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Data

Resources covering data analytics and big data, data handling, data protection and GDPR, and data presentation.

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Iain Murray, Director of Public Financial Management, CIPFA
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Data Protection and Privacy

Data protection and privacy

All organisations that collect, store or process personal information on living and identifiable people must comply with the Data Protection Act 2018. Additional resources can be found on the GDPR (now the Data Protection Act 2018 in the UK).
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Data Analytics Community

Data Analytics Community

As data analytics plays an increasingly pivotal role in supporting audit, assurance and business decision-making, this ICAEW community will help finance professionals develop the advanced data analytics and visualisation skills needed to succeed in this insight-driven era.
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Insights

Leading data-led decision making in local government

Finance professionals are pivotal in ensuring local authority decisions on service delivery are grounded in robust data analysis. CIPFA’s Iain Murray outlines the role of finance teams in ensuring data-led decision-making and the skills required for success.
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Insights

In the nick of time: EU grants UK data protection adequacy decision

With the 30 June deadline approaching, the EU has agreed an adequacy decision for the UK, allowing the free flow of personal data from the EU to the UK to continue.
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Data analytics

Get advanced data analysis, from number crunching and spreadsheets to decision-support and strategy, including access to useful and practical Excel guidance. Plus, find out how big data is used and can benefit the accountancy profession.


How helpful is FRC’s guidance on generative and agentic AI?
  • Article
  • 06 May 2026
Pioneering new guidance from the Financial Reporting Council seeks to bring audit firms up to speed on the risks and benefits of generative and agentic artificial intelligence technologies.
How hospitality teams are embracing real-time analytics
  • Article
  • 17 Apr 2026
With so many cost pressures facing hospitality businesses, the ability to analyse data in real time has never been more important for cost management.
Three new roles finance teams might expect within the next five years
  • Article
  • 07 Apr 2026
Increasing automation over the past two decades has gradually been transforming finance teams. Since then, AI has taken the world by storm and businesses have been quick to leverage its capabilities, creating potential for new roles within the next five years.
Exclusive Audit and tech – where are we now?
  • Article
  • 27 Mar 2026
Technology is rapidly transforming the audit and assurance landscape. What have regulators, standard-setters, professional bodies and others been doing to keep pace? And what can we expect from 2026?
Companies House data glitch: how to respond
  • Article
  • 20 Mar 2026
The Companies House WebFiling service was suspended last weekend after a user found a potentially serious security flaw. Here’s what happened, and what can be learned from it.
Critical Skills series AI and Python in Excel and beyond
  • Event
  • 14 Jan 2026
Four questions to ask when implementing cloud software
  • Article
  • 09 Dec 2025
As ICAEW issues a software adoption checklist for accounting firms and finance teams, here are some of the critical questions you need to ask of software vendors.
Foreign and AI threats grow
  • Article
  • 28 Nov 2025
Cyber espionage and foreign threats were a big topic this month, as the UK continues to focus on beefing up its national security and the resilience of critical infrastructure, operations and services.
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Data protection and privacy

Cyber round-up: March 2024
  • Article
  • 27 Mar 2024
This month we look at what can be learned from state-sponsored cyber attacks, how to avoid falling victim to increasingly sophisticated account takeover scams, and the ICO guidance on levels of fines for data breaches.
Accountability: building trust and ethics in the digital age
  • Article
  • 05 Mar 2024
New technologies are a force for good – they fuel innovation, improve efficiencies, enhance communication, and increase productivity – but they also raise new challenges that can be harmful. We’ve witnessed in recent years how technology has had undesirable consequences, with data breaches and online surveillance resulting in widespread concerns over privacy, security, and the spread of disinformation. This has eroded trust in businesses and institutions, while simultaneously knocking the confidence of businesses to fully embrace technological change.
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Join the Excel Community

Do you use Excel in your organisation? Are you using it to its maximum potential? Develop your skills and minimise spreadsheet risk with our Excel resources. Membership is free to ICAEW members. Non-ICAEW members are also welcome to join. 

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Excel community

The Excel Community provides a 'one-stop shop' for accountants who want to use Excel.
Exclusive Handling missing columns in Power Query
  • Article
  • 30 Apr 2026
Missing columns in the source data can cause errors in Power Query that break the refresh process. In this article, Mark Proctor looks at five solutions to handle this scenario so your refresh always runs as expected.
Exclusive Excel Tips and Tricks #504 - Accessing accessibility checkers for good spreadsheet practice
  • Article
  • 28 Apr 2026
Welcome back to Excel Tips and Tricks! This time, we have a Basic level post exploring Accessibility features, available in Excel and Google Sheets, that enable consistency and inclusivity by making spreadsheets easy to read and use for everyone. In this post, we also revisit the basics and explore how the features are important to consider for good spreadsheet practice.
Exclusive Excel on the Road is… back on the road!
  • Article
  • 24 Apr 2026
Welcome to our second article from Giles Male and Fay Bordbar, Excel experts and founders of ‘Excel on the Road’. In this article, Fay and Giles take us along on their trip around the UK and introduce us to some tips learnt from the world of Excel Esports.
Getting the best from Copilot with Claude and ChatGPT
  • Article
  • 23 Apr 2026
Copilot now uses Anthropic’s Claude as well as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Here’s what that means for finance professionals, and how to make the most of both platforms through Copilot.
Exclusive An article about nothing: blanks, zeros and nulls in Power BI explained
  • Article
  • 21 Apr 2026
Last year, Microsoft MVP Mark Proctor wrote an article for the Excel Community explaining the importance of understanding how Excel handles blanks. Embracing the philosophical challenge, ICAEW’s Head of Data Analytics and Tech, Ian Pay, has decided to take things a step further and look at the same concepts in Power BI.
Exclusive Allocating Term Fees
  • Article
  • 20 Apr 2026
This month, we consider allocating fees across monthly periods, where some dates are outside the forecast period and others straddle the (monthly) reporting periods.
A day in the life of an AI-assisted accountant
  • Article
  • 15 Apr 2026
Head of Finance Jenny Blewett shares a behind-the-scenes view of using artificial intelligence technologies every day to save time and accomplish more.
Agents, context and the data foundation – part 2
  • Article
  • 14 Apr 2026
Following on from a webinar exploring the use of agents in automating financial processes, Rishi Sapra, ICAEW Member and Microsoft MVP, returns to outline a five-step framework to follow when trying to build an agent for automating a finance process using Microsoft’s tools. In part 2 of this series, he covers the design, build and testing phases of the framework.
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