Finance professionals must adopt AI as a 'co-pilot', urges ACCA chief
Hyderabad: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) convened a high-impact conference on Monday titled “AI-Ready, Future-Confident: Empowering Finance Talent for a World of Constant Change.” The event successfully brought together industry leaders, academics, and finance professionals to deliberate on the critical integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the global financial ecosystem.
In her welcome remarks, Althea Lee, Education Partner Relationships Lead (South), emphasised the importance of academic-professional collaborations. Md Sajid Khan, Director – India, ACCA, reaffirmed ACCA’s commitment in his opening address to equipping members with the foresight and skills essential for success in an AI-driven economy.
Delivering the keynote address, Helen Brand, Chief Executive, ACCA, set the tone for the day. She urged finance professionals to embrace AI as a co-pilot that automates routine tasks, thereby enabling them to focus on strategic advisory roles. She stressed the non-negotiable need for superior skills in data interpretation, ethical governance, and strategic foresight to maximiseorganisational value creation.
A panel discussion moderated by Sajid Khan offered diverse insights. Brand reiterated the irreplaceable value of human judgment, scepticism, and creativity. Prof Sanjay Kallapur of the Indian School of Business highlighted how business schools are shifting their focus towards critical thinking and advanced data storytelling. Rakesh Almai, Head of Talent Acquisition at ZF Group, noted that industry recruitment increasingly favours candidates proficient in data visualisation and analytical decision-making, reflecting the growing demand for AI-driven financial insights.
The conference concluded with a consensus that the future of finance lies in human-machine collaboration, where AI acts as an enabler while humans retain strategic and ethical oversight. Upskilling in analytics, data science, and responsible AI deployment was deemed essential. The ethos of ACCA’s “Think Ahead” was reinforced, underscoring integrity, judgment, and leadership as core attributes in an increasingly automated world. Prabhanshu Mittal and Royston Ebenezer of ACCA India presented a vote of thanks to the participants.
