Review Investor & Accountancy Evening II

Time flies, as we look back on the success of already the second Risk Investor -and Accountancy Evening.  The second topic discussed during this evening was all about technological innovations and how it can impact our future perceptions. For this interesting reading we invited Remco van den Akker. He is senior advisor at BDO, an audit organization focusing on the mid-market organizations. Remco has a diverse portfolio of clients and is very enthusiastic about technology and innovations.

Does the profession actually still exist, let say about 10-20 years?

The reading by Remco was all about the technological developments and how it can influence the auditors’ profession. Does the profession actually still exist, let say about 10-20 years? We gained deeper insight in the current technology developments and discussed how those developments could influence auditor activities. Topics like: Big Data, virtual reality, block chain, process mining and artificial intelligence came forward.

In the end the question remains: does the audit profession still exist in the future? Well, that some things are subjected to change is clear. However, the audit profession as a whole will not vanish. It still is and remains craftsmanship, only applied in a different setting and on different aspects. Therefore, embracing technology innovations can make certain activities more efficient and specific. Certain activities by the auditor will always remain important, for example: the human interaction, face to face meetings with the client, providing judgement on specific situations....because than, exactly than….  is where the auditor comes around and makes the difference which no technology can substitute!

However, the audit profession as a whole will not vanish. It still is and remains craftsmanship, only applied in a different setting and on different aspects.

After the first Investor Evening, where Arend Jan Kamp was talking us through the basics of long term investing, the second Investor Evening took place. On the Investor Evening it was Corné van Zeijl who took the stage. It was his second time visiting the lovely city of Groningen in order to give us his view on the economic world. What impact does the outcome of the US election have on the world, what is the consequence of the Brexit, what is going on with the critical Euro countries like Italy? All issues which Corné tried to find an answer to with his knowledge. After this he went deeper into investing and interesting developments that occur. "Being smarter than the rest of the market provides money and will only cost you 5 minutes of analyzing" but "Good investments are boring" were some of his statements. Based on a chart Corné showed that the market performs significantly better at the end of the year, starting from October 12th, then the months before. The timing of his lecture could not have been better. We look back on a nice and interesting evening and hope to see everyone back on the next investors evening on November 15th, note: this is a Tuesday.

After these interesting lectures the new Active Members as well as the theme of the Risk Conference 2017 were announced. From now on the Conference Day Organization Committee will join the Conference Committee to organize a great conference upcoming March! Also other Active Members will start their Risk Career, so keep an eye on our calendar for the upcoming events!