Accounting talent gears up for centres

While policymakers continue to refine institutional frameworks, infrastructure and technology systems for international financial centres (IFCs) in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang city, experts say a skilled workforce will serve as the essential foundation for a modern and sustainable financial ecosystem.

Kevin Bruce Iwanaga, head of Strategy and Synthesis at the IFC’s Executive Agency in Danang, said the system was undergoing rapid transformation.

“The IFC in the city is not simply about establishing another financial centre or a new regulatory platform. Its objective is to build a modern financial gateway connecting global capital with Vietnam’s real economy. Capital will be channelled into sectors capable of generating long-term value, including infrastructure, businesses, trade, green development, technology, agriculture, logistics, energy, and regional economic growth,” Iwanaga said at a seminar on the topic on June 30.

The Danang IFC ecosystem will initially focus on five products: real-world asset tokenisation, carbon credits and a carbon credit exchange, a commodities exchange, investment funds and asset management, and the bond market. Together, they are intended to engage international capital, restructure financing through modern financial products, and channel capital more efficiently into the real economy.

While financial products are expected to strengthen capital mobilisation, experts say the long-term competitiveness of an international financial centre will also depend on high-quality workers.

Truong Minh Huy Vu, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, said a highly skilled workforce would provide professional financial services while serving as a source of innovation. One of the city’s human resource strategies is to establish a management and executive committee, a supervisory committee, and a dispute resolution committee under the financial centre, all staffed by internationally qualified professionals.

“Suitable personnel will provide professional and efficient financial services that meet international standards, thereby enhancing the reputation and attractiveness of the financial centre,” Vu said at another seminar in Ho Chi Minh City in April.

The changing demands of the financial sector coincide with a broader shift in career aspirations among Vietnam’s accounting and finance workforce. Younger professionals are increasingly seeking social impact, greater workplace flexibility, and opportunities to create meaningful value alongside career progression and higher incomes.

The Global Talent Trends 2026 report, released by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in May, found that Vietnam’s accounting and finance professionals increasingly view the profession as a platform for contributing to the country’s economic and social development, reflecting broader shifts in career expectations.

Based on more than 11,000 responses from professionals across 160 countries, the report places Vietnam among emerging economies where career ambition, economic pressures and changing workforce priorities are reshaping the finance talent market.

One of its key findings is the growing preference for purpose-driven careers. Around 73 per cent of Vietnamese respondents said they want finance roles that create a positive social impact, above the global average of 69 per cent.

The trend is particularly evident among younger professionals across Southeast Asia, where many members of Generation Z and the Millennial generation are looking beyond career progression and income to work that delivers wider social and environmental value.

As noted by the report, these findings reflect Vietnam’s transition towards a more knowledge-intensive economy, with environmental, social, and governance issues attracting greater attention from investors and regulators. Interest in sustainability-related work is also rising, with 61 per cent of Vietnamese respondents expressing interest in environmental and climate-related finance roles.

Ren Varma, portfolio head for mainland Southeast Asia at ACCA, said younger finance professionals are entering the workforce with a stronger awareness of both Vietnam’s economic opportunities and its environmental and social challenges, shaping the employers and careers they choose.

“What we are seeing in Vietnam is a generation of finance professionals who have grown up with an awareness of both the country’s economic potential and its social and environmental challenges,” Varma said. “They want to be part of solving those challenges, and they are choosing careers and employers that give them the chance to do so. That is a significant shift from how the profession was understood even a decade ago.”