As the global accountancy profession began adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, IFAC (the International Federation of Accountants) convened a series of roundtable discussions to understand the implications of the pandemic for professional accountants and leaders, and how their experiences will affect the future of accountancy and accountancy skills.

Today, IFAC published a summary of these findings, Accountancy Skills Evolution: Impact of COVID-19 & the Path Forward. This whitepaper outlines the key themes our stakeholders shared, including accelerated ways of working, impact of technology, practices that align to new societal demands, and the right balance of skills, which collectively illustrate a roadmap for the professional accountant.

The roundtable discussions and emerging themes also influenced the structure and content of the upcoming virtual global summit, The Anticipatory Accountant: Global Trends Transforming Learning & Development. The summit, which features world-renowned futurist Daniel Burrus and special guest Tom Hood, continues these conversations and focuses on three broad themes: technology, the environment, and society.

This is the eleventh installment of a 12-month publication series titled Exploring the IESBA Code. This installment addresses bias and the role and mindset of the professional accountant. 

To view all installments of Exploring the IESBA Code, visit the series landing page here.

For more information about the Code, click here.

Fabrizio Mocavini is Head of Unit in the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), State General Accounting Department, dealing with research in the field of performance measurement, public sector internal financial control, and accounting standards. On these matters, he carries out relations with other countries and with international organizations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the EU.

Mr. Mocavini has been a project leader and technical expert on various EU projects in the fields of budget management, financial control, and public accounting with the Ministries of Finance of Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Turkey where he has had the opportunity to promote and support the IPSAS adoption.

Recently, he coordinated EU projects aimed at adopting an action plan and a set of accrual accounting standards for the 2025 implementation of accrual-based accounting and IPSAS/EPSAS in Italy.

Currently he is Head of Technical Staff of the Italian MEF Standard Setter Board established for the implementation of the accrual accounting based on IPSAS/EPSAS.

He is the Italian representative on the Eurostat European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) Working Group for public accounting standards implementation.

Mr. Mocavini has a degree in economics from Sapienza – Università di Roma and is a chartered accountant. He is also an Auditor of public sector entities and private companies owned by Italian public local governments.

Together with ICAEW, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) today released the second installment in its Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics educational series: Installment 2: A Risk-Based Approach.  

The publication is part of a 6-month short series helping professional accountants enhance their understanding of how money laundering works, the risks they face, and what they can do to mitigate these risks and make a positive contribution to the public interest.

The first installment in the series provided a general overview of AML, including a definition of money laundering and an analysis of key concepts professional accountants must understand.  

The installment series, with its focus on accessibility and ease of use, will be a resource for Small and Medium Practices (SMPs,) and accountants less familiar with AML, while also providing guidance for those looking for a quick refresher or reference.

Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics will be featured on both the IFAC and ICAEW websites and available for download for free. To be globally relevant, the series uses the risk-based approach of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog -- as a starting point. 

For more information about IFAC, visit www.ifac.org.

For more information about ICAEW, visit https://www.icaew.com/.