Finance professionals have a vital role to play to make organisations stronger and more resilient in light of the coronavirus pandemic said new President of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Nick Jackson.
Jackson acknowledged the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the world, pushing economies and businesses to their limit.
“Although events like COVID-19 are thankfully rare on a global scale, they do present an opportunity to make positive changes. We must be leaders in showing that change is not something to be afraid of.
“We can collectively do more. We should take this chance to reimagine what finance provides and how we work.”
“It’s a time: to build trust, to take responsibility and to grasp this opportunity to deliver broader stakeholder benefits, that takes account of social, environmental and economic value.”
Jackson emphasised that finance professionals need to be agents of change and lead their organisation towards the adoption of more sustainable, responsible business practices.
“We have to move beyond simply providing insight to the numbers, to bringing more value through recommendations and follow-up action. We need to recognise that the success of a business as exemplified by the figures on a balance-sheet, have many other elements - tangible and intangible.
“Organisations’ operating models are made up of people, processes, and supply chains. They exist in increasingly dynamic environments, and are, of course, answerable to a much broader audience of customers, suppliers and wider society.
“I want to see us, as a profession broaden our perspective from a focus on shareholder value, to engage with the idea of stakeholders and their different definitions of ‘value’.”
Jackson, an experienced digital transformation leader, was elected to the one-year volunteer post by CIMA members at the Institute’s first-ever virtual annual general meeting. Hewill also serve asVice-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association), the global accounting organisation formed by CIMA and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) representing over 650,000 accountants worldwide. Jackson first became a CIMA member in 1992 and obtained his fellowship in 2008. Throughout his career, he has had strong interest in financial management and performance improvement, working across a number of industries for both public and private organisations such as HM Treasury, EY, Capgemini, UK Ministry of Justice and Ofsted. He currently works for the software technology company Oracle, which he joined in 2016. Other appointments ratified at the CIMA Annual General Meeting are: Deputy President, Paul Ash and Vice President, Melanie Kanaka.
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