Our main interview this month features Victoria Gillespie FCCA, who as head of sustainability solutions at Alter Domus is in her comfort zone in a crowded, complex and confusing landscape. A part of her firm’s offering is to help clients exploit technology so they can address complexity such as regulation around ESG and sustainability. ‘If you can use AI to consider the materiality of what that means for an organisation or a portfolio, it can be a powerful tool,’ says Gillespie. Find out more.
While the government turned out not to impose further tax measures in its Spring Statement, businesses continue to feel under significant pressure. Not helping their financial woes is additional concern for the talent pipeline in the light of government plans to change the way it offers apprenticeships. The profession has benefitted significantly from the government’s Level-seven (L7) accounting apprenticeships, and ACCA members are holding out hope that there may be ringfencing of the schemes for the professions and sectors with the keenest skills shortages. Read our coverage.
Meanwhile, government plans to overhaul local authority audits have received broad support. There are concerns, though, as to whether or not the measures will in fact address the deep-rooted structural challenges facing the sector.
Finally, we hear how introverted leaders can boost an organisation’s performance by being more reflective and better at listening than their extrovert peers. By acknowledging they alone don’t have all the answers and showing they want input from others, ‘quiet leaders’ create space for others to share their expertise and help develop a high-performance culture where innovation thrives and employee engagement increases.
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