Khalijah Ismail.

Khalijah Ismail FCCA is so dedicated to continuous development that she keeps a learning journal.

In that journal, she tries to note down all the new things she learns each day. ‘How I view continuous learning is that there's no limit in terms of me acquiring new knowledge or experience,’ she explains. ‘I always strive to learn new things.’

As group CFO of Malaysia-based Maybank, Ismail oversees a large finance function of around 370 people. She also chairs, co-chairs, or belongs to 20 different executive committees, including the bank’s credit, IT, procurement, and risk committees. With this level and breadth of responsibility, it’s no surprise that she views a continuous learning mindset as critical to her success.

‘I spend a great deal of time in meetings trying to go in-depth,’ she says. ‘For example, if we are faced with some challenges, I might say, “Let's not stop there”, and we will invest time in knowing more about the things we have discussed.’

Ismail follows several different learning strategies. As well as learning from her colleagues at Maybank, she also attends webinars on important topics, including those hosted by ACCA and other professional organisations. Another learning opportunity is acting as a trainer to her team. For example, she has run masterclasses on how to apply the accounting standards IFRS 9, IFRS 15 and IFRS 16.

She also learns by disrupting the status quo, saying: ‘If I’m given a scenario where my team says, “This is how we’ve done it before,” my first question is normally, “Is there a way for us to do it better?”’

Ismail is committed to succession planning, which is why she helped to launch Maybank’s CFO Accelerator Lab programme. The programme is designed to cultivate the next generation of the bank’s CFOs and finance leaders. It is helping to produce a steady pipeline of internal finance talent who can step up and fill key vacancies as they arise.

As co-chair of Maybank’s Women Mentor Women Council, Ismail has also played a major role in an important diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. This initiative aimed to achieve female participation of 30% or more at management, senior management, and board level within the bank. Such was the success of the initiative that these targets have been reached. A self-avowed ‘ally of diversity’, Ismail acts as a coach and mentor to next-generation talent and currently has around 10 mentees.

Regardless of where they are in their career, Ismail’s advice to other accountants and finance professionals is to keep learning. ‘To remain relevant, we have to keep up with the latest developments in this ever-changing world,’ she says, ‘especially in the areas of digital transformation and sustainability.’

A continuous learning mindset helps to build a better world, Ismail argues, by encouraging people to better understand different issues and develop the agile mindsets that will enable them to thrive amid an era of constant change.  She also believes that a more competent and skilled talent pool benefits the community at large. As she says: ‘There's no better way for us to to learn and build a better world than by helping each other.’