The Accountant's Carlos Martin Tornero and Vincent Huck interview industry leaders about key issues facing the profession, encompassing transparency, public sector financial management reform, MINTs, 'hot' Southeast Asia, management accounting and the ongoing regulation debate. 

The World Survey starts this year in a Central London café, where we met Warren Allen, currently presiding over the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). As IFAC president, Allen is globetrotting the world, London being a brief stop between meetings in New York and Australia.

"This is an exciting profession. We quote 2.5 million professional accountants under IFAC membership and there are not enough of us," Allen says, taking a sip of his cappuccino.

IFAC membership could expand this year with new countries, six candidates from around the world whose identity Allen would not reveal at this stage. The accountancy profession has attained global status, and what affects international mainstream economics affects accountants too.

Accountants, especially in the West, have felt the impact of the economic crisis in the past few years. At times it looked like they had lost public trust and that their relevance in the global economy was put into question. But as the tide of the economic recession recedes and economic recovery starts to be a reality again, accountants look at playing a major role in the economy and regaining public confidence.

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