The Future of Business Data Analytics and Accounting Automation

How New Professionals Can Level Up their Skills and Knowledge

Karina Kasztelnik, PhD, and Stephen Campbell, PhD

The current technological transformation in accounting and taxation shows that “companies have a large appetite for increasing complex analytics, even when they cannot adequately perform the basics” (EY.com, “Solutions to Help You Accelerate Tax Transformation,” 2022, https://tinyurl.com/muxxpv4d, 2022). Most companies and governments still spend 80% of their time on data cleansing, which an appropriate machine learning (ML) algorithm can perform in minutes. Thus, the market faces a challenge: accountants with technical expertise are required to design algorithms capable of reducing the human workload. Traditional accounting and business analytics are insufficient to meet current business needs; modern data analytics offer businesses in-depth insight into their daily operations. For the public accounting profession to continue to create value in the age of “big data” analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), a clear vision for the future of digital accounting, taxation, and business data analytics is essential.