The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Singapore Management University (SMU) Academy have launched the Advanced Certificate in Finance Leadership for Technological, Sustainability and Geopolitical Disruption.
The programme was unveiled at the ACCA Annual Conference in Singapore.
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The six-module professional course is designed for finance leaders operating in a business landscape being simultaneously altered by technology, the sustainability transition and geopolitical tensions.
The certificate will be offered from January 2027.
Its curriculum centres on three themes: technology, transition and tension. Rather than treating these as distinct issues, the programme approaches them as interconnected challenges.
Over 12 days of classroom-based and online study, participants will examine macro trends affecting finance; AI uses in finance and accounting; intangible assets and intellectual property; environmental, social and governance reporting; and sustainable finance, finance leadership and cross-border risk management.
It is the second programme jointly introduced by the SMU Academy and ACCA, following the Advanced Certificate in Strategic Digital Transformation in Finance, which was launched in 2019.
ACCA Singapore, ANZ & Oceania portfolio head Steve Lee said: “Finance professionals are being asked to answer questions the profession was never structured to answer – how a tariff reshapes a supply chain, what climate risk does to a balance sheet, whether an AI-generated number can be relied on. These are not separate problems. They arrive together, and they arrive quickly.
“Our research shows the appetite to build these capabilities is there, but the structured development is not. Singapore’s competitiveness as a financial centre depends on a profession that can do more than report what happened.
“This programme is a practical response to that, and we are pleased to build on our long partnership with SMU Academy to deliver it.”
The programme is CPD-accredited, supported by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) and eligible for SWDA funding, widening access to upskilling for Singaporeans.
SMU‘s School of Accountancy recently launched an Applied AI Track within its Master of Science in Accounting degree programme to train accounting and finance professionals in AI.
