As accountants, we are accustomed to applying our expertise in the language of business to provide valuable insights and reporting on various financial matters. However, there is a growing subset of accountants who are venturing beyond the conventional boundaries of our field and embracing the allure of data and technology.
One such individual is Alexander Belov FCCA, a data engineer at Revantage Europe, based in Luxembourg. Belov describes the journey of transitioning from the accounting lexicon to programming as akin to learning a new language. Through perseverance and dedication, he has successfully made the shift and achieved remarkable results in his data career.
Belov believes that his willingness to take on new opportunities and challenges has played a significant role in his rapid skills development. While he had to make trade-offs between career progression in traditional accounting and his own growth as a data expert, the experience forced him to learn and evolve.
One of Belov’s notable accomplishments is the creation of a tool that provides real-time insights into business activity for senior stakeholders. This innovative solution gathers transactional data from disparate systems, cleans and stores it in a custom database, and presents it through an interactive dashboard. The best part? It’s all automated.
Another professional who highlights the importance of support and encouragement from colleagues in the tech-learning journey is Sarada Lee FCCA, co-founder of the Perth Machine Learning Group in Australia. Lee’s foray into machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) began when she found herself between roles with some free time on her hands. Intrigued by AI, she decided to explore it further and participated in hackathons to showcase her work. This led her to a community of like-minded individuals who supported her endeavors.
Eventually, Lee joined a fellowship program that allowed her to apply her newfound skills to real-world needs. As a result, she co-authored an academic paper that implemented a machine-learning algorithm to count human immune cells—a much faster approach than manual counting. Lee considers this one of her proudest moments.
Lee’s positive experiences prompted her to co-found the Perth Machine Learning Group, aiming to support others interested in this field. Her advice to aspiring programmers is to embrace vulnerability, ask for help, and be open to failure.
Chong Yu Tee FCCA, a Singapore-based director of data analytics and a lecturer, points out that accountancy professionals already possess foundational skills that can be transferred to programming. For instance, proficiency in Excel offers an opportunity to gain insights into more sophisticated data analytics. Yu Tee emphasizes that exploring table relationships and using pivot tables in Excel parallels core concepts in data analytics.
Yu Tee has built a successful career helping audit clients analyze their data and providing unique insights in management reports. He suggests that individuals further along in their careers can find niche opportunities that combine their existing industry knowledge with new skills in data and tech, allowing them to add high-level value.
For anyone considering a transition into data and tech, Yu Tee advises pursuing the field out of a genuine interest in learning and growth.
The attributes that accountancy professionals bring to programming include their attention to detail, critical in debugging code, and their natural audit and compliance abilities align well with data governance. This emerging field deals with pressing issues surrounding data access, use, integrity, and security.
To sum up, the world of data analysis presents an exciting new direction for accountancy professionals to apply their skills. With their attention to detail, audit prowess, and proficiency in tools like Excel, accountants are well-positioned to make the transition into programming and data analytics. The experiences of pioneers like Alexander Belov, Sarada Lee, and Chong Yu Tee serve as inspiration and encouragement for others looking to embark on their own data-driven journeys. By embracing new opportunities, seeking support from colleagues, and fostering a genuine interest in learning, aspiring data professionals can unlock a wealth of possibilities in this rapidly evolving field.
