In these difficult moments, our clients look to us to go beyond the everyday technicalities of tax, annual reporting and audit (important though they are). As trusted advisors, clients need UHY member firm guidance to help them meet the challenges of a new and unpredictable era.

Helping create a more sustainable world

What might those challenges be? Most obviously, businesses worldwide are prioritising sustainability, as customers, employees, investors and regulators demand they do more to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Sustainability reporting is becoming an increasingly integral part of the annual reporting cycle, and businesses are looking to accountants to help them gather and present the evidence in a clear and insightful way.

More UHY member firms around the world are meeting this need, by offering environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and compliance services alongside more traditional financial reporting. In doing so, they are becoming trusted business advisors to their clients as well as technical accountants and tax advisors.

Not only are many UHY firms delivering non-financial reporting, but they are also adding value by scanning the regulatory landscape and keeping abreast of a rapidly evolving ESG environment, so their clients can focus on other things.

Clearing the path to cross-border success

In a globalised world, businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions are facing new challenges around compliance and regulation that go beyond sustainability and ESG. They include contrasting cross-border tax treatments and a shifting backdrop of trade tariffs and sanctions. 

Again, accountants offer a much-valued service in an increasingly complex world. The need for expertise in international tax laws, transfer pricing and cross border financial regulations is growing. Accountancy firms that offer this expertise will always be in great demand.

Staying on the right side of local laws and regulations is essential in every jurisdiction that a business operates in. Non-compliant businesses face both financial penalties and the possibility of serious reputational damage.

As governments and financial bodies worldwide introduce ever-more stringent accounting and tax regulations, accountants need to be able to offer specialised compliance and risk management services, helping companies navigate complex regulatory landscapes.

In this, UHY is well placed to support clients in their ambitions. One benefit of UHY’s global network is its combination of local knowledge and international outlook. Member firms work together to help clients remain compliant across national and continental borders.

The promise of technology

Accountancy is an increasingly digital business, with forward-looking firms embracing technologies such as automation, AI and blockchain to reduce manual tasks and increase efficiency. 

In our own network, firms are taking this one step further, and offering technology advisory services to clients that add strategic value beyond traditional accounting services. For example, while every business wants to adopt AI to some degree or other, many are not sure how it can be moulded to the needs of their organisation. Accountants with the necessary experience can step in to fill the gap.

This is an era ripe with risk but also with opportunity. For our clients, accountants offer the path to safer, more sustainable and more compliant business. We reduce their risk, and our wide experience can guide their cross-border operations and help them adopt technology securely and efficiently. We may not be superheroes, but we do have the right skills at the right time.

Picture credits
Turbines: Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash
Meeting: Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
Technology: Photo by metamorworks on Shutterstock