The last accounting forum was held on 23 of July 2020. The theme of this event is Relevance of Accounting in Digital World by Dr. Angela Liew from University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand. The moderator for the event is Fuad, Ph.D. There were more than 900 unique registrations were received for the event despite the fact that only less than 60% subsequently attended the event and filled up and passed the post test that we conducted to minimize the presence of free riders in our accounting forum series. Since the event was free and open for public, it was mostly attended by practitioners, students and lecturers from other universities.
Opening remarks were given by by Prof. Dr. Suharnomo (Dean, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Diponegoro) and Pujiharto, Ph.D. (Head of Indonesian Institute of Accountants, Compartment of Accounting Educators, Central Java)
Indeed, the event was thought provoking. Dr Liew brilliantly challenged the comfortable zones faced by accounting academia. She maintained that there is a great shift in accounting profession. She argued that accounting is no longer just a job, but a role that is widening. Thus, Future accountants may no longer needed to do accounting jobs. She also insisting on the possibility that accounting might no longer require expertise of accountants. Accounting competencies in a digital world, she emphasized, not only need accounting, technical and business skills, but above all, digital and data analysis skills should be put forth. She also maintained that leadership and people skills are also important in preparing the students to face the fourth industrial revolution. However, it does not necessarily mean that accounting students should be grasping all the competencies in other domains (e.g. information systems, computer, etc), but they should be able to learn the important IT concepts and figuring out ways to seek opportunities in automatic, robotic accounting and business systems that is happening. Most importantly, students’ life-long learning capacity should be embedded in the curriculum so they can adjust well for any disruptive technology and changes that occurs rapidly.
Next accounting forum will be held on Mid August 2020 on Audit and Data analytics, that will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Tarmizi Achmad, CA., CPA (Professor of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Diponegoro). and Mr. Tarko Sunaryo, MBA., CPA (Director of Indonesian Institute of Certified Public Accountants)