Dear President Șova, Dear President Gil,
Dear friends from CECCAR, distinguished guests,
Thank you for the opportunity to address your 22nd Congress of the Romanian Accounting Profession, celebrating 97 years of your profession’s history: this is a great achievement!
As this congress celebrates both the past and future, it suits Accountancy Europe’s relationship with CECCAR very well. Together we look forward at the challenges and the opportunities ahead and we work together to make the most of this.
22 year ago, CECCAR joined the Accountancy Europe family and in 2010 your full membership became official. We greatly appreciate your continuous engagement on the international and European stage.
I would also like to thank Florin Toma for his relentless dedication in representing the Romanian profession within Accountancy Europe for over 15 years. It has been a pleasure to work with him in our Board for the past 4 years and I wish him well in running for the position of Accountancy Europe Deputy President starting in 2019, if elected this will result in the 2021-2022 Presidency.
Florin is also a well-versed advocate of the SME perspective, which is a matter close to my heart as an SME practitioner for the past 40 years. On the topic of your conference, it’s relevant that digitalisation hugely impacts the accountancy profession, not in the distant future, but now. Some may see automation and artificial intelligence as a risk: I think of it as an opportunity also for smaller firms.
Computers will help us analyse vast amounts of data, automate repetitive work, and facilitate communication with our clients, but the human element remains essential. Our profession is not just about numbers. It’s about building trust in society, providing professional judgement beyond technical expertise, and promoting strong ethical principles, which is something computers cannot do without us. Let’s embrace change and use technology as a tool to provide better services to our clients.
Congratulations once again to your forward-looking and internationally oriented profession, I wish you an inspiring conference.
