As professional translators, we need to keep abreast of the
latest information relating to not only our profession, but to our area(s) of
expertise as well. There are many ways you can do this – being actively
involved in translators associations is one way; attending conferences,
workshops, seminars, etc. is also a vital component in honing your skills. However, you can also keep yourself au courant on a day-to-day basis using social media.
A mere 10 years ago, Twitter was just a weird platform where teenagers wrote
140-character sentences to each other and no one really knew why, but now
Twitter is a major source of information where an almost infinite amount of content is blasted
out constantly, and where virtually every industry has a presence. What’s nice about
this is that it is now very easy to stay informed of the latest news in both the world of translation and within your specialist area.
Being a French to English financial translator, I like to
keep up-to-date on accounting and finance news. Below, I’ve listed my 15 favorite
Twitter accounts relating to accounting and finance.
1. IFRS Foundation
The IFRS Foundation/IASB tweets about changes to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and publishes presentations and videos explaining new standards or amendments. This is a great resource if you translate the Annual Reports of companies that use IFRS.
2. IFRS Demystified
IFRS Demystified posts about changes to IFRS regulations and the impacts that those regulations have on businesses around the globe.
3. Autorité des Marchés Financiers
(AMF)
This is the official Twitter account of the the Autorité des Marchés Financiers. They post news and information about French financial markets. This is a great resource for FR<>EN financial translators.
4. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) tweets about international auditing, audit reporting, financial reporting, new accounting standards, etc.
5. Francesca Airaghi
Francesca Airaghi is an English to Italian financial translator who tweets about financial translation, accounting/finance/global markets, freelancing and general topics for freelancers. She's the only individual I have on this list, but her Twitter activity is practically tailor-made for financial translators and is definitely worth a follow.
6. The Federation of European Accountants (FEE)
The Federation of European Accountants is an active organization that issues opinions on new European accounting standards. This is a good account to follow if you want to know how experts in the field are reacting to new and/or amended accounting standards and practices.
7. The International Federation of Accountants
The International Federation of Accountants tweets about audit standards, ethics, the integrated reporting movement and other accounting topics.
8. Accountancy Live
Accountancy live tweets news about taxes, accounting and audit for mostly the EU, but posts some US news as well. This Twitter account is a good source for industry news.
9. World Economics
World Economics posts about employment, global trends for many different industries, and other topics and news related to global economics.
10. The FAF, FASB and GASB
The FAF (Financial Accounting Foundation), the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) and the GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) tweet under one handle (@FAFNorwalk). This is the go-to place for information regarding GAAP, as these organizations set financial reporting standards and accounting standards for organizations that use GAAP for their accounting.
11. Accountancy Age
Accountancy Age tweets about accounting news and analysis for mostly the UK, but they also post some articles about the rest of Europe and the US as well.
12. Investopedia
I'm sure every financial translator who translates into or out of English has looked up a term on Investopedia at least once, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it is included in this list. Investopedia posts news articles about the economic/financial situation of countries and companies across the globe.
13. Compliance Week
Compliance Week tweets about all things compliance-related. Internal controls, risk management, accounting compliance/audits, etc. This Twitter account is a personal favorite of mine because I was a trade compliance manager before becoming a full-time translator. However, my personal background aside, this is still a useful resource since compliance and internal control are such integral components of corporate reporting.
14. Funded News
Funded News is pretty self-explanatory. They tweet about start-ups that have just acquired funding. If you want to do some digging and research to hunt for direct clients, this could be a good resource, as it can help you figure out which start-ups are ready for international expansion (and thus
could should need translation services).
15. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Last, but certainly not least, is the International Monetary Fund. This Twitter account is a great go-to source of information on the global economies and information on efforts being made by the IMF to promote sustainable economic growth around the world.
Final Thoughts
This is not an exhaustive list - just some of my favorites that are very active on Twitter. If you would like to see all of the accounting/finance Twitter accounts that I follow, I keep them in a separate list
here. Do you have any favorites that are not on this list? If so, let me know!
