Why better business planning can help us save the world The recent COP27 summit in Egypt has further reinforced the urgency of the climate threat. As countries, as organisations, and as individuals, we need to do far more to combat climate change, and act much faster than we’re acting today. I believe that finance professionals can play a crucial role in the collective effort to [...]
Welcome to the new world of work In 1771 a Lancastrian named Richard Arkwright opened the world’s first water-powered cotton spinning mill in Derbyshire. And not just that. To run his new-fangled factory he invented the pattern for the modern working week that has survived until today. The working day at Cromford Mill began at 6am and the shift ended at 6pm. [...]
Keeping entrepreneurial spirits high despite the economic challenges With the holiday season over and as we start the autumn term, many of us will have friends or family members either starting university, advancing their education and training, or entering the workforce for the first time.Emerging from a global pandemic, addressing an increasingly urgent climate crisis and facing an uncertain global economic and political [...]
SMEs put the buzz into business July 14, 2022 Micro-firms are the worker bees of the economy. They provide the thousand-and-one services that keep business going, contribute to the community, and help us keep our daily lives on track. They are the one-man bands; the partnerships, and the family businesses. They’re the people in the kiosk at the station serving your coffee in the [...]
Fintech and the accountancy profession May 19, 2022 The union of finance and technology as fintech has become pervasive, transforming how financial services are delivered and consumed. It’s a thriving sector with many diverse parts such as online-only or neobanks, peer-to-peer lending, payment gateways / application programming interfaces (APIs), investment banking back-end infrastructure, insurtech, wealthtech and regtech. And that’s before considering some frontier [...]
How accountancy can help advance the global economies of tomorrow April 14, 2022 Society’s expectations of business and governments have shifted with speed and intensity. This has been driven by the profound impacts of Covid-19, compounded by deeply alarming threats to peace and prosperity from the war in Ukraine and conflict elsewhere. The humanitarian cost is devastating, while economic growth, public debt and wellbeing have all been adversely [...]
Give women green jobs to accelerate the journey to net-zero March 10, 2022 International Women’s Day is a day we remember the immeasurable role women play in society. Sadly, this year, it comes at a time when the world is having to wade through even more unsettling and unchartered waters, while keeping our focus on working towards a more peaceful and sustainable future. The climate agenda is redefining [...]
SMEs need support February 10, 2022 Since April 2020, as the pandemic started to truly bite, we’ve been getting regular feedback from our UK members about the financial outlook of their SME clients through our monthly ACCA UK and Corporate Finance Network SME Recovery Tracker. The data provides an insightful picture of the ups and downs for SMEs. We’ve seen how [...]
Don’t forget smaller companies while you are thinking big November 11, 2021 While world leaders and sustainability champions have been thinking about big solutions to the climate crisis in Glasgow, we’ve been appealing to them to also Think Small. For every government and large corporate making pledges to reduce carbon consumption, there are hundreds of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in their supply chains. These smaller enterprises [...]
Ethics – the foundation for a better world October 21, 2021 This week has been a special one for us at ACCA. Wednesday was Global Ethics Day – an important occasion in the calendar that we celebrate annually as it aligns with our values. It’s a day where businesses and individuals can reflect and explore the meaning of ethics and their impact on life and society. [...]
