‘Big data’ has become a business
buzzword. Its promise and its pitfalls
are gaining increasing attention in
businesses across the world, as corporate
leaders come to terms with the risks and
opportunities it will mean for them.
The combination of new data and new
analytics is aligning with other deep
shifts in the way that companies work,
transforming the business landscape.
Organisations are becoming more flexible,
more fluid, more open: they are becoming
creatures of increasing complexity.
As business is transformed by the impact
of big data and big data analytics, so
the role of finance professionals will
change as well. Some skills that were
once valued will become commoditised,
as has already happened in other
Big data: its power and perils
Accountancy Futures Academy
The big data boom
Big data is commonly used, but
not commonly understood. It refers
primarily to the vast amount of data
continually collected through devices
and technologies such as credit cards
and customer loyalty cards, the internet
and social media and, increasingly, WiFi
sensors and electronic tags. Much of this
data is ‘unstructured’ – data that does
not conform to a specific, pre-defined
data model.
BIG DATA AND THE FUTURE OF
ACCOUNTANCY: CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
Accountants and finance professionals
have already spotted the potential
of big data. In the 2012–13 ACCA–
IMA technology trends survey, 78%
of respondents said that they expect
widespread adoption of big data within
the next two years (ACCA–IMA 2013).
The same survey identified big data as
the second most impactful technology
trend in terms of its potential to
significantly reshape the business and
accountancy landscape. (See Figure 1
for scores by region)
professions. Other skills that were
previously misunderstood or overlooked
could become more valued.
New types of data will throw up new
challenges as well: over the next decade,
new standards for measuring and
valuing data will be developed, with
the inclusion of new and more diverse
datasets in reporting, modelling and
forecasting. There are less measurable
issues too, such as those concerning
ethics and privacy. The debate about the
impact and implications of these has
barely begun – but getting them wrong
could prove to be explosive.
Big data can offer accountants and
finance professionals the possibility
of reinvention, the chance to take a
more strategic, ‘future-facing’ role in
organisations.
The transition, however, will not be easy.
The accountants and finance professionals
who differentiate themselves will be
those who develop new skills and new
ways of thinking, and who form new
collaborations and partnerships.