INTHEBLACK July 2026 - Magazine - Page 45
Ongoing changes in
technology together with
economic, social and other
factors are presenting
significant challenges
for the global workforce.
To keep up, many
governments are
implementing policies to
upskill workers and redefine
how skills are developed
and recognised by employers.
Accounting firms are
hiring people who can
demonstrate higher-order
skills such as professional
judgement and
ethical reasoning.
LISTEN
to this story
The future is
skills-based
Rapid tech change and shifting economies are redefining the skills
professionals need to perform their jobs. As traditional roles like
accounting face disruption, a global shift toward skills-first hiring
and lifelong learning is redefining how careers are built and sustained.
Words Gary Anders
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD
Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report
2025, workers on average can expect around
40 per cent of their existing skill sets will
either be transformed or become outdated
over the next five years.
Driving this will be rapid technological
advances, particularly in artificial intelligence
(AI), as well as ongoing geo-economic
fragmentation (the unwinding of existing
trade and investment structures), economic
uncertainty, demographic shifts, evolving
social trends and climate change.
Eighty-five per cent of the over 1000
employers surveyed, representing millions
of workers, said they plan to prioritise
upskilling their workforce by 2030.
Forty per cent noted they aim to reduce
staff as their skills become less relevant,
while half plan to transition workers from
declining to growing roles.
The report explicitly identifies
accountants and auditors, along with
bookkeepers and payroll clerks, among
the fastest declining job roles between
now and 2030.
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