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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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A woman working at a desk with a large monitor and a tablet displaying colorful bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs labeled “Analytics,” indicating data analysis or business reporting.
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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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 The secret setting that stops charts breaking
  • Article
  • 29 May 2026
Editing a chart in Excel can cause the existing custom format to disappear. In this article, Mark Proctor returns to explore a hidden setting that prevents this.
How to avoid ‘death by PowerPoint’
  • Article
  • 28 May 2026
Tired of mind-numbing presentations packed with endless bullet points and text-heavy slides? We explore why traditional PowerPoint practices fail, uncover common pitfalls and share practical tips for crafting engaging, story-driven presentations. Transform your next slide deck from a snooze-fest into a memorable experience.
Exclusive Excel Tips and Tricks #506: Creating a single master list after merging data
  • Article
  • 27 May 2026
A Creator level post exploring how to use Power Query to merge two data sources together to create a master list.
Exclusive Excel Tips and Tricks #505 – 3 ways of converting US Dates into UK formats
  • Article
  • 27 May 2026
A Creator level post exploring three different ways of dealing with dates in the US format when you want UK format.
Global Excel Summit 2026: The sum of what you missed, sorted by where to begin
  • Article
  • 26 May 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 share their experience of co-hosting one of the biggest Excel events in the world – The Global Excel Summit! They also recap the biggest lessons learned from their UK tour so far and their visit to Accountex.
Exclusive Ungrouping Groups
  • Article
  • 18 May 2026
Inconsistent datasets often appear in the real world ranging from sales figures, shorthand summaries and bespoke tables to inventory logs or data extracted from various sources. Without a clear structure, deriving insights or performing any analysis becomes nearly impossible.
Exclusive Tackling productivity hands on
  • Article
  • 18 May 2026
There is an ongoing discussion about the UK’s stagnant or declining productivity. It might not be fair to attribute this solely to the inefficient use of spreadsheets but I’m sure it plays a significant part in the problem. Last time we investigated a few simple keyboard shortcuts that will help address the productivity crisis and this time we are moving on to some specific hardware considerations and skills.
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.
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