The skillsets for accountants changing – are you keeping up?

There has been a shift in demand for accountants with forward-looking predictive analytics skills, and away from a knowledge base of backward-looking dashboards, says new research from ACCA.

The ACCA’s AI Monitor: Skills to drive responsible AI adoption report says this change in skills requires a change of tools and mindset.

Predictive analytics is seen as a route to tackling important areas including ESG and sustainability, and even elements of risk management. So, accounting professionals are now expected to understand a wider variety of data types.

Senor finance professionals believe almost half of finance function roles moving forward will be more data-centric, ie data science or engineering type roles.

Alistair Brisbourne, Head of Technology Research, ACCA, said: “Data skills are always evolving and so it’s no surprise to see that there is emerging demand for data science and engineering skills as well as data management skills by employers.

“That reflects the importance of data-driven decision making within organisations. But it also reflects a profession that is looking to become more pre-emptive in how we use data to solve challenges.”

You can read the report at: AI Monitor: Skills to drive responsible AI adoption.