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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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Tech and audit

Analytics in external audit: current practice and trends

Explore how audit firms are using data analytics, the barriers slowing wider adoption, and the practical steps firms, vendors, methodology providers and regulators can take to support more effective, technology-enabled audits.
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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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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.


Data analytics for external auditors: current landscape, challenges and future direction
  • Webinar
  • 28 Jul 2026
This webinar brings together insights from ICAEW’s updated report and leading voices across the profession to explore current practice, key challenges and what’s next for data analytics in external audit.
Analytics in external audit: current practice and trends
  • Report
  • 28 Jul 2026
Explore how audit firms are using data analytics, the barriers slowing wider adoption, and the practical steps firms, vendors, methodology providers and regulators can take to support more effective, technology-enabled audits.
Technology, talent and operating models: re-designing the mid-tier firm
  • Article
  • 17 Jul 2026
For mid-tier accountancy firms, technology, talent and operating models are becoming ever more tightly interwoven. ICAEW’s 2026 Evolution of Mid-Tier Accountancy Firms research highlights how investment in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) is driving new thinking about workforce design, skills development and career pathways, with many firms still working through the implications.
Data Analytics for External Auditors Current Landscape Challenges and Future Direction
  • Event
  • 19 Jun 2026
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?
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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. 

Find out more Already a member? login here
A colourful wooden abacus placed on a wooden surface, featuring multiple rows of beads in vibrant colours used for counting or basic arithmetic.

Excel community

The Excel Community provides a 'one-stop shop' for accountants who want to use Excel.
Exclusive Excel Tips and Tricks #507 - Using Excel internationally part 1: why some functions are not good travellers
  • Article
  • 06 Aug 2026
Welcome back to Excel Tips and Tricks! This time, we have a General level post exploring what to watch out for when using and working with spreadsheets and formulas built internationally.
Exclusive Build an Automated File Tracking System
  • Article
  • 29 Jul 2026
In this article, Mark Proctor explores how to remove version chaos by using file management standards and automation to track file availability and updates.
Exclusive From codebreaking to spreadsheets: what Bletchley Park can teach today’s Excel users
  • Article
  • 27 Jul 2026
What can Bletchley Park teach today’s Excel users? From a history of wartime codebreaking to modern spreadsheets, this article explores why the challenge has always been the same: turning messy, fast-moving information into insight that helps people make better decisions.
Exclusive Automated Grouping
  • Article
  • 23 Jul 2026
Liam Bastick discusses Automated Grouping as a preferred option to produce summaries of spreadsheet reports, without the reconciliation issues that may arise with using separate worksheets for these reports.
How to Excel: SUMIF vs SUMIFS with a World Cup twist
  • Article
  • 16 Jul 2026
As the 2026 World Cup comes to an end, its array of teams, goals and points presents a golden opportunity to illustrate how some fundamental functions work in Excel spreadsheets, says Excel expert Fay Bordbar.
Exclusive The Spreadsheet Competency Framework dashboard
  • Article
  • 08 Jul 2026
July sees the launch of the updated ICAEW Spreadsheet Competency Framework. As well as incorporating key recent application enhancements, the framework has also been extended to address a range of job roles. To make it easier to navigate the list of competencies for a particular role, we have added a ‘Competency by role’ page to the existing Excel Community archive portal.
Exclusive Broadcasting: Making Sense of Arrays
  • Article
  • 03 Jul 2026
Many Excel formulas become much easier to understand once you know about broadcasting. In this article, Mark Proctor break down the concept with simple examples and show how it appears in many common formulas.
Cells, Chaos, and Collaboration: Excel on The Road in Amsterdam
  • Article
  • 22 Jun 2026
Welcome to another article from Giles Male and Fay Bordbar, Excel experts, and founders of ‘Excel on the Road’. In this article, Fay and Giles cover their travel to Amsterdam, fresh from the Global Excel Summit, to take part in a European Excel competition! While expecting it to be challenging in the way these competitive Excel events often are, what they did not expect was how much of what they learned carried over into broader Excel work (the non-competitive kind).
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