ICAEW Data Analytics Certificate

Yes, product demonstration of both the analyst and management pathways are available on the ICAEW website at icaew.com/dacerta and icaew.com/dacertm respectively.

This is a self contained e-learning programme that provides a certificate of competence upon successful completion of the case study. There are no ongoing subscription fees or requirements.

No credits have been arranged with any other institutions, although you do get an ICAEW certificate of completion as a credential that you can use on LinkedIn, CVs etc.

The ICAEW certificate programme has been specifically developed for finance professionals and uses exercises and use cases relevant to forecasting and anomaly detection. We have not done any direct benchmarking against those courses however they are likely to be more generic in their approach.

The Analyst pathway is £699+ VAT.  There is a case study only option for those already familiar with data analytics and Python programming - the cost for the case study only option is £349 +VAT.

The Management pathway is £529+VAT.

ICAEW members and students get 15% off these prices and there are larger discounts available for multiple licence purchases.

The DataCamp subscription is included in the Analyst pathway (the full course, not the case study only). It gives you access to all of DataCamp's 400+ courses for 12 months.

Yes, the course is suitable for any finance professional.

There is a 15% member discount available for either pathway. There is no bulk discount for buying both pathways however there are enterprise discounts available should a company want to buy multiple licenses for their staff.

You are given instructions to download Python and Anaconda. It's a 10-15 minute set up. The software is free.

No. The course uses Python software which is open source and free.

All tools are free e.g. Python for the Analyst pathway.

No. Python is a free/open source resource that you can download in 10-15 minutes. We take you through the process during in the pre course module.

The course learning and exercises use Python so they will need that for the course. However, the approach to data analytics learned in the course can then be applied using any programming language.

Python is an open source tool that is increasingly the 'go to' tool in data science. It's hugely powerful and has certain advantages over Power BI when it comes to analysing large structured and unstructured data sets.

• See here for the advantages of Python

Both Python and R are open source programming languages with large libraries of tools and active communities. Python was chosen as it's generally viewed as a more general purpose language with a more readable syntax whereas R is generally viewed as more suited for experienced statisticians.

Basic excel skills is fine. There is a pre-course module where you will be able to do an introductory conversion elearning course called 'Python for Excel users'.

You don't need any prior knowledge of Python. The Analyst pathway includes a pre course module where you will be able to do an introductory 'Python for spreadsheet users' elearning course. 

The Analyst and Management pathways are separate courses and there is no overlap on content between the two.

The Analyst pathway guides you through the data analytics process and gives you the knowledge and practical skills to be able to harness and make sense of data, and to understand what it means for the business. You’ll gain confidence in the use of data to solve business problems, including basic Python programming, and learn how to communicate effectively to influence decision making.

The Management pathway is more suited to senior finance leaders and covers the business benefits of applying data analytics, how to build an effective data analytics function and gives you the skills to interpret and challenge data analytics outputs and  present them back to the business with maximum impact.

The Analyst and Management pathways are separate courses and there is no overlap on content between the two.

The Analyst pathway is about 40 hours of learning + 20 hours for the case study.

The Management pathway is about 20 hours of learning + 8 hours for the case study.

Both certificates have been developed and designed for professionals i.e. whether you are operating in professional practice  or in decision support. The Analyst course is for professionals who will engage at the coalface i.e. undertake the analytics (import data, wrangle data, develop models, communicate and present back to business). The Management programme is for leaders and managers who want to be able to review and challenge DA assignments or wish to build a data analytics capability within their function.

I would suggest Management would be the best route. If you then feel you need to now how to code yourself then you could consider the analyst route.

There is a Pre-course module where you have an opportunity to do an eLearning course as an introduction to Python for spreadsheet users. This will set you up to be able to proceed with the rest of the Analyst course. No need to do the Management pathway first, if the Analyst pathway is the one you want to do.

I would recommend the Management pathway. Alternatively if you are an ICAEW member please visit a free resource here www.icaew.com/fdw

We suggest doing the management pathway first as it covers how to develop the business case for analytics, data strategy, setting up teams, skills etc.

There's an alignment of approach but the content and learning outcomes are different.

There is no automatic upgrade path, however please contact Kaplan student services and they will be happy to arrange this for you.

Extremely so. Using data analytics techniques enables a wider use of different types of data (unstructured as well as structured, and external as well as internal) and using tools such as Python enables the analysis of the entire population of data rather than the sample testing that is often adopted at present.

The case study does not need you to apply in the workplace, all of the data and content you need to complete is included within the course. Therefore this works well when you are not at work. If you are an ICAEW member 'out of work' then they can also arrange a 50% discount.

The course has been purposely designed to be suitable for members working in industry as well as practice. The two main data analytics skills it covers are forecasting and anomaly detection. These are very transferable skills that can be applied to many different roles/scenarios.

Very much so in terms of the forecasting modelling and the anomaly detection. In fact, the case study is set in the context of a private equity investment where the analyst has to analyse sales data to validate forecasts and identify risks (anomalies) in finance data sets to make an investment recommendation.

The Analyst course teaches data analytics as a process to solve practical business problems and the forecasting skills covered on the course are extremely transferable to non-finance data sets.

The Analyst course teaches data analytics as a process to solve practical business problems and the specific uses covered are forecasting and anomaly detection, which could indicate fraud. These are invaluable skills for accountancy practices of all sizes to offer as value added services to clients. Practices could also use these tools to improve their own forecasting and fraud controls.

The course teaches data analytics as a process so you are equipped to apply the knowledge and skills learnt to any business question, irrespective of size.

The learning is set within the context of data driven forecasting and anomaly detection (ie detecting outliers, fraud, overrides etc). Very relevant to internal audit. In fact, we already have a number of internal audit teams enrolled on the programme.

Although the use cases, and case study assumes a finance / commercial role the skills covered are highly transferrable to those in in a commercial, sales, risk, assurance roles.

Absolutely! The course has been developed for finance professionals working in all aspects of industry, practice, local government and not for profit organisations.

There is some coverage. You have the opportunity via the DataCamp link up to access a big range of SQL e-learning as part of the Certificate's licence.

We mean you get access to the course for 12 months from the date you are enrolled. If you successfully complete the programme you will get a certificate of completion from the ICAEW.

Definitely highly applied. The course has been specifically tailored for the finance profession and includes interviews with finance professionals and finance examples throughout.

The value add is in the applied exercises, tasks and case study. The Management pathway has checklists you can download to refer to later.

The learning modules are of differing lengths dependant on the topic being covered. The estimated time to complete each module and unit is shown at the beginning of each section.

The Analyst course uses Python for the analysis and visualisation, however, there is a 12 month licence to DataCamp included where you can enhance your learning in other areas, including Power BI.

In terms of Python programming we focus on a number of packages including Anaconda and Seaborne packages, looking at EDA and then on predictive forecasting techniques; anomaly detection and visualisation. We do not cover Tensorflow, but as mentioned within the 12 month license you have access to the full training catalogue from DataCamp. Here you will find courses on Tensorflow.

Yes, the are recorded interviews with a number of different finance professionals throughout.

The learning is self-contained and we do not envisage the need for any additional face to face tuition.

The course is 'self contained' with redirection within the course for any areas which may require re-working. Feedback from delegates who have completed the analyst pathway have confirmed that the course instruction was sufficient without the need for 'outside' help.

Yes. It's self-contained and self-directed.

Yes.

Python is a universal language used for wrangling and analysing data so the skills learnt will be very much relevant to non-accountants.

The learning contains numerous mini tasks and exercises throughout the learning units.

Yes, it does.

You have three attempts at each question in the case study. There is an overall pass rate of 60% across all of the case study modules so if you do fall below 60% in one area you can make up for it in another. The case study isn't designed to catch you out and you will receive prompts and suggestions and be able to link back to the relevant parts of the course to refresh your learning.

If you don't achieve the 60% average you would still have access to the course but you would not receive the certificate. We do think that 3 attempts will be plenty for most candidates though.

The case study is all online and incorporates all the learning from each of the units covered in your chosen pathway.