Gathering in Beijing, ACCA 2025 Annual Seminar Explores New Frontiers in Financial Leadership

Shanghai, December 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 13, 2025, the 2025 Annual Symposium, jointly organized by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), a globally leading professional accounting body, and the Beijing National Accounting Institute (BNAI), was grandly opened. The conference, themed "Leading the Future with Intelligence, Empowering New Journeys in Finance," brought together elites from various fields, including financial leaders, academic experts, and corporate executives, to focus on three key directions: practical AI applications, ESG competitiveness building, and corporate overseas expansion. It deeply explored the transformation path and mission upgrade of financial leadership in the new era, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of the accounting and finance industry against the backdrop of the digital economy.

ACCA Global President Melanie Proffitt stated in her speech: "The current global business environment is undergoing a dual transformation of 'technological restructuring + responsibility upgrade.' The accounting and finance industry has shifted from its traditional role as a 'calculation tool' to a key engine for corporate strategic decision-making. 'Rethinking Careers' is by no means a simple career transition but requires every accounting professional to master digital capabilities and strategic vision. In the era of AI reshaping business processes, they must proactively link business scenarios, anchor ESG value creation, and drive financial work from 'recording the past' to 'defining the future.'"

Professor Nie Xingkai from the Beijing National Accounting Institute emphasized in his keynote speech "AI Innovation: The AI-Enabled Path to Decision-Oriented Financial Transformation": "The newly revised 'Accounting Law' provides solid legal support for the development of intelligent finance, clearly requiring the strengthening of accounting informatization while encouraging the use of modern information technology to carry out accounting work in accordance with the law. The separation of financial accounting, management accounting, and auditing was a product of a specific historical stage. Today, intelligent technologies like AI are breaking down this barrier, making the integration of the three possible. Through corporate data sharing, various AI tools can achieve 'one-time collection, multiple applications' while ensuring compliance, allowing the information captured and generated by financial accounting to directly meet management needs. In the future, the intelligent environment will significantly improve accounting efficiency while imposing higher requirements on the authenticity and completeness of accounting information. This is both a challenge and an inevitable direction for industry development."

Decoding Core Propositions, Anchoring New Directions for Strategic Transformation in the Accounting and Finance Industry

The digital economy and intelligent finance were the core topics of the morning keynote sessions. Li Xiaodong, Founder of Fuxi Think Tank and Member of the National Data Expert Advisory Committee, delivered a speech titled "Digital Engine: The Core Force Driving Industrial Upgrade," deeply dissecting the reshaping path of digital technology on corporate business models and financial processes in the context of digital economy development policies. He also proposed that building trustworthy data infrastructure is key to solving issues of data connectivity, trust, and flow. Under the framework of China's advocated digital economy philosophy, new cooperation platforms will enter the substantive operation stage, with the core proposition shifting from 'how to connect' to 'how to win-win.'

In the globalization and talent development session, Chen Zhengjie, Director of Policy and Insights at ACCA China, delivered a keynote speech titled "The New Mission of CFOs in the Globalized Landscape": "Amid the waves of globalization, market volatility coexists with development opportunities. The role of CFOs has far exceeded that of 'financial stewards,' becoming 'value guardians' of corporate globalization strategies. Facing multiple challenges such as exchange rate fluctuations, cross-border compliance, and resource integration, CFOs need to build risk prevention systems from a global perspective, balance risks and returns, and strategically link domestic and international market resources to make financial functions the core support for corporate overseas expansion and stable development."

The afternoon agenda focused on macroeconomic analysis and corporate practical experience sharing. Professor Jin Weiping, Associate Professor at the Institute of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Secretary-General of the Political Economy Research Center, and Director of the Macroeconomic Research Department, discussed the new landscape of China's economic development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" to "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Professor Jin emphasized that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the digital economy and real economy will accelerate integration, green and low-carbon transformation will enter a critical phase, and institutional openness will continue to improve, bringing structural opportunities to the accounting and finance industry. Corporate financial managers need to grasp micro-level decisions from macro trends, seek dynamic balance between stable growth and risk prevention, and pay special attention to the reshaping effects of policy signal changes on industrial investment and capital allocation, anchoring deterministic development directions amid uncertainty.

In the "Overseas Expansion Practice" session, Yu Laixin, Director of the Finance and Financial Management Department of China Railway Group Limited, shared a case study titled "Financial Practices in the International Development of China Railway," using the international market's role as the core growth engine driving the company's overall growth in 2025 as a practical example. He detailed financial solutions for large central enterprises' overseas expansion, how financial teams can provide professional support in advance for market development and project decision-making, and emphasized the importance of strengthening financial talent 梯队建设， focusing on international financial capability cultivation, and building a specialized，复合型 financial management team.

Focusing on ESG Ecosystem Co-Construction, Multi-Dimensional Empowerment for High-Quality Industry Development

The "ESG Pioneer" session of the conference brought together Wang Xinyue, Head of ESG Innovation Research at Galaxy Securities, Yu Ting, Head of Investor Relations ESG at KE Holdings, Wu Mitao, Deputy Party Secretary and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee of CIIC Beijing, Liu Jing, Director of Investor Relations at the Board Office of General Universal Medical Group, and Chen Tiexin, Head of Sustainable Training at Colliers International, to discuss "ESG: The Key to Shaping Long-Term Corporate Competitiveness." They shared insights on how companies can transform ESG from a cost center to a growth engine, how to reshape corporate core missions, business boundaries, and stakeholder relationships to balance ESG strategic considerations, and how to internalize ESG strategy implementation from "job responsibilities" to "organization-wide awareness," ultimately building an ESG-driven organizational culture and sustainable competitive advantage.

ACCA has always regarded ESG as a core development issue. In November this year, ACCA and the Beijing National Accounting Institute successfully co-hosted the "2025 Sustainability and ESG Academic Salon and ISSB Global Capacity Building Partner Exchange Event," while also deeply involved in the development and release of the "2025 Sustainability and ESG Case Collection—Management Practices and Industry-Education Integration," providing high-quality references for corporate implementation and academic teaching. Additionally, leveraging its professional expertise, ACCA has launched a series of ESG-related courses, with content closely aligned with international sustainability disclosure standards and corporate practical needs, helping accounting professionals and corporate managers solidify ESG expertise and deeply integrate ESG concepts into corporate governance and industry development.

Reconstructing Corporate Financial Supervision Systems, Dual-Driving High-Quality Financial Development

Wan Tao, Assistant President of Kingdee China and General Manager of the Xinghan Product Department, pointed out in his sharing "AI + Finance - Empowering Corporate Penetrative Supervision": "Enterprises need to break down data silos, build a unified intelligent middle platform, embed rule engines, anomaly detection, and predictive warnings into business processes, shifting supervision from 'post-audit' to 'in-process control' or even 'preventive measures,' enabling financial personnel to focus on higher-value rule optimization and business decision support, ultimately building a new intelligent supervision ecosystem characterized by 'human-machine collaboration, full coverage, and precision efficiency.'"

Mei Qinxue, Member of ACCA Global Council, in his keynote speech "Career Leap: Financial Leadership in the New Era," based on ACCA's core values (Integrity, Innovation, Inclusion) and multiple professional insight reports, proposed the 3I financial leadership framework of "Upholding Integrity, Creating the Future, Embracing the World." He emphasized adhering to professional ethics, courageously innovating in organizational management, and the synergistic development of technology integration and global vision, advocating for financial professionals to leverage the power of the times and organizational platforms, using leadership as a lever to support Chinese companies' high-quality overseas expansion and sustainable development while achieving their own career leaps.

The conference also hosted the ACCA Excellence Awards Ceremony and the ACCA Recognized Employer Certification Ceremony. ACCA has always been committed to setting industry benchmarks and co-building a talent ecosystem to empower the high-quality development of the accounting and finance industry. Among the awardees, Professor Fang Hongxing, Party Secretary of Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, won the Excellence Award. With his visionary insights, Professor Fang has vigorously promoted the internationalization of accounting disciplines, dedicated to building an accounting discipline system rooted in China and connected to the world, cultivating 复合型 talents with international vision，家国情怀， and professional responsibility, making significant contributions to empowering the accounting and finance industry and 输送国际化 professional talents. Representatives from CICC, Protiviti, Anocheng, Beisen Holdings, Colliers International, Career International, Shenzhou Yunhe, Sino-Dutch Life Insurance, Future Forum, and CIIC Beijing, newly recognized as ACCA Recognized Employers, will deepen cooperation with ACCA in talent recruitment, training, and career development 通道搭建， integrating into the global talent cooperation network to 助力构建 a virtuous ecosystem 循环 of "talent cultivation—corporate empowerment—industry upgrade."

Ms. Shao Nan, Director of ACCA China, mentioned in her closing remarks: "As a globally recognized professional accounting organization, ACCA has always been committed to building a value bridge connecting talents, enterprises, and the industry. Facing future opportunities and challenges, ACCA will continue to work hand in hand with members, future members, and partners to embrace change with professionalism and lead the future with innovative thinking."

From the 落地 of digital technology to global strategic 布局， from the deepening of ESG practices to talent capability upgrades, the ACCA 2025 Annual Symposium is not only a professional 思想盛宴凝聚智慧 but also a 优质资源平台链接 "policy, technology, and enterprises." Through 前沿观点 sharing and 实战案例拆解， the symposium has clarified 转型方向 for accounting and finance professionals，助力企业优化财务战略，推动 the entire accounting and finance industry to undergo a 深度转型 from "traditional accounting" to "value creation," contributing 坚实的财会力量 to economic development.