INTHEBLACK October 2026 - Magazine - Page 57
As data becomes increasingly
live, connected and
collaborative, finance
professionals must ensure that
the new generation of analytics
tools genuinely improve
decision-making, rather than
add information overload.
Words Adam Turner
MOVING BEYOND PRODUCING MONTHLY
reports and toward continuously monitoring
business performance, the future finance and
accounting professional is more of a strategic
adviser than a number-cruncher.
While Microsoft Excel offers a formidable
array of data analysis and visualisation
features, it is not always the best tool for
the job. While capable of working with vast
amounts of data, there still comes a point
where Excel starts to groan under the
load — especially when merging data sets.
REAL-TIME DATA
A new generation of tools such as Tableau
and Power BI specifically focus on business
intelligence and advanced data visualisation,
which assists finance professionals to
interpret data and convey those insights
to stakeholders.
Now, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)
has spawned planning and forecasting tools
like Anaplan and OneStream, allowing
professionals to more easily explore complex
“what-if” scenarios. Meanwhile, AI assistants
like Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT
and Anthropic’s Claude can integrate with
a wide range of finance tools to help uncover
actionable insights.
Automatically drawing on real-time data
from across an organisation, this new
generation of AI-powered analysis allows
finance teams to quickly identify risks and
opportunities as they emerge, and improve
forecasting to support more proactive
decision-making, says associate professor
Andrew B. Jackson from the School
of Accounting, Auditing and Taxation
at UNSW Business School.
INSIGHTS INTO ACTION
The goal is not to replace Excel, Jackson
says, but rather to complement it with tools
that allow finance teams to focus more on
interpretation and decision support.
“The biggest shift in finance is that
technology is increasingly handling the
number-crunching, while humans are being
asked to provide the judgement,” he says.
“The finance professionals who thrive in this
new world will be those who can turn data
into decisions and insights into action.”
While AI-powered tools might speed up
processes, finance professionals now require
the skills to craft insightful queries and
prompts, as well as the critical thinking
to not take AI at face value and instead
delve deeper to interpret outputs.
“More dashboards do not automatically
lead to better outcomes. The downside
of these tools is that real-time data can create
information overload if organisations do not
focus on the metrics that matter,” Jackson
says. “Increased use of AI also creates
a greater reliance on data quality, because
poor data can lead to poor decisions.”
FOCUS ON HIGHER VALUE
Along with helping finance teams extract
business insights from vast swathes of data,
new technology is also reducing the need
to shuffle paperwork. This frees professionals
up to focus on higher-value tasks that still
require the human touch.
When it comes to managing finance
workflows, Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) bots follow preset rules to quickly
accomplish repetitive tasks. More advanced
AI agents are goal-oriented, with the
ability to learn and adapt with minimal
human intervention.
The two can work together, with AI agents
managing a team of specialist RPA bots to
handle complex cross-platform workflows
with improved exception handling.
Jackson believes accounting and finance
professionals’ ability to communicate insights
and influence decisions will be a key
differentiator in this future work landscape.
“Technical accounting knowledge remains
important, but analytical thinking and business
understanding are becoming even more
valuable,” he says. “In many ways, the future
finance professional looks more like a strategic
adviser than a spreadsheet expert.” ■
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 57
