Data Literacy for Accountants - What Data to Trust in the AI Era

Course outline:

Data is everywhere in modern practice: cloud accounting dashboards, client management reports, AI-generated commentary and forecasts. But two persistent problems shape what accountants actually do with it. Firstly, much of the data flowing through firms is still of poor quality, particularly from clients, and any AI-produced analysis is only as good as the data it draws on. Secondly, the accountant's job is increasingly not to produce data but to judge it, and that judgement runs from the raw underlying data through to the outputs used with clients. 

Contents:

• Working with poor quality data: recognising it and knowing what to do 
• Reading data critically: what to look for and what to question 
• Common patterns in misleading dashboards and management reports 
• Judging AI-generated analysis and commentary 
• What to do when clients bring you AI-produced financial information 
• A practical framework for data literacy in daily practice 

CPD Hours 1