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Data analytics articles and features

Articles and features on data analytics.

Displaying 1-50 of 176 results
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Three ways Power BI can improve management accounts
  • 17 Feb 2026
  • ICAEW Insights
With its collaborative format, insightful analysis tools and visual user experience, Power BI makes management accounts dynamic and keeps key performance indicators relevant.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL The five best Power BI functions for financial planning and analysis
  • 11 Feb 2026
  • ICAEW Insights
Power BI offers a set of powerful capabilities that enable accountants to perform much more thorough, intuitive and flexible analysis than what is achievable with Excel alone.
Excel speed up tricks – part two: analytics productivity
  • 09 Feb 2026
  • David Benaim
Have you ever wanted to be the guy that amazes everyone by doing all the Excel actions in three moves instead of 14? This article is the second in a series of speed up tricks in Excel to enhance productivity. In this issue, we are covering analytics.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL How to use Power BI for month end
  • 05 Feb 2026
  • ICAEW Insights
Power BI can speed up month-end processes by as much as 80% and make it a calmer, more reliable process, according to experts.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL How to shift from Power Query to Power BI
  • 19 Dec 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Getting started with Power BI doesn’t have to be daunting. Here’s how you can make the transition.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Four questions to ask when implementing cloud software
  • 09 Dec 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
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.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL How to do the basics better in Excel
  • 04 Dec 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
These five Excel hacks will speed up the basics of building an Excel spreadsheet.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT CYBER ROUND-UP Foreign and AI threats grow
  • 28 Nov 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
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.
This year’s 10 best Excel highlights
  • 24 Nov 2025
  • Bani Lamba
As we approach a new year, it’s time to reflect on some of the content and highlights from the Excel Community in 2025 and look ahead as Excel continues to change and develop with new functionality. Whether you’re new or an existing member, in this article we invite you to explore the insights and learnings the community has delivered for you over this last year.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Excel at 40: six efficiency hacks for accountants
  • 31 Oct 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
As Excel celebrates its 40th birthday, Microsoft’s Chris Webb explains the features that will help accountants work smarter than ever.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT How information can be reported to make better financial management decisions in government
  • 28 Oct 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Chronic underinvestment in technology across central government is hampering effective financial management. However, a new National Audit Office guide outlines how skills, culture, reporting infrastructure and data must come together to underpin decision making.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Stay safe in the digital era: password security
  • 25 Sep 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Despite the increasing risk of serious data breaches and cyberattacks, many organisations fall at the first hurdle, with poor password security opening the door to cybercriminals. We offer advice on making passwords more secure.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Cyber security biggest risk as businesses reel from major attacks
  • 23 Sep 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Annual poll of Chief Internal Auditors highlights cyber security as the number one risk, with digital threats intensifying following attacks on European airports over the weekend and recent cyber breaches at M&S, the Co-op, Harrods, The North Face and Jaguar Land Rover.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Where will AI assurance skills come from?
  • 16 Sep 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
What should an AI assurance skillset look like – and from which key learning sources should it be built? ICAEW’s Head of Tech Policy Esther Mallowah convened an expert panel to explore the topic at a special ICAEW event.
Exclusive Auditing revenue – dealing with the risks
  • 12 Sep 2025
  • Andrew Paul
  • Audit and Beyond
The audit of revenue offers opportunities for many firms to improve the quality of their audit work. Andrew Paul shares reminders on some key themes and considers what a good approach to auditing revenue might look like.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL How to supercharge your Excel analytics
  • 15 Aug 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Ever wondered how you can turn raw data into insight using tools like Power Query and Power Pivot? Excel expert and chartered accountant Mark Proctor has the answers.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Network and learn with your peers in 2025
  • 16 Jul 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
ICAEW hosts a variety of virtual and in-person events that members can attend for free, hearing from experts while sharing knowledge with their peers. Discover what’s going on for the rest of the year and how to sign up.
Data: a new emerging type of intangible
  • 12 Jun 2025
This report, commissioned by ICAEW’s Charitable Trusts, explores whether and how data can yield economic benefits, and whether its omission from financial statements hinders decision-making for users of those reports.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT What to learn from the M&S and Co-op cyber attacks
  • 20 May 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Recent hacks against some of the UK’s biggest retailers send a strong message to every sector, according to representatives of ICAEW’s Tech Faculty Board.
Preparing for ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting
  • 16 Apr 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
The movement towards potential legislation for ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting is a progressive step in promoting workplace equality. But what should employers be doing now to prepare?
Exclusive Aligning data in PowerQuery
  • 11 Apr 2025
  • Ben Ducker
In this article, Ben Ducker explores how to use PowerQuery to align data and fields from several sources and time periods into one report.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT CYBER ROUND-UP Cyber round-up: New frontiers for security
  • 27 Mar 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
This month’s cyber bulletin explores the latest in cyber security, looking at how the landscape is changing, with shifting geopolitical alliances and technology advancements, and many organisations still needing to get the basics right.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Data analytics for auditors: five essentials
  • 07 Mar 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Data analytics is often overlooked in favour of flashier technologies, but it is a critical skill set for the modern auditor.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL How to navigate software platform migration
  • 25 Feb 2025
  • ICAEW Insights
Whether driven by cost, functionality, security or compliance, software migration is a complex process that requires careful planning. ICAEW highlights key considerations for practices and businesses looking to migrate.
Exclusive Bringing financial reports alive in Excel with visualisation – comparing data sets
  • 14 Feb 2025
  • John Tennent
This article is part of a series that supports the lunch and learn webinars on how to bring financial reports alive in Excel with visualisation. This third article will explore how to compare two data sets using a Waterfall Chart in Excel.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Leading data-led decision making in local government
  • 05 Dec 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
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.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL AI skills gap is a ticking time bomb
  • 13 Nov 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Estimates predict that with the adoption of AI technology, 40% of the workforce will need to re-skill in the next three years. So what’s the risk of losing your competitive edge if you fail to upskill your staff?
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Understanding AI: what is – and isn’t – artificial intelligence?
  • 05 Nov 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
An in-depth awareness of AI is no longer the preserve of data science professionals or technology enthusiasts. In the first of two articles, BDO’s Paul Ekwere explains what AI actually is – and what it isn’t.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL AI use cases: eight ways AI can help
  • 29 Oct 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
AI can be used for a variety of tasks to assist accountants in business and practice. Here are eight ways in which AI can help increase productivity and efficiency in finance and accounting teams.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Cyber: enhancing security when data sharing
  • 15 Oct 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Cyber Security Awareness Month: we consider the common cyber risks around data sharing and what processes, procedures and measures should be taken to mitigate them.
Exclusive Definitions and types of AI
  • 15 Oct 2024
  • Corporate Finance Faculty
Read definitions of on AI and learn more about the different types of AI.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT I deepfaked myself. It was terrifyingly easy
  • 07 Oct 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
How easy is it for criminals to create a deepfake of someone? ICAEW’s Head of Data Analytics and Tech, Ian Pay, decided to experiment with the technology.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Five steps accountants must take when adopting AI
  • 02 Aug 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
According to attendees of a recent ICAEW round table, there are five points accountants need to be aware of to ensure that they can use AI reliably.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Have you tested your IT resilience?
  • 24 Jul 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
When an IT update causes systemic disruption, how should businesses and their advisers respond in terms of their own IT testing and planning?
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL AI set to boost productivity and jobs in accountancy
  • 15 Jul 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Accountancy and finance jobs are not immune from the AI revolution – and although AI won’t necessarily take your job, you’re going to need new skills to thrive. We offer tips to ensure you have the right skills.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED Your Questions Answered #11 – Tips and Tricks Live extended
  • 11 Jul 2024
  • David Benaim
In last month’s ‘Excel Tips and Tricks live – your questions answered’ webinar, David Benaim and Ian Pay tackled Excel questions and queries covering best practices when using Power Query, the use of formulas such as XLOOKUP, and a range of techniques for data handling and analysis in Excel. In this article, David returns to answer some of the unanswered questions from the webinar.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Government extends deadline for AI skills grants
  • 04 Jun 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Accountancy firms now have until 18 August to apply for grants under the pilot of the government’s new AI Upskilling Fund, after the government extended the deadline by 11 weeks.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL Over-reliance on automation: a cautionary tale from Plato
  • 27 May 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
The dangers of too much tech are not a new concern – Konrad Bukowski-Kruszyna explains why accountants can take a sceptical cue from the ancient Greeks when it comes to AI.
Evolution of mid-tier accountancy firms
  • 23 May 2024
ICAEW's latest research into mid-tier practices reveals reaction to the increase in private equity funding to the sector, as well as expectations for profit growth and shifts in services lines over the next three years.
Monica Odysseos’s volunteering journey from Student to Member
  • 16 May 2024
  • ICAEW
Monica Odysseos has volunteered with ICAEW throughout her career as a professional accountant. She explains why Students and Members across the globe should get involved.
Capacity Building for Sustainable Finance gains momentum
  • 10 May 2024
  • ICAEW
The Sustainable Finance Education Charter (SFEC) has released its third Annual Progress Report, showcasing the progress made by professional bodies throughout 2023 in advancing education and training in sustainable finance.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Corporate data: a new type of intangible
  • 08 May 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Research by ICAEW and the China Accounting Standard Committee highlights the challenges of accounting for corporate data resources and suggests a new framework for their treatment in financial statements.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT Just what is an AI co-pilot? A practical guide
  • 23 Apr 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
A new generation of digital assistants are promising accountants enhanced speed, accuracy and efficiency, but will they live up to the hype?
Exclusive YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED Your Questions Answered #10 – Tips and Tricks Live extended
  • 25 Mar 2024
  • Bani Lamba
In this year’s first 'Excel Tips and Tricks live – your questions answered' webinar, John Yeldham and Ian Pay tackled Excel questions and queries covering best practice, the use of functions and functionality, and a range of techniques for data handling and analysis in Excel. Bani returns to answer some of the unanswered questions from the webinar.
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT INSIGHTS SPECIAL PwC adopts AI co-pilot for tax support
  • 15 Mar 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
AI assistant will provide support to more than 2,000 PwC employees in the UK, with further potential to plug directly into clients’ tax functions.
Transforming accounting through technology: embracing big data, AI and blockchain for a better tomorrow
  • 05 Mar 2024
  • Zayd Maniar, International Liaison Partner, Crowe UAE
The accounting profession has been adapting to technology since the invention of the abacus in the second century BC. Now, with the explosion of big data, the increasing affordability of advanced analytics, and the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, the industry is entering a new era of transformation. This digital transformation will revolutionise the practice of accountancy and have implications for entire businesses, societies and economies. By embracing the technological changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Chartered Accountants can ensure they remain relevant...
Excel's new functions might change data analysis forever
  • 29 Feb 2024
  • Liam Bastick
Excitement is building, as a range of new functions introduced by Microsoft towards the end of last year are – hopefully – edging closer to general release. Here, Microsoft MVP Liam Bastick explores how they work and what they might mean for you.
Exclusive Automated data extraction - where do I start?
  • 12 Feb 2024
  • Dext
You may already be on the road to becoming fully automated. But if clients still bring you boxes of receipts and paper bank statements, which you manually enter into systems like Xero and QuickBooks, then it might be time to consider automated data extraction. The question is where do you begin?
INSIGHTS VIEWPOINT EFRAG aids SMEs with new sustainability data standard
  • 06 Feb 2024
  • ICAEW Insights
Exposure Draft proposes a simple reporting tool to help SMEs respond to requests for sustainability data from business partners such as banks, investors or larger company clients.
Exclusive The auditor’s review of management spreadsheets
  • 12 Jan 2024
  • Audit and Beyond
Auditors must be aware of and consider the risks associated with spreadsheets provided by management. Amelia Pickard outlines why and shares a five-stage review process.
Displaying 1-50 of 176 results