An article posted June 22, 2022, webpage of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board reports on the findings of the fourth Market Scan from the IAASB's Disruptive Technology team. Market Scans mainly consist of exploring exciting trends, including new developments, corporate and start-up innovation, noteworthy investments and what it all might mean for the IAASB.

According to June 16, 2022, article written by Jim Dunham for accountinWEB, this past tax season in the US, threat actors carried out over 100 attempts to attack accounting professionals via email. “The size of your firm does not make you immune,” he says, “cybercriminals target firms of all sizes to drive their own monetary gains.”

Dunham suggests several key steps your firm can take today to help prevent and stay ahead of the most common cybersecurity threats.

According to an article in in ZDNet, written by Vala Afshar and posted June 22, 2022, recent research from Salesforce and Vanson Bourne shows that, while demand for automation has surged, existing architectures are slowing progress, and 80% of organizations are concerned about supporting automation programs. To understand how IT is approaching these automation demands and challenges, Salesforce commissioned a global survey of 600 CIOs and IT decision-makers. 

A June 21, 2022, article by Patrick Gray in TechRepublic points out that a shifting economy and lingering effects from the pandemic have triggered newfound interest in old-fashioned enterprise systems. Although “today’s tech leaders might regard Enterprise Resource Planning software and tools like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite and others as digital relics,” he writes, “at many companies, these systems serve as critical barometers of company performance, and they provide both a measuring stick and a means to control costs in areas like the supply chain and accounts payable.

An article in The Data Administration Newsletter, posted June 15, 2022, says that what the pandemic has done, for many, is highlight a need to future-proof their data environment from future disruptions. With more data flowing into businesses and a greater need to automate processes and maximize impact, these are the data trends that will define 2022.

The Need for External Data will Drive Increased Adoption of Data Catalogs: There are a few major data catalog providers, and their platforms are increasingly touted as a necessary component of a modern tech stack. Data-driven organizations (or those that aspire to be) are looking for solutions that let them discover, manage metadata, and supervise access from a single control panel. What’s unclear, however, is how organizations are managing the flow of external data into their centralized catalog environment.

When the Canadian Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators (Joint Forum) held its annual meeting on June 15, 2022, it learned that key stakeholders want enhanced cost disclosure reporting requirements for investment funds and segregated funds.

According to a June 20, 2022 press release from the Canadian Security Regulators, the Joint Forum brings together members of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR), the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) and representatives from the Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO), as well as from the Mortgage Broker Regulators’ Council of Canada (MBRCC).

In a lengthy speech delivered to the “Regulatory Transparency Project Conference on Regulating the New Crypto Ecosystem: Necessary Regulation or Crippling Future Innovation?” June 15, 2022, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce said that “Watching the SEC refuse over the past four years to engage productively with crypto users and developers has prompted feelings of disbelief at the SEC’s puzzling, out-of-character approach to regulation. The Commission, of course, occasionally has explained its actions—or inaction—but those explanations often have been confusing, unhelpful, and inconsistent. I have communicated my discomfort with the Commission’s behavior to my colleagues and the public, though the results to date seem to be underwhelming: the agency continues to brush off crypto products and services seemingly without consideration for the consequences. A concrete example, and the one on which I will dwell for a few minutes today, is the Commission’s persistent refusal to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded product.”

“Technology. This simple word is the key to opening the floodgates of a once boring and outdated profession to an attractive, efficient and opportunistic job.” So says John McGowan in a June 14, 2022 post on CPA Practice Advisor.

As is well known, the current job market has made it extremely difficult to attract and retain talent, and the tax and accounting profession is being hit harder than most. Yes, McGowan agrees, “turnover at accounting firms has been an ongoing issue over the last decade, but the Great Resignation has really thrown a wrench in the hiring process, which calls for nontraditional solutions and creative measures – both of which the profession historically lacks. Compensation has become so competitive everywhere that it is difficult for it to be a differentiator for firms. Candidates expect more.”

On June 15, 2022, Canada’s accounting standard  setters announced that “as the pace of progress in sustainability disclosures continues to accelerate, this week the Accounting Standards Oversight Council (AcSOC) and Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council (AASOC) mutually approved the formation of the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB).”

 Marking its 11th annual edition, Deloitte’s 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey – which covered 14,808 Gen Zs and 8,412 millennials across 46 countries – found Gen Zs and millennials navigating a very uncertain time.

The introduction to the report points out that the world was in the midst of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, just as vaccines were starting to roll out. “It had been a difficult year, but the survey revealed that Gen Zs and millennials were determined to create a better post-pandemic world. Fast forward to 2022 and, unfortunately, economic conditions and quality of life have deteriorated in many parts of the world.