats by embedding risk into decision-making, aligning behaviors with risk appetite, and fostering cross-functional awareness and leadership coordination. Risk culture is a strategic imperative. With growing pressure from regulators, investors, and society, organizations must move beyond static risk assessments toward a more responsive, dynamic, and embedded risk management approach. This means empowering people across the business to understand, own, and respond to risk in real time. Aligning risk reporting with effective risk management practices provides greater value to investors and organizations, ensuring that disclosure is not just a compliance exercise divorced from the reality of the business. READ MORE: Advancing Risk Management and Culture: Connecting Disclosure to Strategic Decision-Making

A pullout quote from the article explaining the importance of integrated thinking

Embedding integrated thinking and focusing on what matters. As sustainability reporting becomes mandatory in many jurisdictions, there is a growing risk that companies approach it with a compliance mindset. However, integrated thinking remains essential for meaningful disclosure, linking sustainability risks and opportunities to long-term value. Organizations must start by focusing on the issues and risks that truly matter to their business, using this as the basis for strategy and, in turn, reporting. This means applying integrated thinking, which requires integrated governance, controls, reporting, and assurance. Integrated thinking is the foundation for navigating today’s complex business environment. It enables companies to respond to constant real-world and regulatory change with clarity and purpose, while providing investors with meaningful insights into the true drivers of value and risk.

Japan is a leading example of how integrated governance and reporting can drive sustainable corporate growth. Through reforms such as its corporate governance and investor stewardship codes, Japan encourages long-term value creation, board accountability, and active investor engagement. Over 1,000 companies now publish integrated reports, many using the International Integrated Reporting Framework. With the rollout of new sustainability disclosure standards aligned with the ISSB global baseline, Japan is embedding sustainability into corporate decision-making and positioning its companies for global comparability, assurance, and investor confidence. These developments are also driving changes to CFO roles to be more focused on strategies for capital allocation and efficiency and the drivers of corporate value in the medium and long term.

Case Study: Transforming Government Finance in the UK Civil Service

The UK Government Finance Function (GFF) offers a compelling example of public sector finance transformation. The shift to a functional model redefined finance as a strategic enabler rather than a back-office function. Moving beyond traditional accounting, the GFF now encompasses financial planning, risk management, shared services, centres of excellence, and finance insight and analysis.

Central to the reform was the vision of placing finance at the heart of decision-making with the tagline "driving the agenda, not just keeping score". This was backed by a clear strategy: getting the basics right, building people and capability, operating effectively, and positioning finance as a trusted business partner. A structured operating model was introduced, layered across shared services, expert services, and business partnering.

Capacity building was prioritized through job role redesigns, accessible qualifications, strong ties with professional bodies, and the launch of a finance graduate scheme.

Through collaboration, clear vision, and aligned leadership, the UK Civil Service repositioned finance professionals as catalysts for better outcomes.

2. Leverage AI to Lead, Not Follow

AI is reshaping how businesses operate and how work gets done, with AI-empowered and tech-enabled finance and accounting professionals creating insight and value. The profession must shift from reacting to developments to proactive leadership in AI. AI is a systemic shift already transforming all roles and accountants are using AI in a variety of ways to deliver insights that elevate, not replace, their professional judgment.

To remain relevant, accountants must develop not only AI literacy but fluency. This means learning to utilize AI tools with purpose to enhance decisions, create impact, and build trust. The future-ready accountant is not waiting for change, they are designing it. And organizations must urgently empower them to do so. A key risk is not the AI itself, but the gap between accountants who use AI and those who don’t. AI represents a fundamental shift in workflows and business processes, which means it must be a core part of an accountant’s skillset, not something optional or add-on.

The reality is that AI is moving fast, and the profession cannot approach it with solely a compliance and control mindset. Accountants need practical, forward-looking support from the profession, including timely guidance, modernized learning pathways, and access to tools and networks that help them keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies and expectations.

Case Study: Fujitsu - Enabling Innovation

Kazuhiro Sakaguchi, Head of Finance Center of Expertise Division, Corporate Finance Unit, shared insights on how Fujitsu is driving a finance-led transformation to support its shift from a product-based to a services-oriented global IT company. The transformation is ongoing and rooted in deep structural, system, and mindset changes.

The vision for its finance team is to be value creation experts for sustainable growth of Fujitsu’s corporate value. It is enabling innovation by embedding digital tools, driving global integration, and building strategic capabilities. At the core of the transformation are three key pillars:

Center of Expertise (CoE): Professional service based on data, consolidating accounting, tax, and treasury to enhance governance, manage regulatory change, and provide expert support for M&A and strategic finance issues. It also plays a key role in linking financial and non-financial performance, including through AI-powered analysis.
Data driven FP&A: Accelerating future oriented data driven management. The FP&A team was restructured into a single integrated function, improving decision-making through standardized data, forward-looking insights, and closer collaboration with business leaders. Fujitsu is also rolling out a unified SAP S/4HANA system globally under its “One ERP” initiative to replace siloed, in-house systems and enable better automation, data consolidation, and AI applications.
Operational Excellence: Standardizing and improving operations across global shared services teams to improve efficiency, reduce manual work, and enable AI-driven automation. AI tools are being used for scenario modeling, cash forecasting, and even interpreting accounting standards.

Fujitsu’s approach highlights how finance can be a driver for organizational agility, digital transformation, and long-term value creation.

3. Embrace Modern Talent Models

Younger generations increasingly seek careers with purpose, flexibility, and innovation. ACCA’s latest research Global Talent Trends 2025 highlights growing interest in sustainability-related careers, rising entrepreneurial ambition and a side-hustle culture (as a way to earn extra income outside of a main job). In response to these trends, the profession needs to explore more flexible pathways, including enabling non-accountants to gain financial skills.

The PAIB Advisory Group identified the following suggestions to increase accessibility and flexibility:

Micro-credentials & modular pathways: Modular, stackable learning that allows individuals to build credentials incrementally, enabling entry from a variety of educational or professional backgrounds (school leavers, mid-career changers, etc.).
Flexible & tailored curriculum: Allow students to specialize (e.g., in sustainability or business advisory) without forcing mastery of all traditional subjects like tax or audit unless relevant to their role.
Internship and entrepreneurial training: Build in real-world exposure to operations, entrepreneurship, and AI tools so that students gain practical experience.
Global mobility and recognition: New thinking is needed on how to improve cross-border mobility for accountants. Borderless credibility is essential to growing a global and connected profession.
Preserve core values and skills with modern structure: While flexibility is key, it is important to retain foundational ethics, integrity, and core technical and analytical skills.

Panel discussion: From Entrepreneurship to Resilience - The Roles of Accountants in Business in the IPO Journey

Accountants play critical roles in supporting companies in every stage of the initial public offering (IPO) lifecycle. The IPO landscape in Japan, India, and the United States highlights how roles for professional accountants in business are evolving to support this complex process, defined by distinct market structures, governance expectations, and regulatory developments.

In Japan, where most IPOs emerge from a growth market, PAIBs help companies navigate a complex three-year preparation process. They are increasingly stepping in as CFOs, advisors, and board members to help strengthen internal controls, establish effective governance structures, and advance sustainability reporting as new disclosure requirements are introduced.

India’s IPO market was described as a rising powerhouse, with PAIBs playing critical roles. They serve as strategic partners in IPO preparedness, contributing to governance and compliance, risk management, internal assurance, financial reporting, and ultimately enhancing decision making and building investor confidence. Their expertise is crucial in navigating a dynamic regulatory environment, with strict rules on transparency and financial KPI disclosure.

Three people sitting at a panel discussion of the PAIB meeting in Tokyo 2025

In the United States, although IPO-bound firms often have established financial systems, accountants add unique value through their strategic, hands-on business experience. Their operational insights and risk management skills make them ideal candidates for board roles, particularly when fulfilling SEC-mandated “financial expert” requirements. As companies seek capital in high-risk, high-cost IPO environments, PAIBs can help bridge the gap between financial compliance and sustainable growth.

4. Grow Membership of Accountants in Business

Structural barriers in governance, qualification systems, and legislation continue to limit the growth of PAIB membership of PAOs in many jurisdictions. Expanding membership of accountants in business and the public sector needs to be a key strategic priority for the profession if it is to continue its growth and expand its influence. It’s not just about more accountants, but about accountants who are prepared for new and evolving roles. We’ve got to expand our profession, whether it is in size or relevance, both are critical.

Case study: Broadening the Role of CPAs in Japan

The JICPA is re-positioning itself in the face of demographic shifts, technological disruption, and expanding business needs. JICPA’s membership exceeds 40,000, however only 16% are women, and 8% are PAIBs. But a growing number of new entrants (average age 24) who begin their careers as auditors quickly transition into business roles.

A man standing and speaking at a JICPA event

A key challenge under Japan’s CPA Act is that PAIB roles such as corporate finance, strategy, or sustainability reporting fall outside the legal scope of CPA work. This limits JICPA’s authority to oversee or discipline CPAs in these areas, and limits the recognition of PAIBs within the profession. Yet with more CPAs moving into business roles, particularly amid auditor attrition, the role of PAIBs is expanding beyond public practice.

JICPA is actively considering how to redefine professional competencies to include ethics, technology, communication, and sustainability. There is a strong call to embed these skills across the CPA career, from initial exams to CPD, and to reposition the profession around trust and societal impact in all economic sectors.

The path forward involves legal reform, curriculum change, and cultural shift.

Case study: Increasing PAIB Participation and Influence in the French Profession

To enhance the influence and visibility of PAIBs in the profession in France, an association of PAIBs (ECE) is advocating for more recognition and support for PAIBs through better visibility, tailored professional development, and institutional reforms.

Next Steps

To grow the profession, we must be bold. That means expanding the pipeline of accountants to reach beyond today’s 4 million, while also expanding the definition of what an accountant can be and where they can lead. We must position accountancy as a dynamic, high-impact career for the next generation: one that is rooted in ethics, fluent in technology, and influential in shaping sustainable businesses and public outcomes.

This journey requires moving beyond legacy models and embracing transformational, not incremental, change. It calls for deep collaboration across business, government, standard-setters, and education providers to reshape how the profession is perceived and what it delivers.

The PAIB Advisory Group will continue to lead this agenda, putting forward bold and actionable recommendations that expand the profession’s relevance, reach and influence in a rapidly changing world.