Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) has called for the overhaul of the finance training curriculum to reflect current technological influences.
Elumelu in his paper titled: “The Future of Finance – Technology at Play,” at the Faculty of Management Sciences, Lagos State University (LASU) said it was not enough for tertiary institutions to train students in the techniques of traditional accounting without exposing them to realities of technological influences on accounting practice.
He was represented by UBA executive director in charge of Lagos West, Ayoku Liadi at the session.
"The academia needs to graduate from imparting traditional technical accounting and finance skills to embracing modern technologies in the delivery of both technical and soft skills needed to build a global finance professional of the future.
“I am not certain if the finance and accounting graduates of today are familiar with modern financial software packages, including global accounting and financial reporting standards.
‘’Have they been imbued with ready-to-market soft skills like leadership, communication, commercial acumen, flexibility/openness to change and strategic vision?
“If not, I will like to propose an overhaul of the curriculum to accommodate these. The academia should go beyond churning out finance and accounting graduates on a yearly basis to building ready-to-market finance professionals thoroughly equipped for modern finance functions.”
Elumelu, who is also the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation, which supports entrepreneurship startups across Africa, said with technology replacing basic financing, the finance professional that would excel in the future must be quick to retool and adapt to changes.
“Traditional knowledge of finance is getting stale in today’s business world and indeed there is a dire need for retooling our skills if we must remain relevant n tomorrow’s financial world. Technology is fast replacing the basics of finance.
‘’Financial reporting is increasingly being automated, just as data analytics is demystifying performance analysis. Tomorrow’s finance professionals must have capabilities for business intelligence and cognitive analysis.
‘’We must apprise ourselves of the most recent technology and continue to retool our skills to remain relevant today and into the future,” he said.
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