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...