The federation, also known as Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens, or FEE, announced the name change yesterday. It will also get a new website, a new look and a new motto: ‘because people count’.

Heading Accountancy Europe’s new leadership is president Edelfried Schneider who called the organisation “ready for the next 30 years and beyond”.

He said: “Technology will keep changing our work, but I believe people are actually going to count even more.

“Computers can process information, but people will have to interpret it and provide ethical judgement and strategic advice.

“Trust is fundamental to any society, any market, any transaction, and professional accountants are providers of trust.”

The organisation’s new logo, a yellow A-shape crowned with a point, represents the outline of a human figure, Accountancy Europe said.

The ‘A’ refers to the accountants, auditors and advisors it represents, it continued, but also an “umbrella” to signify its role in uniting members, an arrow and target to “suggest accuracy and efficiency” and a loudspeaker, to represent the organisation’s role in giving a “prominent ‘voice’ to the profession in Europe and beyond”.

CIPFA said that, despite Brexit, it would remain an active member of Accountancy Europe, joining the public debate on public financial management.

Alan Edwards, CIPFA’s development chair and deputy chair of the FEE’s public sector group, said: “FEE PSG has been at the forefront of the debate about stronger PFM in Europe after the sovereign debt crisis.

“We have provided the ‘go to’ roundtable events for Europe’s debate on accrual accounting and harmonised standards.”

Times have changed markedly for accountancy in Europe. When the FEE was founded in 1986 the European Union comprised just 10 countries and there were 21 FEE member organisations.

Today, Accountancy Europe’s membership consists of almost one million professionals and 50 professional organisations from 37 countries, including all 28 EU member states.