New tech, economic environment pose challenges: Official

EMERGING technologies and the ever-changing economic environment are among challenges that accountants are facing, according to the Certified Practicing Accounts (CPA) Australia.
PNG president Ronesh Dayal said this during the opening of the CPA PNG and Australia 25th annual conference in Port Moresby last Thursday.
He said the theme “managing the disruption: financial impact and economic downturn” highlighted the vital role that accountants played in accounting and finance to support businesses in their road to recovery.
Dayal, the BSP Group chief financial officer, said the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic had affected the conference schedule, which was not held last year.
“However, Covid-19 is not the only cause of disruption in our profession,” he said.
“Automation and artificial intelligence, digital currencies, emerging technologies and the ever-changing economic environment also pose challenges to the profession.
“All of these factors will continue to transform the profession and we, in turn, need to be able to continually upgrade and transform ourselves, to keep up to these changes, and grasp the opportunities that come with the challenges.” BSP has been supporting the event since 1992 with over K1 million in sponsorship.
“This year, BSP is proud to be supporting the CPA PNG annual conference again with K50,000 for three conferences held in June, August and November in Kokopo, Lae and Port Moresby respectively,” Dayal said.
BSP has over 100 certified practicing accountants.