+ The Data Revolution The Future Today Abstract The purpose of this report is to draw attention to the radical change in the role of data in relation to the accountancy profession. It touches upon issues of data management, data governance and data lifecycle, and describes key current and future trends for a broad range of data-related activities. Demand for new data-related skills is already high and is likely to increase even further. Acknowledging the revolutionary nature of changes related to data and understanding the concepts and challenges that working with data presents are likely to be among the key requirements for finance professionals in the near future. About ACCA About IMA ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants), the association global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer of accountants and financial professionals in business, is business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of one of the largest and most respected associations focused application, ability and ambition around the world who seek exclusively on advancing the management accounting a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core credential, continuing education, networking and advocacy values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global accountability. We believe that accountants bring value to network of more than 75,000 members in 140 countries and economies in all stages of development. We aim to develop 300 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through consistent global standards. Our values are aligned to the its four global regions: The Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, needs of employers in all sectors and we ensure that, through and Middle East/Africa. our qualifications, we prepare accountants for business. We work to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds www.imanet.org and remove artificial barriers to entry, ensuring that our qualifications and their delivery meet the diverse needs For further information, please contact: of trainee professionals and their employers. Faye Chua We support our 170,000 members and 436,000 students Head of Business Insights, ACCA in 180 countries, helping them to develop successful +44 (0)20 7059 5975 careers in accounting and business with the skills needed [email protected] by employers. We work through a network of 92 offices and centres and more than 8,500 Approved Employers worldwide, Dr Raef Lawson who provide high standards of employee learning and Vice President of Research and Policy development. Institute of Management Accountants +1 201 474 1532 www.accaglobal.com [email protected] © The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and Institute of Management Accountants November 2015 Table of contents Acknowledgements 2 Foreword 7 Executive summary 8 1. Introduction 10 2. Data management, data governance and data lifecycle 12 3. Data Revolution – current and future trends 18 4. Data management and the future of accountancy – what is required and what does it mean for you? 22 5. Conclusion 26 6. References 28 The Data Revolution 1 Acknowledgements Ian Betts FCCA Simon Cole FCCA Data Manager, Upstream, Group Financial Controller at WS Atkins PLC Projects and Technology at Shell Currently Simon Cole is group financial controller and Ian Betts leads Shell’s Upstream data management reporting director for Atkins plc, the FTSE 250 design drive with a team located across business operation and engineering consultancy that designs everything centres in Chennai, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Glasgow. from roads to railways, hospitals to airports, not to Previously he supported the transformation of Shell’s mention the odd experimental nuclear fusion reactor. downstream business as finance manager and, before joining Shell in 2007, held multiple finance roles with Simon has held a number of roles since joining the Kraft Foods in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. group and has previously been divisional FD for large parts of the group, both in the UK and in the Far East. His roles have taken him to numerous countries as the company has grown from fewer than 2,000 to 20,000 people, located in five regions and over 30 countries. Faris Dean FCCA Mike Greene Head of Business Services at Bowden Jones Solicitors Chairman of the Board at insightaction Inc. Faris Dean heads the Business Services Department Mike Greene is a chartered accountant who has wide- of Bowden Jones Solicitors. He advises and acts for ranging experience in a number of different financial clients on a range of matters including business sales and operating management areas, including mergers and purchases, investment agreements, anti-bribery and acquisitions; he is executive vice-president of an and data protection. Before joining Bowden Jones, international trading organisation, and chief financial Faris worked in law firms dealing with national and officer of a large ($2 billion+ revenue) Toronto Stock international commercial and corporate transactions. Exchange-listed conglomerate. From 1996, he provided As well as practising as a solicitor for over 10 years, strategic, business and financial planning consultancy he is a qualified chartered certified accountant services to companies doing business in a number of having trained with two of the ‘Big Four’ international different market segments and was one of the founders accountancy firms. His understanding of financial of InsightAction Inc. in 2012. issues affecting business helps provide another perspective when advising clients on corporate and commercial transactions. 2 Matthew Harris FCA Babajide Ibironke FCCA, FCA, FCTI Financial Director – Natural Resources, Costain Financial Director/CEO at Mantrac Nigeria Ltd Matthew Harris was appointed finance director for Babajide Ibironke is currently the finance director the Natural Resources Division of Costain Group in at Mantrac Nigeria Limited. Babajide is a seasoned November 2012. He has responsibility for the financial chief financial officer with almost two decades of reporting and strategic planning of the water, power, diverse experience in finance, strategy and general and oil and gas sectors of Costain, as well as the management roles in global and market positions integration of the recently acquired Rhead Group. across the world. He has an excellent reputation as a Prior to joining Costain, Matthew was a director of business partner, founded on broad expertise in all Hanson Cement, and has previously held senior finance aspects of finance including: budgeting, strategy and roles with American Water, Thames Water and BMW. planning, reporting, operations finance and marketing Matthew qualified as a chartered accountant with finance. His highly rewarding career has taken him Price Waterhouse, and became a fellow of the through three reputable listed companies: Nigerian Institute of Chartered Accountants of England banks, Nestlé Nigeria Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc. and Wales (ICAEW) in 2014. Shariq Khwaja Anne Kimari FCCA, CPA Information Technology and Services Consultant Chief Operating Officer at the African Academy of Sciences Shariq Khwaja is a freelance business consultant specialising in FinTech project management, who has Anne Kimari is chief operating officer, with a concurrent successfully carried out initiatives for several high- role of chief finance officer, at the African Academy of profile partners, including the London Stock Exchange, Sciences, a pan-African organisation with affiliation Credit Suisse, Old Mutual, RBS and Lloyds Bank. with NEPAD and the African Union, championing He remains true to his software engineering roots science, technology and innovation. She has been and keeps his technical skills honed, continuing the a member of the ACCA SME Global Forum, as development and testing of a set of algorithmic she has personal interest in promoting SMEs’ trading tools that he built as part of his MSc thesis. performance and big data management. The Data Revolution 3 Acknowledgements Kevin Long FCA Dilesh Magdani FCCA Business Development Director at Teradata Director of Finance Operations at Specsavers Kevin Long is the business development director at Dilesh Magdani is the Director of Finance Operations Teradata. Kevin, who trained as an accountant with at Specsavers. He is an experienced senior professional Ernst & Young, has a combination of business, financial and an award-winning leader. He has worked in and IT skills. He specialised as an information systems multinational blue chip, private and VC-backed auditor, followed by financial and operational system organisations and has experience across a variety integration projects. With over 15 years’ consulting of industries, including retail, utilities, manufacturing, experience (Deloitte, HP and Teradata), Kevin has been distribution, food and beverage. involved in data projects for over 20 years, working on a wide range of analytical projects across diverse Dilesh is responsible for designing and implementing geographies and industries. a global back-office footprint, and prior to this led the shared-service operations for Specsavers. He has previously created and led operations for Stella Travel Group and Premier Foods plc, and held various finance roles within National Grid plc, RS Components and T&N plc. Brad Monterio Rob Mutchell ACCA Global Board Member on the Board of Directors Chief Financial Officer at BP Ventures and at the IMA Head of Finance at BP Alternative Energy Brad Monterio is a marketing and technology expert Rob Mutchell holds two roles in BP as the chief financial who advises companies on increasing their market share, officer for the Venture Capital unit and head of finance opening new markets, developing new revenue streams, for the Biofuels division. As part of his remit, he serves driving market adoption and sourcing strategic partners. as a non-executive director of two UK-based portfolio Brad specialises in reporting frameworks/standards as companies. Rob qualified as an accountant with ACCA well as in XBRL, integrated reporting and sustainability. in 1998, studying part-time while enjoying his first He is a global board member of the IMA as well as career as a professional footballer with Oxford United, the Casualty Actuarial Society. As chair of the IMA’s Barnet FC and Stevenage Borough. Technology Solutions and Practices Committee, he helps CFOs integrate technology with accounting/finance. 4 George Staw Andrew Vorster Enterprise Data Architect at Wincor Nixdorf Technology Foresight Consultant at AndrewVorster.com For the past 20 years, George Staw has worked as a With more than 30 years’ technology experience across freelance IT consultant in the fields of data architecture a broad range of industries, Andrew Vorster has spent and governance; he has carried out a large number his entire professional career helping organisations of projects with a wide range of European clients, understand and exploit the opportunities, and mitigate developing strategies and methods that have improved the risks, presented by new and emerging technology. levels of data quality and usability. At present, George He is a member of the World Future Society and is carrying out an internal data quality assessment for recently left the position he had held for almost seven a leading European transport company. years as vice-president of technology research for Visa Europe, in order to develop his own business. He is an acclaimed public speaker and is known for having an opinion on virtually everything. Emmanuel Walter ACCA Fergus Wong FCCA Director at Winfos Capital Ltd Tax Director, National Tax Policy Services, at PricewaterhouseCoopers Emmanuel Walter is a highly accomplished and results- driven executive with more than 20 years’ international Fergus Wong is a fellow of the ACCA, the Hong Kong experience in Europe and Asia. He has previously held Institute of Certified Public Accountants and CPA various senior financial and operational positions for Australia. He is also a Certified Tax Agent (Hong Kong). large businesses (c. US$500m and 2,000 staff), with He has many years of experience in Hong Kong tax and multinationals such as Dialog Semiconductor, GE international tax gained through working in the Hong and ABB Power, specialising in the industrial sector Kong Inland Revenue Department, teaching taxation (energy, manufacturing/engineering, automotive/ in local tertiary institutions and providing training EV, semiconductor) as well as in the Chinese market, and in-house technical support within professional where he has worked 10 years as CFO for a company accountancy firms. Currently he is the tax director manufacturing power-related equipment. He is highly at PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong. He is the experienced in managing JVs. chairman of ACCA Hong Kong branch and has served as a member of ACCA International Council since 2013. The Data Revolution 5 6 Foreword Calling data ‘the new oil’ of the digital economy may have become a cliché, but it still makes sense. The catchy phrase has been in use since the mid-2000s and is arguably not the best of metaphors, but its key message is still valid. Oil facilitated the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, and, in a similar way, data has become an essential resource of the digital economy in the 21st century, bringing tremendous benefits to businesses and to society at large. Like oil, data is seldom used in its raw form: it needs to undergo Imtiaz Ibne Sattar, a number of transformations in order to generate value. ACCA Accountancy If not stored and treated with due care and diligence, Futures Academy Global Forum Member data too can cause massive problems, as data leaks can be highly toxic and very expensive to contain. This report by ACCA and IMA suggests that, in order to fully anticipate the future impact of data and its role, the finance profession needs to look beyond the ‘new oil’ metaphor; instead, it should support the business in adopting a data-centric approach to modern information technology. What this means, in short, is that data should be seen not only as a useful commodity (which it undoubtedly is) but also as a factor that is critically important for business strategy, as it directly affects issues such as costs, efficiency and quality of service. In the near future, data governance and managing data through its full lifecycle should no longer be considered among those boring tasks confined to the depths of the back office. New data-orientated business functions and roles will eventually emerge, and this should present accountants with a very good opportunity, as they are well placed to fulfil some of these functions and roles. For instance, such issues as calculating the true value of data and the monetary impact of data management decisions, as well as monitoring regulatory compliance of various data- related processes, would be well within the remit of finance professionals. The Data Revolution 7 Executive summary The role of data in the modern world is changing in a most dramatic way. The changes, their speed and scale, as well as their impact on almost every aspect of daily life, are so significant that the term ‘Data Revolution’ is being used ever more frequently, and rightly so. As was the case with the first two industrial revolutions, Accountants and finance professionals have always the Data Revolution has been facilitated by technology, been right at the heart of data-related work. Now, most importantly by rapid advancement of various as the Data Revolution causes huge shifts in the data computer-related technologies and by the development landscape, the very nature of the finance profession of internet and mobile data networks. Naturally, modern is being significantly affected, and new data-related business has been very quick to take advantage of skills are being sought. This signifies an urgent need the new opportunities, demanding electronic forms of to re-examine current and future trends of digital data data and data-driven processes. As a result, working and data processing, as well as their imminent impact with electronic data is now firmly established as one of on the future of accounting. the key functions of modern business; this applies to companies of all sizes, in all sectors of economy all over the world. 8