When Jean Bouquot became President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in late 2024, he knew he was stepping into one of the most globally visible positions in the profession. What he did not anticipate was just how much time he would spend in transit.
In his first 10 months, Bouquot visited more than 20 countries, a dizzying schedule that has taken him from the skyscrapers of Hong Kong to the corridors of the Ministry of Finance in Lebanon, from emerging accounting organizations in Africa to stakeholder summits in Latin America. But there is no trace of fatigue in his voice when he describes why the travel matters.
“These visits mean a lot to our members,” he explains. “We help to raise their profile. We contribute to the dialogue with regulators and stakeholders, and reinforce our own key messages. But most importantly, we hear directly from our members about the value they are getting from IFAC.”
For Bouquot, listening is the very heart of IFAC’s mission. “I would characterize my role as being active and listening, also curious and engaging,” he says. “Listening is key.”
The emphasis is deliberate. In a world of accelerating change, he sees IFAC’s job as less about issuing pronouncements and more about connecting, interpreting, and amplifying the voices of its 187 member organizations.
“We are a federation,” he says. “Our strength comes from our members. My role is to make sure they are heard.”
Bouquot, on a visit to Hong Kong, speaks with enthusiasm about the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. He sees it not just as a strong local professional accounting organization that is part of IFAC, but as a global partner in furthering the profession.
“HKICPA is a very powerful institute. It has always maintained strong international engagement,” Bouquot says. He emphasizes that its early adoption of IFAC membership and its strategic connectivity in international finance make it a key part of IFAC, long contributing volunteers to IFAC governance.
Building value through trust
So what do members say they value most about IFAC? Bouquot offers three areas: quality, connectivity, foresight.
“Quality in everything we do,” he begins. “Connectivity, the links we bring our members. And looking to the future, trying to be ready for what is coming.”
That future-facing stance reflects IFAC’s unusual role. It is neither a regulator nor a standard-setter (functions it deliberately spun off to ensure independence) but a federation that works across borders to advocate for the profession. It promotes the adoption of international standards, convenes dialogue between regulators and firms, and champions the profession’s role in serving the public interest.
“Providing trust and working for the public interest is what makes us different. If we leave this, then our profession is no longer relevant.”
It is that last phrase, public interest, that Bouquot returns to again and again. “Providing trust and working for the public interest is what makes us different,” he insists. “If we leave this, then our profession is no longer relevant.”
In an era when corporate scandals can tarnish the reputation of auditors overnight, Bouquot knows the fragility of trust all too well. His own career was shaped by the collapse of Arthur Andersen, where he spent two decades. He felt the shockwaves from afar in France when Enron’s implosion began in America. “It was a shock,” he recalls. “It taught me the importance of being reliable, not just yourself, but all together. Weakness in one part of the world can damage trust everywhere.”
Sustainability disclosure as a defining challenge
If trust is the foundation of the accountancy profession, then sustainability-related information is one of the frontiers. And the conversation is an ongoing one.
“The first thing is to understand the fundamental change in the scope of information that many investors, lenders, companies and stakeholders want and need for decision making. Then, there has to be trust in sustainability information, which will only exist if it is assured.”
In 2021, the IFRS Foundation created the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), chaired by Emmanuel Faber, and by mid-2023 it had issued its first two standards, IFRS S1 and S2.
For Bouquot, this was a milestone, but also the start of hard work. “We still have colleagues who are wondering what our role is in sustainability,” he admits. Without assurance, he warns, sustainability reporting risks degenerating into public relations gloss. “Producing information is one thing. Making sure it has the appropriate level of quality, that it is suitable for decision-making, and subjecting it to assurance is something else. And this is where we have to step in.”
It requires upskilling and training, he says. “You cannot just say, ‘I’m a green accountant,’” Bouquot insists. “It requires real expertise. This is in the hands of the professional accounting organizations. Significant progress has been made, but we are still at the early phase of a very important engagement.”
He points to his own country, France, where regulators have taken a significative step: introducing a 90-hour certification programme for sustainability auditors. Bouquot himself undertook the training, sitting through lessons and assessments like a student again. “Today in France, we have 2,000 of these trained auditors,” he notes with pride. “It shows the impact we can have if we engage seriously.”
For him, sustainability education is not just about technical skills. It is also about inspiration. “For young generations, it can be a new source of purpose. They see they can be both financial experts and experts in non-financial information that investors and stakeholders want. It makes the profession more interesting, attractive, and future fit.”
“We have lived in the past with problems of greenwashing. It will not disappear with standards alone. It is about how they are applied, how seriously corporations take the information.”
That attractiveness is not a minor point. Across many countries, accountancy faces declining enrolments. Bouquot believes the reporting and assurance of sustainability-related information can help reverse the trend. “Young people want to contribute to meaningful change. This is meaningful.”
Even with new standards that address what sustainability-related information should be reported by companies and how it should be assured, trust in the profession is imperative. “We have lived in the past with problems of greenwashing. It will not disappear with standards alone. It is about how they are applied, how seriously corporations take the information.”
The lesson again, says Bouquot, is that trust must be earned. Just as in financial reporting, accountants’ role is to ensure that sustainability information that companies provide is reliable. It is a role, Bouquot says, that requires judgement, independence and a willingness to call out weaknesses.
The SME perspective
Bouquot is candid about the difficulties. For small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs) and small and medium practices (SMPs), sustainability often feels like a compliance burden. “If it is viewed as a cost, then we are lost,” he says.
Attitudes vary widely. Some SME leaders are enthusiastic, others skeptical. In his experience, many are surprisingly engaged. “A lot of SME leaders consider this important. They see where they can have a role. In some ways, it may even be easier for SMEs to adapt than for very large corporations with factories all over the world.”
Still, Bouquot says the perception of burden is real. Europe, where sustainability reporting has become mandatory for large entities, has already seen pushback. “At the moment, Europe, which had to engage very fast, is slowing down,” he notes.
The challenge, then, is communication: framing sustainability disclosure not as bureaucratic overhead but as a necessity for fully informed economic decisions. “Your clients, your suppliers, they will expect it. You cannot stay in your own world,” Bouquot says. “It is a question of economic behaviour.”
AI: tool, not replacement
Artificial intelligence (AI) defines another frontier. For some, AI is an existential threat to the profession. “For me, AI is a tool. It is not the profession,” he says firmly. “Our role is judgement, skepticism. If we don’t understand what is in the black box, what comfort can we give?”
That does not mean AI isn’t game-changing. On the contrary, Bouquot sees it reshaping how accountants work, especially in data analysis, risk detection, and audit sampling. The risks, however, are clear: the opacity of AI models, the investment required, and the danger of leaving SMPs behind. “We have to make sure small practitioners don’t say, ‘This is not for me, I can’t climb that mountain.’”
“For me, AI is a tool. It is not the profession. Our role is judgement, skepticism. If we don’t understand what is in the black box, what comfort can we give?”
At the same time, he sees enormous potential. “AI gives us access to huge amounts of data we could never analyse before. It makes us more relevant, provided we escape the fear and use it wisely.”
And for young accountants, AI is not a deterrent but a magnet. “Many are already steps ahead of me,” he says. “For them, it shows the profession is engaged in the issues shaping the future.”
The thread linking sustainability and AI is ethics. For Bouquot, this is non-negotiable. “We play a role which no other profession has in terms of public interest. Providing trust means we must comply with strong ethical codes. If we leave this, our profession is no longer relevant.”
It is a never-ending challenge. “We are humans. Difficulties will always exist. That is why we emphasize training, education, and independent oversight. Trust is fragile. We must protect it every minute.”
Ethics, for him, is not abstract. It is the reason the profession has survived scandals, technological upheaval, and shifting political winds. It is what allows accountants to be recognized not just as technicians but as guardians of credibility.
Global profession, fragmented world
Bouquot is also alert to geopolitics. He recalls the pre-IFRS days, when multinationals had to translate accounts across jurisdictions. Convergence, he argues, was a market-driven necessity, and the profession delivered.
Today, fragmentation looms again, particularly in sustainability reporting. “We cannot tell the political environment to stop. But we can help our profession understand the differences, and provide expertise across borders. That is immense value.”
In an era of rising protectionism, Bouquot sees IFAC’s global role as more vital than ever. “We want to stay global.”
To that end, IFAC continues to prioritize its “IFAC Connect” regional meetings in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia to ensure members feel heard and connected.
“We cannot be seen as something living in one part of the world. This is key. It differentiates us. It makes us agile, knowledgeable, innovative.”
Lessons in leadership
Bouquot’s personal history offers further lessons. After Arthur Andersen, he joined EY where he was audit partner until 2020 and embraced the role of “trusted advisor.” Auditing, he argues, is not simply about signing accounts but about dialogue. “Clients do not expect you to just say, ‘Your accounts are okay.’ They expect insight.”
Equally important was mentoring. “Transmission, transmission, transmission,” he emphasizes. “You can contribute from the beginning. You bring the fresh eye. Maybe you are wrong, but at least you learn. And the next time, you approach things differently.” That ethos, listening, transmitting, engaging, now defines his presidency.
“We are humans. Difficulties will always exist. That
is why we emphasize training, education, and
independent oversight. Trust is fragile. We must protect it every minute.”
Asked how he sees the profession a decade from now, Bouquot is optimistic noting that it will be agile, global, and anchored in values. The challenges are formidable and include sustainability, AI, attracting new talent, financing, ethics. But the assets, he points out – including multiculturalism, connectivity, inventiveness – are there too.
“Agility is key,” he emphasizes. “Openness to the world is key. And always, always, public interest.”
With that, he gathers his things, ready for his next journey, first back to his home country France for a conference on women in accounting and then onto another IFAC member country. For Bouquot, IFAC is a living embodiment of a profession on the move.
On 12 September, Jean Bouquot, President of IFAC, shared insights exclusively to Institute members at a seminar on the transformations of sustainability and digitalization. Key insights from the session include: Sustainability and digitalization are not just trends – they are defining opportunities for the accounting profession; professional accountants already have the core skills and ethics to be trusted leaders in this shift; and continuous upskilling and reskilling, especially in artificial intelligence, are essential to stay ahead.
