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African accountancy profession is broadly optimistic about the economic future

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A ground-breaking study into the accountancy profession in Africa reveals 55% of accountants are optimistic about Africa’s economic prospects, but skill shortages, especially in the areas of technology and strategy are a major concern for respondents.

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), PAFA (the Pan African Federation of Accountants) and PwC joined forces to develop the State of the Profession in Africa report, polling more than 1,750 professionals to capture their views about the profession’s contributions on the continent, as well as the challenges, threats, and opportunities ahead. The report also captures feedback from over 100 participants at various business and public sector roundtables, held to capture opinions of experts across Africa.

The research was analysed under four themes – capacity building, partnerships, influencing for socio-economic development, and future-readiness of the profession.

Focussing on capacity building, technology (53%) was the biggest skills gap identified, followed by strategy planning, market intelligence and performance management (49.3%).

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The results revealed a startling paradox for the profession in building ethical and sustainable business while lacking in environmental, social and governance (ESG) acumen. Some 57% say this is limiting the involvement of Professional Accountancy Organisations (PAOs) and their members in climate change and ESG agendas.

Alarmingly, 92% of accountants working in the mining industry do not see ESG among the industry’s top three future-altering trends, and 40% of all surveyed members highlighted the ability to incorporate climate change and ESG into financial reporting as a major skills gap.

The report asserts that partnerships are essential for the accountancy profession to be resilient, and offers various calls to action for accountants, PAOs and the many stakeholders in the finance and accountancy ecosystem – including higher education institutions, the business community, the public sector, standard-setters and regulators, governments and policy makers.

Jamil Ampomah, director of ACCA Africa says: ‘Respondents’ views about ESG are certainly a wakeup call. Hurdles need to be overcome as accountancy professionals have a unique opportunity to lead ESG adoption in their organisations, in their own countries, right across Africa and globally. One of the strong recommendations in the report is for the profession to skill up here – the tools and qualifications are available to do this, so the opportunity is waiting to be grasped.’

Alta Prinsloo, Chief Executive Officer, PAFA adds: ‘If the accountancy profession is to be fit-for-future, it must be digital, contribute to socio-economic development and play a key role in building ethical and sustainable business. To facilitate this, more and better collaboration is an imperative – and that starts with national PAOs. PAFA stands ready to facilitate collaboration among PAOs and stakeholders to respond to the calls to action encapsulated in the report.’

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Mary Iwelumo, Partner, PwC Nigeria and Strategy Lead for PwC West Market noted further: ‘We were startled by the finding that accountants generally did not expect ESG to have a meaningful impact on the profession and professionals over the next decade. At PwC, we had hoped that knowledge that ESG is a business imperative would be universal, especially among professionals that have a seat and voice at the table of business leadership. This disquieting discovery must, therefore, galvanise all of us to a collaboration that will build an education system that will equip accountants to anticipate the future, and prepare for and thrive in it.

Top ten statistics from the report show that:

  1. When it comes to global accounting standards, 81% of respondents say International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted across Africa.
  2. 71% of accountants expect that digital transformation of accounting functions would be the profession’s biggest game changer over the next decade.
  3. 64% have seen professional accountants become CEOs or Directors in their organisations.
  4. 53% say stricter regulatory and statutory compliance will have an impact on the profession.
  5. Almost half – 49% – of respondents believe that the accountancy professional contributes to strategic direction and development of business insights in the upper echelons of organisations.
  6. Accountants in Africa are most optimistic about the implementation of environmentally friendly policies and investment in infrastructure – each at 30%.
  7. 43% are pessimistic about the uncertain political situation and for 39% it is policy uncertainty.
  8. 45% indicate that most senior professionals in their organisations are involved in the traditional roles of organising, controlling, processing, and reporting on financial related transactions.
  9. 47% say another significant trend is predictive accounting software such as forecasting and data analytics tools
  10. 47% say changes in tax policy is an important future trend.

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Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service U.K. to Deploy Motorola Solutions’ Cloud-Hosted Control Room Solution

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New response system helps streamlining workflows, strengthening resilience and improving safety for more than 1 million people in Northeast England
LONDON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service has announced that it is strengthening its emergency response capabilities through a cloud-hosted Control Room Solution (CRS) from Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI). This move will foster digitalisation, streamline workflows and offer the agency the ability to better scale operations in critical situations such as flooding and wildfires, which have increased in frequency in the U.K. in recent years.

“Our objective is to create one of the safest communities in the country,” said Phil Clark, Area Manager for mobilising and digital transformation at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. “We are amongst the fastest responding fire and rescue services in the U.K. for dwelling fires with an average response time of 5 minutes 58 seconds.”
“We will continue to invest in new technologies and plan to offer other fire and rescue services the opportunity to join our newly created control room solution,” said Area Manager Clark. “In doing so, we’ll be able to seamlessly exchange information during joint operations, increase scalability to accommodate varying demand levels, and foster greater cooperation and faster responses in critical situations. Our relationship with Motorola Solutions will enable us to realise and deliver our operational vision, which will ultimately help to save lives and put Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service at the forefront of Control Room technology in the U.K.”          
Every day, more than 1 million people rely on Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, who operate 17 community fire stations in Northeast England. Their responsibilities across the community include responding to primary and secondary fires, road traffic collisions, civil emergencies, water and structural rescues and delivering fire safety advice to residents and businesses.
The browser-based CRS enables staff to access the control room by securely logging on from any location to set up mobile command posts or provide remote support for incidents. The new platform will integrate Motorola Solutions’ CommandCentral Evidence software for storing and securely handling control room voice recordings, unifying critical communications and data in one platform, while also linking to the appropriate cases.
“Demand on the fire and rescue service has evolved over the years, and emergency services continue to respond to a wide range of complex incidents,” said Fergus Mayne, U.K. and Ireland country manager at Motorola Solutions. “Our cloud-hosted CRS solution benefits Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service with an intuitive and unified response system that integrates all communications into one efficient and resilient work environment.”
About Motorola Solutions
Motorola Solutions is solving for safer. We build and connect technologies to help protect people, property and places. Our solutions enable the collaboration between public safety agencies and enterprises that’s critical for a proactive approach to safety and security. Learn more about how we’re solving for safer communities, safer schools, safer hospitals, safer businesses – safer everywhere – at www.motorolasolutions.com.
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service leads the operational delivery of fire and rescue, including public protection, emergency prevention and resilience for the five local authority areas of Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland. 
The fire service operates from 17 community fire stations across Tyne and Wear, with our stations, employees and appliances strategically placed across the region to ensure efficient and effective response to fire and rescue emergencies. www.twfire.gov.uk 
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2517802/TWFRS_Control_Room.jpg
 

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Heimdal and emt Distribution Aim to Dominate the Middle East Cybersecurity Market

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark and DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Heimdal and emt Distribution announce a strategic partnership that combines Heimdal’s advanced cybersecurity solutions with emt Distribution’s deep market expertise.

The collaboration will deliver sophisticated yet user friendly products to the Middle East. With Heimdal offering the widest cybersecurity stack in the world, and emt Distribution being the region’s leading distributor, the partnership is well-positioned for success.
Together, they are committed to educating the market on how strategic consolidation, training, and strong vendor relationships will maximize value.
Bringing a new dynamic to the market
Under this partnership, the two parties have promised to:
Roll out Heimdal’s Patch Management solution right away, as it’s a clear improvement over existing tools in the market.Provide local hosting in the United Arab Emirates by 2025, offering compliant, high-performance cloud services tailored to regional needs.Drive new technology adoption with pioneering tools, like the Threat Hunting and Action Center, along with emt Distribution’s market know-how.Offer easy-to-use technology, hands-on training, and show how a SOC can close security gaps while boosting profits.M Mobasseri, Co-Founder and CEO of emt Distribution META: “As we work closely with many cybersecurity experts and CISOs, we consistently encounter a range of challenges, particularly the complexity of managing numerous platforms. These platforms not only require specialized expertise but are also resource-intensive and costly.”
“Having known Heimdal for many years, I’ve witnessed their substantial investments in addressing these challenges and their development of a comprehensive cybersecurity platform that meets the critical needs of customers in the region.”
“Together with Heimdal, we are striving to integrate best-of-breed technologies into a unified platform, with plans for local hosting in 2025 to ensure compliance for businesses of all sizes. In addition, we are excited to announce special terms for our channel partners, aimed at maximizing their growth and profitability.”
Jesper Frederiksen, CEO of Heimdal, commented on the announcement: “Heimdal is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with emt Distribution, the leading security distributor in the Middle East. This collaboration comes in response to the rapidly growing demand for advanced cybersecurity solutions across the region.”
“By joining forces with emt Distribution, Heimdal aims to leverage their extensive network of resellers to provide cybersecurity solutions to organizations throughout the Middle East. Our joint initiative will focus on empowering organizations to significantly reduce their cyber risk exposure through Heimdal’s easy-to-use and cost-effective security solutions and emt Distribution’s unparalleled market reach.”, he added.
About emt Distribution META
emt Distribution META is a channel company with over 30 years of experience in security distribution, offering cyber threat mitigation solutions for Enterprises, SMBs, and MSPs. Committed to selling through channel partners, emt supports a large reseller base and provides technical support and professional services.
For more information, visit emt Distribution.
About Heimdal
Established in Copenhagen in 2014, Heimdal® empowers CISOs, security teams, and IT administrators to improve their security operations, reduce alert fatigue, and implement proactive measures through a unified command and control platform.
Heimdal’s award-winning cybersecurity solutions span the entire IT estate, addressing challenges from endpoint to network levels, including vulnerability management, privileged access, Zero Trust implementation, and ransomware prevention.
For more information, visit Heimdal.
For further press information:
Madalina PopoviciMedia Relations [email protected] 
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
https://news.cision.com/heimdal-security/r/heimdal-and-emt-distribution-aim-to-dominate-the-middle-east-cybersecurity-market,c4044480
The following files are available for download:
https://mb.cision.com/Main/22623/4044480/3028629.pdf
Heimdal and emt Distribution Partnership – Press Release
https://news.cision.com/heimdal-security/i/heimdal-and-emt-distribution-partnership,c3338145
Heimdal and emt Distribution Partnership
 

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MSD in Strategic collaboration with Briya for Innovative RWE data analysis projects

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TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — MSD, a leading multinational pharmaceutical company successfully completes a first-of-its-kind strategic collaboration with Briya, a medical data retrieval network. This groundbreaking partnership enabled innovative data analysis projects on three critical disease areas MSD plays a part in. Leveraging Briya’s advanced data platform, the partnership facilitated comprehensive data access for these important data analysis projects.

By utilizing Briya’s cutting-edge technology, MSD was able to access, standardize, and analyze real-world and accurate data from diverse sources in real time. This enabled the project to provide a more accurate and holistic view of the patient journey.
“We are happy to have partnered with Briya on this important initiative.” said Udi Cohen, MSD Israel Commercial Operations Director. “Briya’s data curation techniques shed new light on analyzing clinical data, including free text and medical notes, to generate insights about patients. I believe this will allow meaningful clinical insights to be obtained in the future.”
Briya’s platform ensured that all data was handled with the highest standards of security and privacy, complying with regulatory requirements and safeguarding patient information. This collaboration not only exemplifies the power of data in driving medical research but also underscores the importance of strategic partnerships in addressing healthcare challenges.
“Our collaboration with MSD marks a significant milestone in our mission to support innovative research through our robust data solutions,” said David Lazerson, CEO and Co-founder of Briya. “We are proud to have enabled this RWE project and look forward to continuing to work together to improve patient care and outcomes.”
This collaboration demonstrates that combining advanced data capabilities with pharmaceutical expertise can drive impactful healthcare outcomes. MSD and Briya are committed to ongoing innovation and partnership to further the advancement of medical science and improve patient lives.
About MSD:
MSD is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well. From developing new therapies that treat and prevent disease to helping people in need, we are committed to improving health and well-being around the world. For more information, visit https://www.msd.com/.
About Briya:
Briya’s global healthcare data network taps into the potential of patient-level data, fostering seamless collaboration between hospitals, clinics, health systems, researchers, and life sciences organizations worldwide while upholding regulations. Through this comprehensive solution, data sharing is securely facilitated in real-time, enabling standardization and harmonization of longitudinal data from diverse sources and systems with extreme ease. By leveraging Briya’s expansive network, organizations establish themselves as pioneers in research and innovation, enhance visibility within their sectors, and open up new avenues for revenue generation visit www.briya.com.
Contact Details:Mor Pecht [email protected] 
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518699/MSD_and_Briya.jpg
 
 

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