Singapore, 9 October 2026 (Friday) - ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and SMU Academy, the professional training arm of Singapore Management University (SMU), today unveiled the Advanced Certificate in Finance Leadership for Technological, Sustainability and Geopolitical Disruption at the ACCA Annual Conference in Singapore. The six-module professional programme will prepare finance leaders for a business environment being reshaped simultaneously by technology, the sustainability transition and geopolitical tension. The certificate programme will be available from January 2027.
The programme is built around three Ts: Technology, Transition, and Tension. It addresses them as a single connected challenge rather than three separate ones. Across 12 days of on-campus and online learning, participants work through macro trends reshaping finance; AI applications in finance and accounting, intangible assets and intellectual property, ESG reporting and sustainable finance, finance leadership and cross-border risk management.
This is the second joint programme SMUA and ACCA have rolled out, following the Advanced Certificate in Strategic Digital Transformation in Finance introduced in 2019.
The programme responds to a documented capability gap. Research by ACCA and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), Enabling finance insight: Bridging skills and data gaps for AI-enabled finance, found that 72% of respondents have only basic generative AI proficiency (38%) or none at all (34%). The same study found that data quality and a lack of skills were each cited by 42% of respondents as among the main obstacles to producing better business insight.
Steve Lee, Portfolio Head - Singapore, ANZ, & Oceania at ACCA, 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."
Jack Lim, Executive Director, SMU Academy, said, “Technology, sustainability and geopolitics no longer affect businesses separately. Finance professionals need to understand how these forces interact if they are to navigate complexity and make sound, responsible decisions.
“This programme combines our academic rigour and applied learning with ACCA’s global industry insights to help finance professionals continue building the capabilities they need to lead in a changing business environment. Through this partnership, we aim to develop leaders who are ready to support Singapore’s digital economy and industry transformation.”
The programme is CPD-accredited and designed for finance professionals including accountants, finance managers, controllers, data analysts, transformation managers, risk and compliance specialists, and audit and governance professionals. Participants should have at least two years of experience in financial services or foundational finance industry knowledge.
Supported by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA), the programme is eligible for SWDA funding, making upskilling more accessible to Singaporeans. The full programme fee is S$15,696 inclusive of GST, with fees as low as S$1,828.80 after maximum funding, subject to eligibility. Singapore Citizens aged 25 and above may also use their SkillsFuture Credit towards self-sponsored participation.
Further details and registration are available at https://academy.smu.edu.sg/courses/advanced-certificate-finance-leadership-technological-sustainability-and-geopolitical
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