The Management Accountant in a Digital World

The 25th anniversary of the CMA in the Netherlands June 1, 2016

Presented by: Liv WatsonSr. Director of Strategic Customer InitiativesWorkiva Inc.

The Role of the Controller and the ManagementAccountants

The role of the controller is the function of a chief accounting officer and heads theaccounting department. The controller is responsible for the company's financialstatements, general ledger, cost accounting, payroll, accounts payable, accountsreceivable, budgeting, tax compliance, and various special analyses.

The role of the management accountant is to perform a series of tasks to ensure theircompany's financial security, handling essentially all financial matters and thus helpingto drive the business's overall management and strategy.

Todays Agenda Three Technology Trends Impacting Controllersand the Management Accounting Profession.

1. Blockchain 2. Cloud3. XBRL

Blockchain Technology 

The Dutch traders invented "balance carriedforward" ledgers.

Blockchain is just the latest digital iterationof a disruptive technology platform thatuses cryptography and a distributedmessaging protocol to create "sharedledgers" among counter-parties. .

The What - Blockchain • Blockchain is a method of recording data - a digital ledger of

transactions, agreements, contracts - anything that needs to beindependently recorded and verified as having happened.

• The big difference is that this ledger isn't stored in one place, it'sdistributed across several, hundreds or even thousands of computersaround the world.

• Digital records are lumped together into "blocks" then bound togethercryptographically and chronologically into a "chain" using complexmathematical algorithms.

◦ This encryption process, known as "hashing" is carried out by lotsof different computers.

◦ If they all agree on the answer, each block receives a unique digitalsignature.

• You don't store details of the transaction, just the fact that it happenedand the hash of the transaction

Blockchain Technology 

Clearing House

Central Ledger

Distributed Ledger

Samples: Banks think it could be the future of financial transactions, whilediamond miners hope it will help end the trade in conflict diamonds.

The Cloud

Dependence on a good internet connection

The What - Cloud

Geared towards the mobile user

 Cloud-Based Productivity PlatformsRadically Changing The Way Accountants Work

Source: 10-K Workiva 2015

Involve manycontributors across

departments orbusiness units

Go through multipleversions

Requirevaryinglevels of

permissionsand

controls

Need data accuratelyreused across

different documentsor presentations

Rely on a singlesource of truth

for dataaccuracy

XBRL For Dummies!

1. XBRL is a technical standard. XBRL 2.1• The Specification provides the fundamental

technical definition of how XBRL actually works.• The documentation of the Specification is

published by XBRL International and is availableat http://www.xbrl.org/Specifications/.

The Two Main Components to XBRL

2. XBRL is about Taxonomies• A global agreement on business information

concepts, relationships, and business rules• One of the greatest benefits of XBRL is that it

allows for additional attributes to travel with adata item throughout its life cycle. XBRL refers tothese additional attributes as “linkbases.”

The What - XBRL

• The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)◦ IFRS Taxonomy

▪ (Local GAAP Taxonomies)• The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

◦ Solvency II Taxonomy • The European Banking Authority (EBA)

◦ COREP and FINREP Taxonomies• Standard Business Reporting (SBR) in the Netherlands

◦ 900.000 companies ◦ Statutory financial statements based on Dutch GAAP or IFRS ◦ Mandatory to submit the financial statements to the business register

within 12 months after year-end ◦ Medium and large-sized companies are also required to submit an auditor’s

report of an independent auditor accompanying the financial statements ◦ Financial statements will have to be submitted using SBR

XBRL In Europe Update

• FY2016 – Small-sized companies• FY2017 – Medium-sized companies• FY2019 – Large-sized companies (including listed companies)

January 2016XBRL formally identified as a specification that canbe referenced in European public procurement

 Source: Annex II of Regulation 1025/2012 on European Standardisation

The ManagementAccountant

in a Digital World

Questions

Liv Watson Sr. Director of Strategic Customer InitiativesWorkiva Inc.e: liv.watson@workiva.com

Liv A. Watson is a Senior Director of Strategic Customer Initiatives at Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK). Watson currently serves as Chair of theInstitute of Management Accountants (IMA) Technology Trends Subcommittee, member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants inEngland and Wales (ICAEW) Sustainability Committee, member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Technology consortium, and anactive member of the XBRL International Funding Task Force.

Watson is one of the founders of the XBRL business reporting standard and a founder of the XBRL International consortium. Workingglobally with leading market regulators, accounting associations, and institutions, Watson has visited more than 100 countries as anambassador for XBRL and IFRS. She has presented to a wide range of audiences, including international standards bodies to Fortune 100companies. She speaks regularly about financial and business reporting standards, their benefits, potential applications, and broadadoption, including corporate governance and social responsibility reporting.

Watson authored one of the IMA's most successful CPE courses, Accounting System Technology for the 21st Century. She has publishednumerous articles for international publications and journals, including Harvard Business Review and Strategic Finance. She has alsowritten a monthly column on financial and business reporting trends for CPA2Biz.com. Watson is the co-author and contributing authorto several books, including XBRL for Dummies as well as Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook published by Wiley. She is also acontributing author of the Harvard Business School’s first e-books titled, The Landscape of Integrated Reporting, and Effective Auditingfor Corporations published by Bloomsbury.

She served as an Advisory Board Member to the University of Southern Indiana and the University of Albany. Watson has served asEditorial Board Member for the International Journal of Disclosure and Governance. Watson has been interviewed for a range ofbusiness periodicals on the topic of a more efficient business reporting supply chain, including; The Washington Post, Financial Times,Business Week, InformationWeek Wall Street & Technology, and CFO Magazine.