Analytics In The Accounting Industry
Depending on your field of work or study, the word ‘analytics’ may be a familiar sight and it would have seen an increase in usage in recent years. Analytics is a study of data or statistics and used for discovery, interpretation and communication of meaningful trends and patterns in data. Businesses usually apply analytics to business data to describe, predict and improve its status quo. Will it grow together with the accounting industry?
Finance Systems and Types of Data
Finance teams in small or large companies usually pay more attention to the data being generated by the financial system. This could be an automated software or graphs obtained by churning numbers through traditional bookkeeping. Analytics now put both structured and unstructured data under a magnifying glass because we are receiving lots of other data coming from all fronts and they are being funneled into the organisation almost 24/7.
Information can come in the form of numbers which are easily tallied through balance sheets and one quick look would let any capable manager know what are the businesses on the books; for directors, to steer the ship in the best direction for the brand. Data can also be presented through subjective matters such as verbal or written feedback which would then be assigned a scoring module and reported throughout the organization via a quality assurance report.
How Analytics and Accounting Can Become a Powerhouse
Finance teams have the ability to transform into an analytics powerhouse of an organization. They have an overview of the business’s health and by implementing the four types of data analytics methods, namely: Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive, and Prescriptive, they are basically data navigators and these make for true business partners.
A data navigator (ACCA’s report on Future Ready: Accountancy Careers in the 2020s) will have the skillset to turn numbers into storytelling and visuals which will aid in data-driven decision-making. Regardless of the amount of data a business holds, it is always how they use the data that brings about its true value.
Why Analytics Is Here to Stay
A big part of being able to live in the moment is to understand what is going in the world around us. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape evolution. Change is inevitable and for something as massive as the accounting industry, just like clockwork, it too will fall into line and continue to play a pivotal role in many circumstances. The biggest impact to the accounting industry will be the integration of technology with accounting methods as old as time yet still hold much weight today as it did in yesteryears.
You can transform yourself along with your organisation because changes affect all levels of an organisation. Business owners, department heads and associates across the board have as much a say as anyone else on the street. To echo Gandhi: the future depends on what you do today.
And what exactly do you need to do? Firstly, research. However, at 6Biz Academy, we’ve done that for you and the only thing left for you to complete is to click here. In a new world where financial management is more important than ever, offers are plenty but money-back-guarantee begs for a deeper look. We trust ourselves to provide only the best for you; wouldn’t you trust yourself to do better?
