As professional translators, we need to keep abreast of the latest information relating to not only our profession, but 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

#IFRS Did you miss our live web presentation on the new Leases Standard #IFRS16 last week? It's still available here https://t.co/VPTSQLyl0T

— IFRS Foundation (@IFRSFoundation) January 20, 2016

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

New reporting standards ( #IFRS 9, 15 and 16) will bring more transparency to the balance sheet https://t.co/Q445kGmg77

— IFRS Demystified (@Ifrsdemystified) January 21, 2016

IFRS Demystified posts about changes to IFRS regulations and the impacts that those regulations have on businesses around the globe.

3. Autorité des Marchés Financier (AMF)

[Etude]Placements atypiques, trading en ligne, arnaques: découvrez l'étude de @institutCSA > https://t.co/KYbhovUWcq pic.twitter.com/37kVSKHmDq

— AMF (@AMF_actu) January 27, 2016

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)

MT @BakerTillyInt IAASB publishes final amendments for auditor reporting standards on financial statements https://t.co/Yuhpdg4vbE

— IAASB (@IAASB_News) January 23, 2016

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) tweets about international auditing, audit reporting, financial reporting, new accounting standards, etc.

5.  Francesca Airaghi

Financial Times Lexicon – The definitive dictionary of economic, financial and business terms https://t.co/5hJCAZymSl

— Francesca Airaghi (@FranAiraghi) December 23, 2015

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) 

FEE issues new briefing paper on the impact of Europe's audit #reform on #audit committees https://t.co/qIVASQhqFb pic.twitter.com/pRQ80QuIlI

— FEE (@FEE_Brussels) January 19, 2016

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

#Integratedreporting continues to grow momentum. Read what experts are discussing on the Global Knowledge Gateway https://t.co/ARGOHKdzVD

— IFAC (@IFAC_Update) February 1, 2016

The International Federation of Accountants tweets about audit standards, ethics, the integrated reporting movement and other accounting topics.

8. Accountancy Live

IAS 7 amend to improve disclosure #financing liabilities – raises costs for preparers #accounting https://t.co/6sO85LD3vm @accountancylive

— accountancy live (@accountancylive) January 29, 2016

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

Staffing levels rose rapidly in Europe during January. #Marketing #GMI https://t.co/V4iEqyHqYZ

— World Economics (@WorldEconomics) January 31, 2016

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

#FASB issues proposed improvements to financial reporting of #pensions and other postretirement benefit plans #opeb https://t.co/e5ZqtrSM5y

— FAF, FASB, and GASB (@FAFNorwalk) January 26, 2016

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

FRC: Extended auditor reporting welcomed by investors:https://t.co/aSkvivyUZH pic.twitter.com/jl9J687LCJ

— Accountancy Age (@AccountancyAge) January 29, 2016

Accountancy Age tweets about accounting news and analysis for mostly the UK, but they also post some articles on the rest of Europe and the US as well.

12. Investopedia

The #gdp for the top six economies didn't do so well in the fourth quarter https://t.co/OKO0Jm78r6

— Investopedia (@Investopedia) January 29, 2016

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

Preparing for the #EU’s New #Data Protection Rule https://t.co/VYw05ZqP4K #GDPR

— Compliance Week (@complianceweek) January 27, 2016

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. Having a good understanding of these topics will help you better translate texts that relate to these topics.

14. Funded News

This NYC Startup Just Raised $9.5M To Do This For Hotels: ALICE, has just raised a $9.5M, wi… https://t.co/Kc44eSWWmv #funded #startups

— Funded News (@FundedNews) January 21, 2016

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 might be ready for international expansion (and thus could should need translation services).

15. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Historic IMF quota and governance reforms go into effect: https://t.co/dhvjn7pSKp

— IMF (@IMFNews) January 27, 2016

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!