Insights

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in the July 2024 AFERM Newsletter. Integration, as it relates to the maturity of agencies’ Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programs, has been a hot topic recently. According to the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) Council and Performance Improvement Council (PIC), Playbook: Enterprise Risk Management in the U.S. Federal Government (ERM Playbook), “Successful integration of ERM into agencies’ day to day decision-making and management practices enables agencies to leverage opportunities and avoid, mitigate, and transfer risk, resulting in more resilient, effective, and efficient programs.”

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of the AGA Journal. It previews AGA’s 2023 IG and State Auditor Survey, which was sponsored by Kearney. The full Survey will publish in February 2024.

The world’s business environments are constantly changing, and technology gives today’s accountants a chance to break free from the confines of their traditional roles. Tomorrow’s accountants could be beacons for transformative change, resulting in positive impact for their organization and clients.

The emergence of conversational AI has heralded a new era in human-computer interaction, transcending the boundaries of what was once thought possible.

Innovation forces the workforce to grow and adapt, not only to meet changing legislation and emerging requirements, but also because leadership and accountants alike must take action to reskill current employees on applications and technologies to maintain relevancy. Innovation will continue to drive the future of the accountant’s position. Ultimately, the institutional and technical knowledge accountants hold will have to be harnessed to couple new technology appropriately and keep resources upskilled on day one.

With malicious actors becoming more sophisticated in exploiting various attack avenues, along with organizations adopting new technology to meet business needs, the attack surface has become exponentially larger. This makes it much more difficult to just defend organizational assets through a defense-in-depth approach.