Big data refers to the large amounts of data collected from various sources like cell phones, credit cards, and the internet. As big data continues to grow exponentially, accountants must learn new skills to analyze and manage all this data. Traditional accounting methods like Excel spreadsheets are no longer sufficient. Accountants will need to form new partnerships and collaborate across departments to extract useful insights from big data. While big data presents many challenges, it also provides opportunities to improve business decisions, target customers more effectively, and even combat fraud through advanced data analysis. The role of accountants is evolving to be more strategic and analytic as businesses rely more heavily on big data.

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Danielle Cunningham
Professor Schwanger
Intro to Financial Accounting II
October 6, 2015
Big Data in 2015
Big Data is data that is collected from devices like; cell phones, computers, credit cards,
social media, customer loyalty cards, and the internet. The Data pulled from those devices help
Accountants and other business professionals with products to create; market trends, customer’s
like and dislikes, price strategies, and new products. In recent years, big data is getting bigger
and bigger. It is doubling every two years and the tactics used in today’s world is not cutting it
anymore. Accountants are learning new things in order to manage all of the data that needs to be
collected and analyzed. It is so large; it is impossible to put that much information into and Excel
spreadsheet. The business world as we know it is not changing completely, but the way of
analyzing and computing data is. The reason for this is because of all the new technology, and
this jump will improve businesses for the better. The emergence of big data will be; challenging,
innovating, and convenient for Accounting professionals."
There are many challenges associated with big data. It is getting significantly bigger and
better than before. The new technology to organize the data is cheaper and faster. Not many
people know how to organize all of the data or interpret it. The main thing that is going to be
challenging for Accountants is the shift of responsibilities. Not all Accountants are going to be
changing the way they do their job. It Is mostly people that work at big corporations. With big
data, Accountants are going to need to improve their ways of thinking, skills, and form new
collaborations and partnership ("Big Data: Big Challenges") For Accountants, they usually
measure big data as an organizational Asset. They will now also have to use big data as a
measure of organizational performance. According to McKinsey Global Institute in 2011, they
estimated a shortage of 190,000 people with the skills needed to analyze big data by 2018. Big
data has always been growing. It has recently had a rapid change. Companies and Corporations
need to do what is necessary and train their employees so there isn’t a significant shortage. The
data needs to be managed correctly so it can give companies a profit. Some businesses are being
built on big data, mostly internet companies, like “Google.” Not everyone can analyze data to
track spending habits or customer satisfaction. Accountants need to become more familiar with

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statistics and decision science in order to complete tasks efficiently (Chua). Accountants are
going to be effectively and expertly managed, and they require significant investment from
companies. Competition for skills will further increase, potentially leading to a “big data divide”
in business (Chua). Nina Tan CPA at Trax Technology Solutions made a statement in the ACCA
and says fellow Accountants need to, “stay hungry forknowledge,experience,and exposure.” Her
strategy is adapted from Steve Job’s saying, “a person should stay hungry and stay foolish.” She
says that big data is still in an exploratory stage. She also says that CFO’s need to get involved
with development of the pricing strategy that goes along with big data (Chua).
The opportunities are endless for what big data can bring to the business world. For
example, an article on CFO by David M. Katz called “Accounting’sBig Data Problem” talks about
how companies will honor what their customers like so they come back. Katz talks about Dave
Frankel. Frankel is the president of EDGAR online. Frankel was traveling with American
Airlines and liked the music they were playing at the gate. He goes on Twitter and tweets about
how he enjoyed the song. American Airlines then replies back to him, saying- “We’re glad you
liked it.” Frankel then as a joke replies back to American Airlines with a request for a seat
upgrade. He didn’t get what he wanted, but there are chances that it can happen. This story is to
demonstrate the second-by- second, almost exponential growth of potentially actionable business
information under the rubric of big data. This can happen on other sites like Facebook, Amazon,
Yahoo, and even email. All Frankel did was tweet to the airline and he provided them data which
can improve their marketing and customer service (Katz).
Sean Stein Smith, CPA, CGMA, CMA, published an article on “Accounting Web” about
how Accountants can use big data to fight fraud. He says,
“Opportunity comes in the form of increased demands for information, and the
more opportunities business segments, leads, and other professionals have to
present results in a favorable manner, the more likely it is for those people to
be tempted to enter gray areas of reporting results.”
Big Data’s method can increase the the value that Accountants bring to the organization. A major
and potential area of growth for big data adaption and implementation is in the fight against
fraud. There are a couple of examples that Accountants can leverage big data to help combat
fraud and possibly fraudulent activities. They can analyze customer profitability, shopping

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habits, and shipping locations. By using big data tools to analyze shifts and trends. Another
example is, they take advantage of improved data collection and processing it at operational
facilities to improve inventory and other asset control. They use this information in real time, and
use it to assist in inventory counts, valuation, and custody. Fraudulent and unethical activities
cost organizations time and lost productivity, and leave the organization open to potential fines
and penalties. Accountants are in the prime position to protect the organization from these
potential penalties (Smith).
The opportunities with big data go hand in hand with the challenges. Accountants need
to get past the challenges for there to be new opportunities. The tools for analyzing big data is
advancing as the years go by. It is getting easier to gather data. Accountants can’t put this
information in Excel because there is too much. Accountants will have to address the volume of
data, the need for insight, and the need for speed. Programs such as, “Google Analytics,” and
“Tableau” that will help small and medium sized enterprises so they don’t need to make capital
investments. (Chua). It has the potential to transform the cost and effectiveness of processes such
as; new-product development, market targeting, and pricing. Seeing prices and customer likes
and dislikes on social media is going to make the decision processes quicker, and that will leader
to the product being in stores at a faster rate. Auditing is also going to be different. It can be
performed on complete data sets.
Over the next decade, the volume, velocity and variety of data are likely to continue
growing (Chua). It is broken down so it can be mapped for decision making and becomes both a
commercial and a strategic-planning tool. The decision making process now is a little difficult
because technologies are not readily available to organizations. Accountants are now going to be
working more frequently with other departments to calculate the points at which big data can
most usefully be shared with internal and external stakeholders (Chua).
The innovations or new things coming for Accountants is going to make their lives
easier, but more strategic planning is involved. What Accountants need to know is changing and
completely new. They need to know a substantive amount about who works in a corporation.
Finance is going to be moving from a reporting centric to analytic centric financial function. By
2020, thirty billion devices will be wirelessly connected to the internet (Chua). Big data is
getting so large; we have terabytes instead of gigabytes. Big data will help unearth the causes
behind the company’s; sales, costs, and profits. It creates budgets and provides input to rolling

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forecasts. (Katz) Accountants will be forming partnerships with senior leaders in the
development of strategy and the management of risk, and provide a service critical to the future
of business (Chua). In an article by the Jamaica Business Development Corporation say how job
titles associated with Accountancy will change. The Jamaica Business Development Corporation
interviewed Sandara Raj. She is a consulting leader at PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) Malaysia
and said that the finance professional of the future will “sit at the strategy table rather than the
finance table.” Also in the article, they say how the Chief Financial Officer name may also
change to that of Chief Financial and Technology Officer. Reflecting the revised nature of the
role and the need to be financially aware as well as technologically and strategically astute. Nina
Tan, ACCA and CFO also says, “I really hope that the Accountancy profession will not step
away from working with information technology and business analytics functions because we
really should be there with them to bring value, and at the same time to bring stewardship”(“Big
Data: Big Challenges”).
At the end, Accounting is going to be the same as always, but big data is changing the
business world. It is changing with new challenges, opportunities, and innovations. For
Accountants, the road to get there isn’t going to be easy. It is going to take a lot of hard work and
commitment. There are many intelligent people out there that know what they are going when
they are talking about the big data change. Companies are learning the new technology and how
to control big data. Soon, most businesses will be using the techniques mentioned above. There
are numerous things that big data can do for businesses. For Example, Tweeting back at
customers, or knowing people’s spending habits. Accounting is an interesting profession and it is
interesting to know what it can look like in five to ten years. All of the things Accountants need
to learn are things taught in college. They probably don’t remember most of it, but all of the
information learned in school will some how benefit in the future. The business world changes
constantly, but the idea of business concepts and framework do not.

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Works Cited
ACCA Caribbean. "Big Data: Big Challenges." Big Data: Big Challenges. JAMAICA
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
Chua, Faye. "Big Data: Its Power and Perils." Big Data: Its Power and Perils. The Association
Katz, David M. "Accounting's Big Data Problem." CFO. N.p., 04 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2015
of Chartered Certified Accountants, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
Smith, Sean. "3 Ways Accountants Can Use Big Data to Fight Fraud." Accounting WEB. Sift
Media, 15 June 2015. Web. 03 Oct. 2015.