China’s particular challenges include (but are not limited to) its sensitivity to the global economy; managing demographics; its planned substantial infrastructure investment; responding to global climate change and resource constraints; and its exploitation of technologies and big data.

All these developments will have an impact on the future of the public sector in China, and the role of finance professionals in the sector.

Opportunities for China

Technology developments are going to have a significant impact on the overall economy and the state sector, and will influence heavily the role of professional accountants.

The availability of good data in the public sector that can be exploited effectively to drive better service delivery and information, as well as challenges for the governance and control over use of the data.

Significant growth of China’s labour productivity by 2025 can be expected to come from digitalisation of the workplace, particularly as new business models and service delivery models evolve.