By 
By Ijeoma Anadozie, Associate Director – Nigeria, at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, representing AICPA & CIMA.
Operating in today’s financial environment can be challenging. The connected nature of our global market means few businesses — whether a small company or an international organisation — go untouched by worldwide political, climate and economic threats.
But there is a quality you can cultivate to help you weather crises: resilience.
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Organisations cultivating resilience in their teams can reduce the effects of major disruption events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. But resilience provides more than just threat management; if prepared, resilient companies can benefit from disruption.
At The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants® (CIMA®), accounting and finance professionals know how to be innovative and enhance business performance, even in the face of disruption.
Organisational resilience starts with people
Hiring staff to match your company’s specific short- and long-term business needs can bolster resilience.
Addressing the skills gaps of current staff, particularly in digital competencies, is central to constructing resilience.
Aside from skilling your employees, business leaders know that organisational strength also hinges on caring for the health of your staff.
Companies are only as resilient as their workforces. If your employees are trained correctly, have their needs listened to and handle reasonable workloads, business stressors are less likely to hinder business performance.
Using data to inform your decisions
Management accountants analyse data to inform strategic decision-making and build organisational resilience. With clear information, business leaders can propel growth opportunities and mitigate risks.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting complements financial data and offers businesses better depth and variety of data.
In line with President Buhari’s sustainability focus on items such as the 2020 Company and Allied Matters Act and the Nigerian Sustainable Finance Principles 2021, ESG reporting is introducing new considerations affecting business success.
To feel secure amid change, businesses must be able to quantify their strengths — management accountants have the skills to use data to measure the results of initiatives to build resilience.
Choosing the right technology
Management accountants drive resilience by stress testing digital solutions to ensure safe and effective use. Selecting the right technology and maximising its potential are fundamental pillars of your organisation’s ability to recover from disruption.
As an example, you can use tailored solutions to better allocate valuable staff resources by automating repetitive manual tasks.
Equipped with the right tools, and with the right advice, you can learn to target technology toward streamlining and enhancing business operations.
Increasing productivity
Building productivity is among the top priorities for business leaders and management accountants.
Higher productivity enhances quality of service and boosts staff morale.
Focusing on productivity can promote efficient processes and eliminate redundancy, strengthening a company’s resilience by saving time, labour, and resources, and maximising output.
Pre-pandemic business practices may no longer be the most profitable routes for organisations. To adapt, leadership teams often require or include trusted and knowledgeable advisers, such as management accountants, to revise their business strategy and shape their company for the future.
Although global disruptions are difficult to anticipate, cultivating resilience throughout your organisation will help you weather their impacts.
As the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants® representing AICPA® & CIMA, we are dedicated to advancing the global accounting and finance profession through our work on behalf of 689,000 AICPA and CIMA members, students and engaged professionals in 196 countries and territories. Learn more about CIMA and the benefits of achieving the Chartered Global Management Accountant® (CGMA®) designation.
