Soon after, one of our course presenters came to me to highlight a prime, timely example of where this kind of training could prove invaluable to a senior or aspiring finance professional. The topic was age discrimination and the far-reaching legislation, which will come into effect across the UK on 1 October.

You may wonder what bearing this has on the accountancy profession. The answer is that employers and employees are going to be affected by these changes in so many ways that finance departments won’t be able to avoid becoming more involved in thornier employment issues.

There has been much talk about the likely impact of these new laws, but how much of it is true? For instance, last month the Financial Times suggested that at its extreme the legislation could mean a company holding an event at a disco would amount to age discrimination. Of more direct relevance to readers of Accountancy Age, could it be true that partners can no longer be made to retire early after 1 October and can you openly build an accounts team around ‘young and dynamic ‘employees or similar recruitment descriptions?

Staff who are dismissed could pursue their employer for compensation if their rights in relation to this new legislation were not clearly explained. Employers, their lawyers, accountants and HR teams can only mitigate this kind of financial risk by informing themselves in good time and ensuring all functions remain on the right side of the legal line.

Considering the issue more broadly, what will your company look like in the future, with far more employees in their 60s and 70s? And what benefits and challenges could this present for finance professionals?

Here then is a high profile example of a topic that would never be covered in an accountant’s core qualification syllabus, but one which will have profound implications for how finance professionals both in-house and as agents of employers handle a range of difficult age-related issues in future.

Are you prepared for the greatest development in discrimination law in a decade? You may still not feel you need to be, but now would be the best time to find out.

Si Hussain is chief executive of professional development at BPP Professional Education