Lucky urges accountants to remain relevant

HIGH Court Gillian Lucky has challenged members of the accounting and financial profession to reinvent themselves and enter new frontiers if they are to remain relevant in today’s high technology world. Lucky made the appeal to the 8th Annual International Finance & Accounting Conference hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of TT (ICATT) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel recently.In a highly entertaining presentation titled “#Connect – Stories from the Key of Life”, Lucky, the final presenter, brought the two-day conference to a fitting climax as she engaged participants in a highly inter-active conversation, receiving a standing ovation with a two-verse calypso finale which summarised the theme of her discourse.

Urging the accountants to “reinvent yourself and enter new frontiers”, the High Court judge said that they would remain relevant even with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the great changes taking place in this current era of technology. “How many of you have reinvented yourself in the last five years? How many of you couldn’t care to reinvent yourself?” she asked.

With the theme “#New Frontiers: #Imagine #Connect”, the two-day ICATT conference attracted finance and accounting professionals from both the private and public sectors, and examined the path ahead for the profession and the social as well as economic environment in which it operates as a consequence of leaps in technology that are enabling as well as challenging. Experts in finance and accounting and captains of industry made presentations relevant to the overall theme.

Lucky told participants that they needed not only to re-invent themselves but to adjust to the times to remain relevant. “It means you can change your job or the way you look and behave so that you feel very different. With AI all around us, we have to raise ourselves a notch. You must always recognise that change is exciting. Change gives you the opportunity to dig deep and find what makes you relevant. If you don’t want people to get rid of you, in your job, in your profession, stay relevant,” Lucky said.

Citing an example of relevance, Lucky played a clip from the movie “Hidden Figures” which featured women of African descent working as mathematicians at NASA during the space age race with the Soviet Union. Despite facing racism and other challenges, the women persevered and remained true to the cause due to their patriotism and professionalism. They performed all the high-tech work without recognition but still remained relevant.

On the creation and growth of artificial intelligence, Lucky said she did not see AI as a treat. “AI is something we have to work with but we have to know who is in charge. What we have going for us is emotional intelligence, which demonstrates empathy, compassion, motivation and other values. We cannot get rid of robots and AI; they are here to stay. What we have to do is work hand-in-hand with AI. Use the robots to do the humdrum so we can become better people. We do the humanitarian work,” she advised.

Lucky called on the accounting professionals to demonstrate objectivity, integrity, confidentiality, professional compliance and due care in whatever they do. “As an accountant, if you encounter something illegal, then you should report it. Your over-riding duty must be upholding of the law. Some defence attorneys say their responsibility is to their clients, not to the court or law. I oppose this view. Accountability to the court and the law is paramount. Always remember that an accountant’s integrity is a prized quality. Demonstrating integrity and competence is not hiding information or cooking the books,” she declared.

The High Court judge expanded on that vein: “Whatever job you do, you ought to be straightforward and honest in all your professional and business relationships. There is an underlying guideline that you behave with integrity and honesty. Your over-riding duty is not to your client. It is to the law.”