Why Should Data Analytics Matter To Accountants

Anything we do for ourselves would mostly be because it brings benefits to us. Be it on a conscious-level or even something primal such as feeding our afternoon hunger for lunch. Just like businesses, we do what we can to improve it. And nothing can be further from the truth whereby data analytics is vital in helping businesses optimise their performances. 

A business exists and moves forward simply because it has the ability to: 

1. Generate revenue
2. Control costs
3. Achieve its desired Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

We have all been involved in businesses one way or another; by being an owner or a consumer, everyone is contributing to this holistic ecosystem. Data analytics, in essence, is the science of analysing raw data in order to make informed conclusions about the said information. The issue we all have here is the amount of information a business possesses is potentially endless. We also have yet to explore whether the set of data has been scrubbed clean or if the source is legitimate, let alone accurate. 

Accountants and Analytics

Any profession now requires a skillset that will only improve with learning and development. With Accounting, they look for anomalies, areas of excess where the business could improve cost-efficiency while keeping the business operations in order without compromising quality of the services delivered. To put it simply, accountants are no strangers to monetary analytics. However, they can only stand to gain by also learning the following types of analytics: Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive Analytics. 

Descriptive Analytics

As the name suggests, you will be going into what is currently happening in the business. Most of the data you can get your hands on are real time and there is no real need to await for the system to procure the needed information in this day and age. Often, this method requires the skillset to make quick yet informed decisions based on available data.

Diagnostic Analytics

This poses the question of: why did that happen? When an event happens in business, you best be sure people are going to be asking what happened to the increase in sales? What caused that dip in revenue a few months ago? Did the campaign we embarked on make the desired impact? Regardless of the reasoning, when you have mastered diagnostic analytics, you will be able to reveal the reasonings with ease.

Predictive Analytics

Forecasting and projections can be very helpful and it is only well-regarded when you have sufficient information to back your next move. Gut-feel and instinct may have taken over your decision-making and perhaps people have had a lucky streak over the years. Can you imagine if things had gone south? It would be best to avoid that at all costs by understanding proper patterns and trends. 

While there are many other skills that are needed to make an accountant better at what they do, being a human being basically enables you to gain an upper-hand in obtaining knowledge. Every career evolves with time. You run the risk of being left behind if you do not keep up with the changes that are happening. The post-pandemic economy is filled with opportunities and hidden gems and it is truly up to you to analyse the path ahead of you.