Contact Us

If you have any questions you would like to ask Chartered Accountants Worldwide, please contact us using the form on this page, or email us: info@charteredaccountantsworldwide.com

Chartered Accountants Worldwide on The Map

Be Social

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

Leadership Continuity and Global Connections: What’s Ahead for Chartered Accountants Worldwide

Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW) has announced an important milestone in its global leadership: Ainslie van Onselen has been reappointed as Chair for a further two-year term. The unanimous support of the CAW Board reflects strong confidence in her continued leadership and the progress made during her first term.

Ainslie made history in 2023 as the first woman—and the first representative from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ)—to take on the role. As CEO of CA ANZ since 2020, she has championed ethics, inclusion, digital transformation, and public-interest advocacy. Her renewed term promises continued momentum in sustainability leadership and in inspiring the next generation of Chartered Accountants.

Alongside this leadership news, CAW members can look forward to three major events on the horizon for 2026:

World Forum of Accountants (WOFA 2.0) – Hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants India from 30 January to 1 February 2026 in Greater Noida, this global gathering explores the theme “Nation Building to Global Collaboration: Strengthening Trust, Enabling Growth.” The event will spotlight ESG, digital transformation, and the evolving role of CAs in shaping global progress.

Chartered Accountants Ireland Annual Dinner – Returning in 2026, this flagship event brings together leaders and rising talent from across Ireland. Dates are still to be announced, but it remains a highlight for networking and celebrating the profession.

Sydney Burns Event – Hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland, this lively celebration blends Scottish culture with professional connection. Held at Dockside Group overlooking Sydney Harbour, the evening features traditional Scottish fare, the iconic Address to the Haggis, live music, and energetic ceilidh dancing.

Together, these events showcase the strength, diversity, and global reach of the Chartered Accountant community. For more details, visit charteredaccountantsworldwide.com.

Episode 22: Leadership Continuity and Global Connections

200

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

How Chartered Accountancy Institutes are equipping members for the age of Generative AI

Across the global accounting profession, one theme is becoming impossible to ignore: generative AI is no longer a future consideration—it’s a present-day competency. With more than 70% of chartered accountants already using AI tools in their work and 76% looking to integrate them further, professional bodies are stepping up to support their members in building confidence, capability, and ethical awareness in this rapidly evolving space.

Two recent initiatives highlight this shift: the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) with its new GenAI Accelerator Programme, and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) with its AI Fluency Playbook. Both aim to help accountants navigate generative AI—but each takes a distinct approach.

ICAEW’s GenAI Accelerator Programme

Launched in late summer 2025, ICAEW’s programme offers a structured, progressive learning path built around eight e-learning courses, each with modular content, video tutorials, interactive elements, and practical resources.

The curriculum ranges from foundational AI concepts to highly targeted applications including financial operations, compliance, governance, and strategic finance. Members earn digital badges as they progress and can accumulate up to eight hours of verifiable CPD. The programme was developed with GenFinance.AI, underscoring a focus on real-world finance use cases rather than theory alone.

Importantly, ICAEW has opened a limited number of discounted slots for members of other Chartered Accountants Worldwide bodies, extending access beyond its home base.

CA ANZ’s AI Fluency Playbook

Released in August 2025, CA ANZ’s Playbook serves as a practical, ongoing reference guide rather than a formal course. It features real case studies of firms using AI today, prompt templates, ethical guidance, and governance frameworks.

It also integrates with CA ANZ’s existing learning ecosystem, including its Certificate in AI Fluency, a six-week programme launched earlier in 2025. With capability assessments and AI-readiness tools, members can benchmark themselves and plan their development strategically.

Two Models, One Message

While the formats differ—ICAEW’s structured courses and digital badges versus CA ANZ’s flexible playbook and capability assessments—both initiatives send a unified message: AI literacy is now essential for professional relevance. They emphasize practical application, ethical awareness, and adaptability at a time when AI tools evolve faster than traditional training cycles.

The result is a growing global ecosystem of support for chartered accountants who want to confidently, responsibly, and strategically integrate generative AI into their work.

As the profession has done with spreadsheets, ERP systems, and cloud platforms, those who engage early with AI will be positioned at the forefront of the next chapter in accounting.

Episode 21: How our Institutes are equipping Chartered Accountants for the age of Generative AI

1300

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

In the newest episode of Chartered Accountants Global Update, we explore one of the most important topics facing the profession today: how chartered accountants can thrive—mentally, emotionally, and physically—in an increasingly demanding world.

This episode dives into highlights from the latest Difference Makers Discuss Live conversation with Brad Hook and Declan Scott, co-authors of the groundbreaking global resilience and well-being report for Chartered Accountants Worldwide.

Whether you’re newly qualified or have decades of experience, this is an essential listen.

The Surprising Strengths of Chartered Accountants

The global report uncovered something many people overlook: chartered accountants are, on the whole, curious, creative, and altruistic. As Brad Hook notes, finance professionals aren’t always recognised for these qualities—but they shine through clearly in the data.

The challenge?
We often fail to apply that same kindness and curiosity inward. The pressure to perform, deliver, and multitask can overshadow the strengths that make us exceptional.

A Profession in Transition

The accounting world has evolved dramatically. Today’s chartered accountant may work in practice, industry, technology, sustainability, entrepreneurship—you name it.

With this abundance of opportunity comes new pressures. This episode is a timely reminder that high performance is not about doing everything at once, but about doing the right things with clarity, rhythm, and intention.

Continue the Journey

Chartered Accountants Worldwide has created a dedicated well-being hub with practical tools and guidance to support members across the globe. A follow-up survey arrives in Q1 2026 to measure progress—and your participation will help shape future interventions.

Episode 20: Resilience, Well-Being & the Future of the Profession

811

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

In January 2025, we unveiled groundbreaking findings from our global well-being report, revealing both the remarkable strengths and critical challenges facing Chartered Accountants worldwide. Nearly 700 professionals shared their experiences, and the conversation sparked important dialogue across the profession.

Now, ten months later, Brad Hook, and Declan Scott return to examine what’s changed and what stayed the same.

What to Expect
This follow-up session will explore:
- Progress and setbacks: How has the profession responded to the January findings?
- Evolving challenges: What new pressures have emerged in 2025?
- Real-world impact: Success stories and lessons learned from firms implementing resilience strategies
- Practical next steps: Updated, evidence-based strategies for building sustainable well-being in your workplace

Difference Makers Discuss – Resilience and well-being in accountancy, what’s changed?

9740

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

Difference Makers Discuss – Resilience and well-being in accountancy, what’s changed?

4800

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

If you think ethics standards and well-being research sound dry, think again. The latest episode of Chartered Accountants Global Update packs the punch of a TED Talk, the immediacy of a news briefing, and the heart of a conversation we all need right now.
This episode delivers two powerful stories that hit at the core of the profession in 2025: how we build trust in a world of AI and climate claims, and how we rebuild ourselves in a culture that rewards burnout.

1. Ethics Isn’t Boring — It’s a Superpower
In conversation with Sinead Donovan, Carla Vijian of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants proves that ethics is anything but abstract.
Her career spans Malaysia, New Zealand, Sydney, London, and now New York — but it’s her audit mindset that ties it all together. When the rest of us read headlines, Carla sees the incentives, the assumptions, the risks and the unseen forces that really shape global events.
Whether it’s the Northern Lights carbon-capture project or debt-for-policy swaps, she highlights the same truth: without strong ethics standards, big innovations become big question marks.
And when it comes to AI? Carla puts it sharply:

We don’t trust AI — we use it. Just like we don’t trust an Excel formula without checking it.

Her “Three C’s” for future accountants — Curiosity, Courage, Consistency — are worth printing out and sticking on a wall.
2. The Resilience Revolution Is Here
The second half of the episode previews an essential follow-up discussion with Brad Hook and Declan Scott — and it couldn’t come at a better time.
CAW’s research earlier this year showed Chartered Accountants are kind, curious, creative… and exhausted.
We’re multitasking ourselves into hypervigilance.
Our boundaries between work and life have dissolved.
And sleep? For many, it’s a crisis hiding in plain sight.
One statistic hits hard:

Adults can stay focused for just 47 seconds before getting distracted.

Brad and Declan dig into why this is happening — and more importantly, what we can do about it. Their solutions aren’t corporate wellness clichés. They’re evidence-based habits that change how teams work:
Monotasking to restore deep focus
Friday Flow zones for creativity and long-term thinking
Sleep as a leadership skill
Presence as a quiet superpower in a noisy world
It’s practical. It’s human. It’s uncomfortably honest.
Why You Should Listen
This episode captures something rare: the crossroads the profession is standing at — between innovation and integrity, between high performance and human sustainability.
It’s not fear-mongering. It’s not fluffy inspiration.
It’s truth, told by people who care deeply about the work we do and the world we shape.

Episode 19: Ethics, AI, and Well-Being: Two Conversations Shaping Our Profession

500

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

What does it really mean to be “the most trusted profession” in an age of AI, misinformation and rising public scrutiny?

That’s the question at the heart of our next Difference Makers Discuss, Chartered Accountants Worldwide’s flagship online interview series, featuring Carla S Vijian in conversation with our host, Sinead Donovan. Drawing on a career that’s taken her from Malaysia to New Zealand, Sydney, London and now New York as a principal at the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants, Carla shares a powerful, real-world view of ethics, leadership and the future of our profession.

Difference Makers Discuss: Carla S. Vijian - A Journey in Ethics, Audit, and Marathon Running

900

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

Difference Makers Discuss: Carla S. Vijian - A Journey in Ethics, Audit, and Marathon Running

1100

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

Curiosity isn’t a personality trait—it’s a practice that can shape a career and safeguard public trust. That idea runs through our conversation with Carla S. Vijian, whose path from Malaysia to New Zealand, Sydney, London and now New York traces a throughline from hands‑on audit work to ethics standard setting. We dive into how fieldwork hardens your scepticism—the kind that looks past headlines and asks who funds what, where assumptions hide, and how incentives bend outcomes—and why that habit is essential when claims move markets, pensions and policy.

Carla opens the black box of ethics standards and shows how practical and global the work really is: listening to regulators, investors and firms, and crafting principle‑based guidance that scales across 130+ jurisdictions without losing the self‑awareness professionals need day to day. We test the ideas against live issues: Norway’s Northern Lights CO2 storage milestone and debt‑for‑policy swaps that promise conservation and reconstruction. Both raise the same hard questions—measurement, transparency, accountability—that ethics can answer when applied with rigour. We also tackle AI without the hype: it’s a powerful tool, but not a moral agent. The IESBA’s technology guidance helps identify risks like bias, data integrity and over‑reliance, reminding us to validate models, document judgement and remain accountable for outcomes in the public interest.

Threaded through the technical is the human: marathon training as a blueprint for resilience, discipline and humility. You don’t run 42 kilometres at once; you run one at a time. The same is true for building trust—small consistent choices compound. Carla leaves three anchors for the next generation: make curiosity a daily discipline, choose courage over convenience, and pair purpose with patience. If you care about trustworthy reporting, sustainable finance and responsible AI, this conversation will give you practical ways to strengthen your judgement and your impact.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review with the bravest professional decision you’ve made recently.

DMD Season 3 Ep 5 - Carla S. Vijian on how auditing made her brave enough to ask hard questions

11640

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

1mo

Episode 18: How Accountants Are Embracing AI with Confidence

700

CharteredWW - Chartered Accountants Worldwide

1mo

DMD Season 3 Ep 4 - Nicola Ellam on why AI won’t take your job—it will take it to a whole new level

1200

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Contact Us

Chartered Accountants Worldwide on The Map

Be Social

Embedding a sustainability mindset throughout operations

Reviewing data processes and controls

Establishing targets

Developing a strategy, policies and implementation plan

Setting sustainable goals

Identifying and rating opportunities

Identifying and rating risk exposure

Conducting a materiality assessment

Mapping and engaging stakeholders

Contact Us

Chartered Accountants Worldwide on The Map

Be Social

Cookie Settings

Embedding a sustainability mindset throughout operations

Reviewing data processes and controls

Establishing targets

Developing a strategy, policies and implementation plan

Setting sustainable goals

Identifying and rating opportunities

Identifying and rating risk exposure

Conducting a materiality assessment

Mapping and engaging stakeholders