PERSPECTIVE
Are We Training the Accountants, the Future Needs in Colombia?
HIGHLIGHTS
- Colombia graduates roughly 18,520 public accounting students a year from 1,359 programs yet only 4 of 533 virtual programs, and 207 of the in-person programs, hold high-quality accreditation.
- AI is automating core accounting tasks (transaction recording, reconciliations, reporting, document review), shifting not eliminating the profession’s core work.
- Colombia’s accounting curriculum is fixed by regulation dating to 1990–2003, predating most of today’s transformative technologies.
- Canada separates the accounting degree from the professional designation (CPA/RPA); Colombia grants the professional title directly through the university program.
- A November 2023 agreement between Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and RPA Canada gives Colombian graduates a pathway to the Registered Professional Accountant (RPA) designation.
- The author calls for flexible, multi-track accounting education that builds AI, data, and cybersecurity literacy alongside critical thinking, judgment, and ethics.
Each year, approximately 18,520 students graduate from public accounting university programs in Colombia. There are currently 1,359 programs, of which 533 are offered in virtual or distance-learning format. However, only four of these online programs hold high-quality accreditation, while among in-person programs the figure rises to 207. These numbers raise a question: are we training the accountants that businesses will need in the future?
The question is urgent given the advance of artificial intelligence (AI). Many activities traditionally associated with accounting transaction recording, reconciliations, information classification, report preparation, and document review can be automated. This does not mean accountants will disappear, but it does mean a large part of their work is changing.
Colombia also faces a particular challenge: Public Accounting is a heavily regulated profession. Law 43 of 1990 governs its practice, and Resolution 3459 of 2003 establishes the components university programs must cover, including mathematics, statistics, economics, legal and administrative sciences, as well as accounting, financial, organizational, information, regulatory, and socio-humanistic components.
While this regulation seeks to guarantee professional competence and protect public trust, it can also limit curricular innovation. We are preparing professionals for the AI revolution within a training structure defined more than two decades ago, when many of the technologies now transforming businesses did not even exist.
“We are preparing professionals for the AI revolution within a training structure defined more than two decades ago.”
Canada offers an interesting contrast. There, earning a university degree in an accounting-related field and obtaining a professional designation are separate processes. Those aspiring to become Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) or Registered Professional Accountants (RPAs), for example, must meet additional requirements in professional education, assessment, and experience. In Colombia, by contrast, programs lead directly to the title of Public Accountant, although practicing certain professional functions later requires the corresponding registration and professional license.
This difference also creates challenges for the international recognition of Colombian accountants. Precisely to build bridges between the two systems, in November 2023 the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and RPA Canada signed an agreement offering Public Accounting students and graduates of the University a pathway to obtain the Registered Professional Accountant (RPA) designation in Canada.
But the challenge goes well beyond certification. Not all our graduates want to pursue statutory auditing, external audit, or functions tied to public trust. Many will work in finance, consulting, analytics, technology, risk, sustainability, or business management. Why should everyone follow essentially the same educational path?
AI makes rethinking this model even more necessary. The accountant of the future will need less training in routine tasks and greater capacity to interpret information, analyze data, identify risks, and turn information into decisions. They will need to understand AI, automation, analytics and data visualization, information systems, sustainability, and cybersecurity. And they will need to strengthen capabilities that technology will not easily replace critical thinking, professional judgment, communication, leadership, and ethics.
Colombia needs a more flexible model of education, one that allows for different career paths depending on professional interests. Regulation will remain essential wherever public trust is at stake, but it should not become a straitjacket for innovation.
“We cannot train the accountants of the future with the curriculum of the past.”