Technology: A Strategic Opportunity to Strengthen the Accountancy Profession

Olivia Kirtley | August 23, 2016

Emerging technology, and the challenges it brings to organizations and industries, presents many possibilities for the accountancy profession, according to IFAC President Olivia Kirtley. Over the coming years, we are going to need to adapt to technological disruption, harness artificial intelligence, and provide guidance on cybersecurity, and help our clients do the same.

Thumbnail

Olivia Kirtley

Past President, IFAC

Olivia Kirtley CPA, CGMA, became president of the IFAC Board in November 2014. She previously served as deputy president from 2012 to 2014 and was first elected to the Board in November 2007. Ms. Kirtley also served on the independent IFAC Task Force on Rebuilding Public Confidence in Financial Reporting in 2002 and 2003. Ms. Kirtley is a business consultant on strategic, risk, and governance issues. She is also a non-executive director of three public companies - U.S. Bancorp, Papa John's International, Inc., and ResCare, Inc. Ms. Kirtley spent the first decade of her career with Ernst & Ernst/Ernst & Whinney (now EY) in both audit and tax. In 1998, Ms. Kirtley was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).