With a deadline to implement the International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS 18 looming, accounting and auditing professionals are preparing themselves to meet the deadline, while up-skilling and re-skilling themselves with Artificial Intelligence tools to stay ahead of the competition
Artificial Intelligence is going to change the global accounting, auditing and assurance business by speeding up the process with increased accuracy, ensuring compliance and better governance, officials told more than 400 accounting professionals at a conference titled: The Great Shift towards IFRS18 – The Future of Audit, organised by the Dubai Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ICAI.
The global accounting and auditing market is valued at US$254.36 billion in 2026, driven by a 6.1 percent growth rate. Market research reports from groups like The Business Research Company show steady financial expansion across corporate sectors.
“Accounting and auditing professions have been supported and guided by technology for some time with new software systems. However, the future of our industry will be shaped and powered by innovation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – as it is the future,” CA Rishi Chawla, Chairman of the Dubai Chapter of the ICAI, said in his opening remarks at the conference.
“In a world where information moves faster than ever, trust has become the most valuable currency. As AI and technology reshape the way businesses operate, the future of audit lies in combining innovation with professional judgement to deliver stronger assurance, greater transparency and deeper insight.
“ICAI has always been at the forefront of adoption of technology and innovation and, through this course, our fellow Indian Chartered Accountants will lead the industry once again with speed, accuracy, strong data analytics, increased compliance and governance.”
Padmanabha Acharya, Chairman of Deloitte Middle East, said, “Implementation of AI into operations should have a strategy that includes centralised investment and seamless implementation and integration within the organisation. The company’s leadership should be aware of the risks and opportunities of adoption of AI including governance, compliance, control and biasness. Particularly the governance of AI in accounting and auditing is very crucial.
The conference, attended by more than 400 members of ICAI, featured keynote address and presentation by leading accounting professionals, corporate financial leaders and regulators. The UAEs financial regulators are currently collaborating on information, compliance and governance, officials said.
Talal Samad, Associate Director – Monitoring at the Abu Dhabi Global Markets ADGM, said, “We are signing up MoUs with other financial and capital market regulators to create synergies in the sector. The whole idea of audit is to protect the assets, shareholders and investment as well as protect the businesses. So, AI should strengthen the process.
“The number of auditing firms under ADGM has accelerated to 60, from 16 a few years ago, due to the higher demand for accounting, bookkeeping, auditing, assurance and tax advisory services. The number is going to grow in the coming years.”
Naweed Lalani, Director, Audit and Infrastructure Supervision, at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), said, “As the region’s first independent audit oversight authority, the DFSA has a long-standing commitment to strengthening audit quality and market confidence through effective supervision, innovation, and collaboration. Through enhanced regulatory coordination, almost 97 per cent of the UAE’s capital markets auditors are coming within the scope of closer supervisory cooperation.
“Joint inspections of firms’ systems of quality management will support supervisory consistency, strengthen regulatory effectiveness, avoid regulatory arbitrage, and build capacity across UAE regulators. Ultimately, these efforts reinforce investor confidence, support the integrity and resilience of the UAE’s capital markets, and help ensure that the audit profession continues to evolve in step with an increasingly digital financial system.”
Experts also discussed the challenges and opportunities of adoption to the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 18 that will become mandatory for all financial reporting from January 1, 2027. IFRS 18 is a new accounting standard that replaces IAS 1.
Introducing the basic fundamentals of IFRS 18, Firoz Ali Ghadyaly, Principal at KPMG Finance and Accounting Advisory, says, “IFRS 18 introduces four fundamental changes to financial statement presentation and disclosure: a structured statement of profit or loss with mandatory categories, defined operating profit subtotals, enhanced requirements for aggregation and disaggregation of information, and disclosures for Management-defined Performance Measures (MPMs). For the first time, MPMs will form part of the audited financial statements. Together, these requirements will help companies better tell their financial story and strengthen the link between management reporting and statutory financial reporting.”
The biggest IFRS 18 challenge is not preparing the financial statements. It is ensuring that the underlying data, systems, processes, controls and management reporting frameworks are capable of consistently producing IFRS 18-compliant information, he says. The standard will have a significant impact on large organisations and diversified group companies that operate multiple business models, geographies and ERP environments. Determining operating versus investing activities, aligning management reporting with external reporting, and implementing the new aggregation and disaggregation requirements will require substantial changes across finance functions and systems.
“The implementation date of IFRS 18 is now less than six months away. While IFRS 18 does not change how companies recognise or measure transactions, it fundamentally changes how financial performance is presented, analysed and explained to stakeholders. Companies will be required to apply IFRS 18 retrospectively from 1 January 2027, including the restatement of comparative information for FY2026,” he says.
“Organisations should therefore begin assessing the impact on their chart of accounts, ERP systems, consolidation processes, reporting packages, internal controls and governance frameworks well in advance to ensure a smooth transition.”
James Mathew, CEO and Managing Partner, UHY James Chartered Accountants LLC, says, “We are entering in an era where we have to Control, Shift, Alt and Delete – that means we have to learn, re-learn and unlearn things of the past and reform ourselves by embracing technology and innovation. This is true for both AI and IFRS18 – as both are more focussed on transparency, data analytics and presentation. The quality of data is going to be very crucial for all of us in this profession.”
Priju Dominic, Founding Partner & CEO of Dominic & Partners, says “IFRS 18 is not merely a new reporting standard, it represents a new era in financial communication. By enhancing transparency, comparability and the quality of performance reporting, it enables organisations to tell their financial story with greater clarity and credibility. Early preparation is not just about meeting the implementation deadline rather it is about strengthening stakeholder confidence and creating long-term value.”
With more than 3,200 members, ICAI Dubai Chapter is the largest business group in the UAE. Established in 1982, it is also the largest, most active and award-winning chapter among the 44 overseas chapters of ICAI. It has registered a phenomenal growth in membership has exceeded 3,200 members who represent more than 1,550 multinationals and other companies.
Dayaniwas Sharma, Central Council Member of the ICAI, said, “We have trained 36,000 digital-savvy accounting professionals in forensic accounting and more are being trained through different curriculum such as Diploma in Information Systems Audit (DISA). As one of the best accounting institutions, ICAI has already embraced technology, innovation and AI into our practice and we have established an Advanced Forensic Auditing and Technology Lab – a Centre of Excellence – in Hyderabad to provide smaller CA firms access to high-end forensic tools.
“We are currently training them through DISA 4.0 – the most advanced module that requires 8 days of physical learning, 2 days of immersive learning and 16 hours of online learning before certification. As Indian Government is spending trillions of rupees to digitise the country’s economy and business, the accounting and auditing professionals also should prepare to serve a digitalised business environment.”
ICAI is the largest professional body of Chartered Accountants across the world with over 1,000,000+ students and around 450,000+ members. ICAI has a wide network with five Regional Councils, 176 Branches, 54 Overseas Chapters, and 31 representative offices across the globe. And among 54 overseas chapters, ICAI Dubai Chapter is the largest and most vibrant chapter of ICAI. Of the 8,000 Indian Chartered Accountants active in the UAE‘s private sector, 1,400+ are currently leading businesses in senior positions.
About The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ICAI:
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Act No. XXXVIII of 1949) for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants in India. During its 77 years of existence, ICAI has achieved recognition as a premier accounting body not only in the country but also globally, for its contribution in the fields of education, professional development, maintenance of high accounting, auditing and ethical standards. ICAI now is the largest accounting body in the whole world.
ICAI Dubai Chapter:
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Dubai Chapter, is the largest accounting professionals’ group comprising of some of the most powerful players in the UAE’s public and private sectors. Established in 1982, it is the largest, most active and award-winning chapter among the 54 overseas chapters of ICAI. It has registered a phenomenal growth in membership in recent years and currently has nearly 3,200 members. Members represent more than 1,550 multinationals and other companies.
Its vision is to contribute to the development of its members as global professionals through facilitating continuous learning and recognition in the wider community. Its mission is to develop professionals with world class competencies.
