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Data analytics
Data analytics by
management accountants
Gary Spraakman and Cristobal Sanchez-Rodriguez
School of Administrative Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada, and
127
Carol Anne Tuck-Riggs
Faculty of Business, Sheridan College, Mississauga, Canada Received 13 August 2018
Revised 1 June 2020
12 August 2020
8 October 2020
Accepted 30 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to understand how the tasks of management accountants (MA) are affected by
data analytics (DA).
Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology was deemed most appropriate given the
exploratory nature of the research questions (RQ). In total, 10 open-ended interview questions were used to
gather the evidence. The case study design was inductive, yielding rich data from 29 respondents
representing 20 different organizations.
Findings – Answers were provided to three interrelated RQs about the use of DA by MA, namely, what are
their responsibilities? How does this work support inference, prediction and assurance? And how can they
ensure insights from DA can be turned into decisions that add value? The findings also indicate that MA have
not taken charge of the data analytic opportunities and at present, their activities remain largely focused on
descriptive and financial data analysis rather than more complex activities using external data, operational
data and modeling.
Research limitations/implications – The limitation of this research is that it is based on a relatively
small, geographically restricted sample (20 organizations in south-central Canada) as well by interviews that
were only 60 min in duration.
Practical implications – Provides a base for the existing practice of management accounting with DA.
Social implications – Explains the social relationship between DA and management accounting.
Originality/value – Documented and explained the extent of actual DA use by MA.
Keywords Qualitative research, Data analytics, Canada, Information technology,
Management accounting
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Data analytics (DA) can be described briefly as the use of information technology tools to
perform data analyzes. The interest in DA by management accounting researchers is
evident (Dinan, 2015; Lin, 2016; Maisel and Cokins, 2014; Cokins, 2013, 2014) but largely
conceptual and basically without empirical evidence. For example, Cokins (2013, 2014)
presents seven trend areas for management accounting. The first four, although dated, are
directly related to DA:

Qualitative Research in
The authors want to thank the reviewers and editor for their outstanding insights and in effect their Accounting & Management
Vol. 18 No. 1, 2021
contributions to the paper. They also want to thank Diana Sheikham for here outstanding research pp. 127-147
assistance. © Emerald Publishing Limited
1176-6093
Funding from SSHRC of Canada was greatly appreciated. DOI 10.1108/QRAM-11-2019-0122
QRAM (1) Expansion from product to channel and customer profitability analysis.
18,1 (2) Management accounting’s expanding role with enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems.
(3) The shift to predictive accounting.
(4) Business analytics embedded in ERP systems.
128 Lin (2016) calls for accountants to take ownership of enabling and supporting business
analytical solutions, and stresses that this requires accountants to have the requisite DA
knowledge and skills.
Pickard and Cokins (2017, p. 152), building on Cokins (2014) “argue that accountants are
in a prime position to own and drive a larger part of the [DA [1]] that occurs in an
organization.” They define DA broadly as methods ranging from simple financial ratios to
more advanced techniques such as clustering, regression and factor analysis. According to
Schläfke et al. (2013), accountants must be able to use contemporary analytical tools.
However, there is little research about which DA tools, knowledge and skills are needed and
used.
This lack of understanding of DA is further obfuscated by well-known researchers such
as McAfee and Brynjolfsson (2017) and Marr (2016) [2] communicating the advanced
practices of many well-known firms. Erik Brynjolfsson, as a plenary speaker at the 2019
annual conference of the American Accounting Association, research studies the effects of
information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital
commerce and intangible assets. Bernard Marr identified 45 firms such as Walmart, Netflix,
Amazon and Airbnb that successfully harnessed DA. These research broadcasts may set
high expectations when considering what management accountants (MA) can do with DA.
Accordingly, the motivation to do this study is to deepen our understanding of the actual
DA activities undertaken by MA, first by examining the pertinent literature and second by
interviewing those MA practicing DA.
The remainder of the paper consists of the following sections. Section 2 is the literature
review; it specifies the definitions of management accounting and DA; it also develops the
research questions (RQ). Section 3 discusses the fieldwork for answering the RQs. Section 4
contains the findings and in Section 5 the findings are discussed. Section 6 specifies
implications of the research for practitioners and Section 7, the last, contains the concluding
comments.

2. Literature review
Our motivation to do this study is to deepen our understanding of the actual DA activities
by MA. To start, we need two definitions, one for management accounting and the other for
DA. The definition of management accounting is from the Institute of MA, namely:
Management accounting is a profession that involves partnering in management decision
making, devising planning and performance systems, and providing expertise in financial
reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an
organization’s strategy.
Our interpretation of this definition enables us to infer the use of non-financial information
in addition to the stated financial information. We also infer that external information is part
of the definition. These inferences are necessary if the impact of DA is to mesh with
management accounting.
As for a definition for DA, Mortenson et al. (2015) describe the different approaches to
defining DA. They say some researchers argue that business intelligence (BI) consists of
business analytics and information technology, others say BI is a subset of DA. There are Data analytics
those who combine the two into BI&A. Some argue that since it arrived in the mid-2000s,
“analytics” has sought to revitalize the interest in BI, which was established in the early
1990s. In addition, Mortenson et al. (2015) note that despite the enthusiasm for DA, the
number of articles published has been minimal.
In a review article, Vasarhelyi et al. (2015) summarize the evolution of management
accounting from paper-based aggregate information records via charts of account/
general ledger into big data or in our terms, DA. The first change was ERP systems with
129
structured internal data to which were added increased capacities for data storage and
processing speed. Thus, ERP systems with extended charts of accounts were able to
gather more information even at the transactional level with drill down functionality.
Data warehouses were able to integrate financial data with non-financial, for example,
post-sale service with customer sales. Additional information including external could be
added with various input devices, including automated sensors. This conceptual paper
indicated what could be possible, but the authors provided little empirical verification.
Vasarhelyi et al. (2015, p. 392) did add four practical applications to the aforementioned
conceptualization:
(1) Aggregated accounting information becomes available in disaggregated form, in
financial and transactional terms.
(2) Accounting information can be integrated with other internal and external
information.
(3) “Soft integration” of “social networks and news pieces” becomes possible with
accounting information.
(4) Accounting and business process information can be transformed with (1), (2) and
(3) above.

Schneider et al. (2015) define DA as involving financial and non-financial information. It has
tools that leverage current technologies to extract and analyze information. It combines the
gathering and storage of operational data in enterprise information systems and data
warehouses with analytical tools to present complex information to decision-makers.
Moreover, DA gives accountants the tools to examine information from three different
perspectives [infer, predict and assure].
 Inferring is improved by: enhancing the detection of operational efficiencies and
enhancing the decision support by narrative reporting, compliance, regulatory
reporting and activity-based costing.
 Prediction is enhanced by improving the spotting of new product and segment
trends.
 Assurance is enhanced through a greater ability to identify performance gaps.

Other authors have suggested possible applications for DA. Brands and Holtzblatt (2015)
suggest that DA can be used internally in:
 sales analysis;
 accounts receivable and credit analysis;
 accounts payable analysis and payment monitoring;
 due diligence with mergers and acquisitions; and
 forensic accounting.
QRAM Among their conclusions, these authors mentioned that extending the domain of DA to
18,1 performance management would improve the effectiveness of management, but require new
skills. The authors call for additional research to focus on the “what, why, how and when” of
DA with performance management.
Schneider et al. (2015), use Mauldin and Ruchala’s (1999) meta-theory of accounting
information systems to identify some fundamental but unanswered RQs about DA, i.e:
130 (1) How to best organize data to perform DA?
(2) What should be the organizational structure of DA within an organization?
(3) Which arrangement of technological solutions would work best for DA? and
(4) What organizational factors would facilitate the adoption of DA?
In reaching these questions, Schneider et al. (2015) had analyzed three groups of factors relating
to DA, namely, design process, contingency and task performance. These authors imply that
the unknowns are extensive when considering what MA needs to know about DA.
Appelbaum et al. (2017) recognize that extensive data storage and computation power
were provided by ERP systems for analyzing internal and some external data. From that
premise, they developed a conceptual model depicting deductively descriptive, predictive
and prescriptive data that they classified with the balanced scorecard categories of financial,
customer, internal process and learning and growth. These authors were not concerned with
empirical verification. In short, their paper suggests what is possible, but it does not depict
what exists.
Our definitions and the supporting literature suggest that DA involves financial and non-
financial information and a wide variety of techniques from simple descriptive reporting
and data presentation to more advanced drill-down functionality, trend analysis, forecasting
and predictive modeling. As seen from this literature review there is a need for empirical
research on DA in the practice of management accounting. Little is still known about how
DA gets used by MA, what tools are used, the types of analyzes performed, and the skills
required.
DA is a relatively new responsibility for MA. Empirical publications on the involvement
of MA with DA are scarce. In addressing this deficit, the Journal of Management Control
devoted a recent issue (April 2020) to DA and management accounting. In that issue, Möller
et al. (2020) editorial noted a lack of empirical papers discussing the effects of DA on MA.
In that same issue of the Journal of Management Control, Bhimani (2020) also recorded that
DA was having significant effects on MA. Digitization was increasing the opportunities for
MA, and empirical research would be important for understanding the impact of DA on MA.
Earlier, Oesterreich et al. (2019, pp. 1–2) started with the premise from Bhimani and
Willcocks (2014) and Brands and Holtzblatt (2015) that management accounting will be
confronted with new roles where they may be “business partners, business analysts and
data scientists” rather than their traditional activity of providing information for decision-
makers. However, Oesterreich et al. (2019) did caution that “little research has been
concluded [. . .] to understand [. . .] what these developments entail for [. . .] management
accounting professionals.”
This assessment of the impact of DA on management accounting will draw upon
Quattrone (2016, p. 119), who starts with the assumption that “accounting (and management
accounting even more so) has always been used to interrogate notions of rationality and
what counts as right, rather than assuming rationality as given.” For understanding, there
must be a discussion of the process that leads to knowledge of numbers, which in
themselves cannot be complete answers. Knowledge of what occurred to create the numbers Data analytics
makes them meaningfully actionable.
With DA, Quattrone (2016, p. 120) argues that numbers are given to decision-makers
without the time for them to develop the knowledge needed for meaningful decision-making.
Specifically, he says “[d]ecisions happen only after numbers have been recorded and
management reports are often tabled rather than discussed.” The result of these numbers
without discussion/knowledge is wrong decisions. Quattrone is arguing that DA provides
numbers (information) beyond what managers can truly understand and effectively use.
131
Quattrone (2016, p. 121) uses a metaphor to clarify his argument. DA is compared to the
buying of groceries in supermarkets, without knowing how the food has been processed,
technically alienated from the manufacturing process, with labels there to reassure us about
the ingredients but nothing about whether these are the right nutrients for us.
With this metaphor, we have too many products to understand. Similarly, with DA,
Quattrone argues there are too many numbers to know what is being communicated.
Contrary to the definiteness of Quattrone (2016), Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu (2018) in a
review of top accounting and information systems journals, found little research on the impact
of DA on the practice of management accounting. Using keywords, 32 papers [3] from nine
journals out of 13 were found that dealt with DA and management accounting (Rikhardsson
and Yigitbasioglu, 2018). The 31 papers were divided by the 2 authors into 5 themes:
 information delivery and system feedback for management accounting tasks – 10 papers.
 DA to improve management accounting tasks and techniques – 10 papers.
 The impact of the big data on management accounting – five papers.
 The use and satisfaction with DA in management accounting contexts – four
papers.
 DA and data quality – two papers (Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu, 2018).

From those five themes, Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu (2018, pp. 52–53) developed 31 RQs
to reflect gaps in the DA-management accounting literature. Only one theme, “DA to
improve management accounting tasks and techniques,” relates to the motivation and
purpose of this paper [4]. For this theme, the authors as noted found 10 papers of which 3
were conceptual and 7 were empirical. Given these 10 papers, Rikhardsson and
Yigitbasioglu (2018) determined that the gaps in the research could be resolved by
answering the six RQs, noted in the following table.
Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu’s (2018) six RQs would require more than one article-
length paper. We judged that answering the first three literature-based RQs would be
sufficient for an article. Our three interrelated RQs are:

RQ1. What are [5] the responsibilities of MA with DA? Are more focused roles within
management accounting required?
RQ2. How does DA support inference, prediction and assurance in management
accounting tasks?
RQ3. How can MA ensure with DA that data insights are effectively turned into
decisions that add value?
These three questions were selected as each supports the purpose of this research, i.e. to
understand how the tasks and responsibilities of MA are affected by DA. In contrast, the
other three questions in Table 1 do not. For example, Question 4 was excluded as its focus
QRAM Theme DA to improve management tasks and techniques
18,1
Research gap More empirical evidence is needed to identify what areas of management accounting
(tasks and techniques) are improved through DA and what skills and organizational
capabilities are required to institutionalize DA
Possible research 1. How does DA support inference, prediction and assurance in management
questions accounting tasks?
132 2. How can MA ensure – through the use of DA – that data to insight is effectively
turned in to decision to value?
3. What should be the responsibilities of MA in DA technology application? Are more
focused roles within management accounting required?
4. How does DA impact less-used management accounting techniques such as zero-
based budgeting or scenario and contingency planning?
5. How does DA enable better control?
6. Will some management accounting techniques become obsolete because of real-
Table 1. time data from customers and through the internet of things?
Possible research
questions Source: Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu (2018)

on less-used management accounting techniques was tangential to our focus on the more
general tasks of MA. Question 5 asks how DA can enable better control. This was
eliminated because control, as part of strategy and general management, is a broader
concept than management accounting. We would have had to expand our interviewees to
those employed in strategy and general management; they would then not have been able to
answer our specific management accounting questions. Question 6 was eliminated; this
hypothetical question – will some management accounting techniques become obsolete –
would not have fit with the factual questions being asked of respondents.

3. Field research
We wanted to interview MA in organizations where, from personal experience, we
suspected DA was being conducted. Prospective respondents or their managers were first
contacted by telephone or email with requests for 60-min interviews with a MA or
equivalent involved with DA. This single contact was followed up with one or more
telephone calls. All but three prospective respondents or their managers agreed to
participate. Table 2 shows organizational sector demographics on the 20 organizations
interviewed.
Table 3 shows each organization’s industry description, size as measured by the number
of employees and titles of respondents. We interviewed 29 respondents from 20
organizations. They were MA or they were known by their managers to be doing the DA
work of MA.
Of the 29, there were: 2 chief executive officers (CIOs); 3 vice-presidents; 20 controllers,
directors or managers; and 4 analysts or accountants. In total, 11 of the 29 respondents were
not MA, but they were doing the DA expected from MA according to their managers. The
non-MA were from the following areas, namely, information technology (six), supply chain
(two) and marketing (three). The respondents included 8 women and 21 men. The response
rate was a respectable 87% (20 organizations from 23 contacts).
The authors directed the sample development in three directions, namely, management
accounting units; established ERP/SAP accountants and their managers; and less
established ERP accountants, analysts and their managers. This selection method led to
understanding a diverse group of responding MA or equivalents focusing on the DA that
Industry No. of organizations No. of participants
Data analytics

Mining, resource exploration, SIC 1000–1499 2 3

Manufacturing, 2000–3999 5 8
Transportation, communications, electric, gas, SIC
4000–4999 4 4
Wholesale and retail trade, SIC 5000–5999 2 3
Finance, Insurance and real estate, SIC 6000–6799 2 3 133
Services, SIC 7000–8999 3 4
Public administration, SIC 9100–9729 2 4 Table 2.
Total 20 29 Participant’s
Notes: All SIC groups were represented by our sample except for 0100–0999 (agriculture, forestry and industry sectors and
fishing) and 1500–1799 (construction). SIC groups 1800–1999 (not used) and 9900–9999 (not classified) were number of
not populated participants

Size (no. of
Organization Description of the organization employees) Respondent title

1 Digital consulting organization 500 Director of Analytics and Products

2 Tire wholesaler 190 Pricing Analyst
3 Full-service bank 89,214 Manager of Analysis
Manager of Analysis
4 Heavy-equipment 66,000 IT Manager
manufacturer Finance Manager
VP-CIO
5 Distribution and warehousing 5,478 Supply Chain Analyst
organization
6 Retailer 58,000 Assistant VP, Financial Planning and
Analysis (FP&A)
Assistant VP, Financial Planning and
Analysis (FP&A)
7 Government research 1,100 Lead Systems Analyst
organization Senior Data Architect
Manager of Enterprise Data Integration
8 Pharmaceutical manufacturer 200 Director of Finance
Manager of Accounting
9 Distribution and warehousing 3,808 Manager of Finance
10 Mining organization 2,040 Director of Financial Reporting
Director of Financial Planning and
Analysis
11 Electrical utility 5,619 Manager of Corporate Accounting
12 Hospital 1,700 Director of Finance Controller
13 Hospital 4,650 Manager of Decision Support
14 Distribution and warehousing 375 Demand Planning Analyst
organization
15 Packaging manufacturer 478 Corporate Controller
16 Wood products manufacturer 250 Financial Controller
17 Government organization 500 Chief Information Officer Table 3.
18 Resource exploration 1,000 Accountant Organizations,
19 Full-service bank 85,000 Senior Manager Finance description, size and
20 Co-packing manufacturer 85 Managing Director/President respondent title(s)
QRAM would be done by MA. Given the goal of understanding the use of DA by MA (or those
18,1 doing the work of MA), the research approach adopted in this paper is inductive and
practice-oriented (Nielson et al., 2015, p. 67). We expected to obtain a rich understanding of
how DA is used by MA.
Nielson et al. (2015) put forth a framework for ascertaining the impact of an operational
activity on the use of management accounting for decision-making. Their RQ was:
134 Confronted with a complex, strategic decision situation involving information uncertainty and a
coalition of decision participants, how do companies structure their decision analysis and
incorporate management accounting information into it (Nielson et al., 2015, p. 65).
Nielson et al. (2015) say “it is reasonable to assume that the revealed methodology can be
applied to other types of decision-making situations.” We assume “other types of decision-
making situations” to include DA and MA. With this framework expressed as an equation,
we have an independent variable, DA, within the context of the organization that affects the
use of management accounting techniques. With this equation of Nielson et al. (2015), the
design of our study is inductive, with rich data from 20 cross-sectional case studies.
Ontologically, Nielson et al. (2015, p. 67) assume organizations to be socially constructed and
they cite Arbnor and Bjerke (1997) in this regard. Their empirical analytics had four parts,
and for our research, this would entail:
(1) a brief case describing the decision context;
(2) the framed knowledge creation method used for supporting decision-making;
(3) a description of the resulting accounting information; and
(4) conclusions are put forth for each organization (Nielson et al., 2015, p. 69).

For each organization in the sample, Table 3 and our analysis addresses Nielson et al.’s
(2015) four topics.
A qualitative methodology was deemed most appropriate given the exploratory nature of
the RQs (Northcott and Doolin, 2008; Keating, 1995) and the study of contemporary concerns
for practice improvement (Vaivio, 2008). Further justification for this choice comes from
Lillis and Mundy (2005, p. 122), who argues:
More generally, cross-sectional field studies can deepen our insights into the constructs and
relations commonly studied empirically. Compared with studying management accounting
phenomena in individual cases, cross-sectional field studies can broaden our understanding by
detecting cross-case patterns in specific issues that are otherwise embedded in detailed case write-
ups. For example, cross-sectional field studies can detect and document variation in
interpretations of practice defined variables [. . .] or theory-defined variables with a “social”
interpretation such as “goal difficulty” or “flexibility.”
As the primary objective of the study is to understand their DA activities, MA (or those
doing equivalent work) from Canadian organizations were appropriate participants for the
study. An interview approach was used to gather evidence. These personal interviews were
conducted during the months of March to May 2017. Rather than taking verbatim notes,
which are prone to errors and bias, interviews were recorded with the permission of the
respondents and then transcribed for their review. The prospective respondents were asked
the 10 open-ended interview questions in Appendix (Sudman and Bradburn, 1982).
Interviews were preferred over a survey approach as they allowed probing into the DA
activities undertaken. Respondents appeared to be highly willing to share their professional
experience.
 Each interview was conducted by one or two of the three co-authors. More precisely, 15 Data analytics
organizations were interviewed by 2 authors and 5 were interviewed by one author.
Respondents from 2 organizations were interviewed by telephone while the respondents
from 18 organizations were interviewed in person.
Efforts were made to enhance the reliability of the evidence and the persuasiveness of the
interpretations. First, respondents were asked the same interview questions, thus
facilitating the identification of (in)consistencies in responses. Second, interviews were
recorded verbatim and transcribed by the same research assistant, and transcriptions were 135
independently verified against recordings. Third, one author reviewed all transcriptions,
and then sent the respective edited transcribed text documents to the respective respondents
with requests to address inaccuracies. In total, 5 of the 29 respondents requested some minor
clarifications to their interview’s transcriptions; the changes were made. Fourth,
transcriptions were independently analyzed by each of the three authors and their analysis
compared and reconciled through additional analysis of interview recordings and
transcripts to ensure the reliability of the coding and interpretations.
This research was undertaken in accordance with the ethics guidelines of the university
of the first and second authors. At the beginning of the interviews, the prospective
respondents received an Informed Consent Form, which explained the project and let them
know they could withdraw from the project at any time. All respondents signed the form to
indicate agreement to participate. None of the participants exercised the right to withdraw.
As to gathering evidence, the first four interview questions (in Appendix ) set the context
for the other interview questions, which deal with DA. Interview questions 1 and 2 reveal
respondents’ involvement with DA. Interview questions 3 and 4 provide a description of
their information technology (IT) knowledge and skills and the IT/ERP systems that they
use in their work. Interview question 5 reveals the IT/analytical knowledge and skills that
are needed for those systems. Interview question 6 asks respondents how they use Excel [6]
and other analytical tools for DA. Interview question 7 asks respondents, for examples of
their output using Excel and other analytical tools. Interview question 8 specifically asks if
they use the drill down functionality. Interview questions 9 and 10 were used to ask
respondents to explain the DA they undertake; these responses were interpreted within
terms of the context in which they work. The evidence from those 10 interview questions
with 29 respondents from 20 organizations are discussed in the next sections.

4. Findings
Tables 2 and 3 suggest the sampled organizations covered a range of sizes from 85
employees to 89,000 employees including most Canadian industries. The respondents varied
from analysts, MA, managers, directors, to CIOs and managing directors. Usually, in
conjunction with variance analysis, most organizations undertook significant drill down
analyzes and trend analyzes, with largely or entirely internal data. Predictive trends
analysis was less prevalent, however, this was where external data would be used, but not
exclusively. ERP systems (or systems with equivalent functionalities) existed with all
sampled organizations, which used a variety of databases and BIs, with Excel as the most
popular BI. Generally, DA was restricted to accounting data, but a few of the sampled
organizations used non-financial and operating data with their analyzes. IT was nearly
missing with some of the sampled organizations, actively pursued by others and highly
integrated at an advanced level with a few.
Table 4 provides a summary of the different DA tools used by the respondent
organizations. As can be seen from the table most organizations relied on some type of ERP
system and data management system as the core IT infrastructure that would collect and
QRAM Type of analytics Examples
18,1
Comparative/variance Comparative year over year sales, Sales by SKU, time Cash flow
analysis variance on budget
Cost/benefit analysis Costs by banner, store Margins percentage, Project cost analysis
why sales went
down?
136 Forecasting/trend Budget projection, planning Patterns, what have Trends by expenditure
analysis changed
Non-financial analysis Maximum number of patients in Analysis by postal Recovery rate and
one day? Minimum? code unexpected side effects;
Colorectal cancer Impact of new products
Table 4. analysis coming into the market
Types of data Modeling Modeled life cycle of mine Budgeting model Modeling scenarios
analytics and KPI analysis Reports on KPIs KPIs, scorecards
examples Other analysis Looking at aging, A/P, A/R “What if” analysis Fraud detection

manage the data that later would be subject to DA. According to the comments from the
respondents, Excel is the most widely used DA tool. Other tools often used by respondents
included BI tools such as IBM’s IB Cognos and SAP’s Business Objects, followed by data
visualization tools such as Tableau.
Respondents indicated that Excel is used to perform a wide variety of DA activities, from
the simple descriptive reporting and data presentation, to the more advanced data modeling,
trend analysis and forecasting. Examples of Excel functions used by respondents include: V-
Lookups, pivot tables, concatenate, three-dimensional referencing, forecasting, trend
analysis, regression analysis and capital budgeting. Excel has “add-ons,” which provide
particularly powerful data export, add further Excel commands and features and analytical
tools such as SQL*XL that allow direct import from a SQL server. Other Excel add-ons
include Financial Genome for forecasting historical data, portfolio calculator for investment
performance and risk management, Synkronizer to find the deviations in linked
spreadsheets and backup Scheduler. The following quote is an illustrative example of the
still predominance of Excel in management accounting with DA.
Obviously when you are looking at performance results, there are two components: what is
driving variance to budget, and also year over year. That analysis is generally the first step done
in Excel [. . .] Then you are going back into your source system to get more information. If you
have a great amount of data to sort through, you are going to dump it into an Excel spreadsheet.
Then, you can sort it through and are these transactions all of the same type, so Excel gives you
that option. You can group and summarize and easily come up with the variance being driven in
these items in particular. Just at a month-end period, that is one of the main things that we do.
Also, for our external auditors, we do the variance analysis for them. Again, it is coming from
Excel-based analysis. When we do account reconciliations that are quarter ends. A lot of times it
is based on work that has been in Excel. (11, p. 4) [7]
Next, we present the evidence that answers the three RQs.

4.1 What are the responsibilities of management accountants with data analytics? Are more
focused roles within management accounting required?
According to the evidence, the responsibilities of MA are not expected to change with the
introduction of DA. Gaining insights from data is one of the main responsibilities of MA and
the one that would receive a positive impact from the introduction of DA. According to the
respondents, MA would still conduct data analysis in their role in support of management Data analytics
decision-making. The following quote is a representative example:
The most frequently, I would call descriptive analytics. A lot of monitoring – volumes, wait times,
activity. A lot of analysis about understanding current and past. That is where the majority of the
work is done. (13, p. 9)
However, the scope of this responsibility is expanding to encompass the data preparation
process and the communication/visualization of results. In regard to the preparation of the 137
data for DA, MA are often expected to extract data, particularly transaction data, from their
organization’s ERP or databases. Often data need to be checked for accuracy, corrected,
transformed and formatted prior to being analyzed. This data management process is
critically important, as the quality of the information provided is directly dependent on the
quality of the data being analyzed. The following quote is indicative of these expanded roles
in the scope of DA for MA:
[. . .] so you are taking from the SQL data, you are taking the ERP data and you are combining
them. You have to know both systems and Excel. The biggest example is some customers allow
you to put data only in a definite format [. . .] [But] you cannot really analyze [it]. We need to put
this data in Excel [. . .], and then after we put it in Excel, we need to clean this data, we need to
delete all duplicates, we need to delete all transactions we do not need. We need to clean
everything we can. Only after that we can operate with the data. (14, p. 16)
In addition, to data preparation, MA with DA are also expected to communicate and present
their findings effectively. This can be done in conjunction with regular reporting, as well as
during planning and budgeting sessions where the MA are staff support. Respondents
referred specifically to the use of graphics, building maps and other types of data
visualization methodologies. A quote for supporting these DA responsibilities is included
below:
Everything I do is to manipulate that raw data that comes from the system, and it is all true data.
To turn that into something actionable where I can bring it to senior management and say that
this is what the data say, I have turned it into something where it is a map [. . .]. It is all about
turning it into something actionable. (5, p. 6).

4.2 How does data analytics support inference, prediction and assurance in management
accounting tasks?
According to our evidence, DA supports inference, prediction and assurance in management
accounting tasks by simplifying the analytical process and eliminating complexities
inherent in advanced analysis and the presentation of results. Some evidence in the form of a
quote is displayed below:
[. . .] because the financial statements that SAP provides are not very user friendly, Excel comes in
handy when I move totals to an Excel template to make it more cosmetically appealing and
summarize it for analysis. The analysis comes when I want to dive into more detail and compare
various accounts in different years, Excel comes in handy in that I can do Vlookups, pivot tables,
and run all three reports. I can analyze each facility, and that is difficult in SAP. (16, p. 2)
Furthermore, some respondents signaled a trend toward self-serve analytics, which again
reinforces the argument that DA makes the MA’s job of inference, prediction and assurance
easier. The following quote is representative of this idea:
If you teach analysts, the scientists, or whoever – and usually these tools are getting far more
simpler to use, it is not coding, but drag and drop. Anybody who understands their datasets can
QRAM probably, very simplistically, create their own reports. That is where I am going to move this
organization to – Self Serve Analytics. I want to be there to develop faster systems, better
18,1 systems, newer systems, best DB architectures where the data is linked as much as possible. (17,
p. 2)
DA also supports inference, prediction and assurance by being able to analyze different
types of data. Note, the following quotes.
138 The data size is huge now, and people used to be able to manipulate it in Excel or Access. But the
size of the data is too big, so people are expected to do it using these tools. To narrow it down
enough to be able to use it. There are so many systems, you want to be able to link it. The reason
why we have decision support is that we take data from different systems. When finance work
with their data, they only work with their data, it is not linked to something else. An organization
looking to understand the full picture, you can only get it by looking at what is happening across
the system. (13, p. 10)

That is done in every different level in the organization. At the [. . .] highest level, [my
colleague’s] team is responsible for that. At a category level, let us take an example of hockey
equipment in the stores if we are talking about [one organization or another], it is not just based
on historical sales but also in terms of hockey kids clubs in the area and trends in terms of what
that means in the market and hockey popularity. What does that mean for [our organization]?
There is macroeconomic, there is microeconomic, there is historical sales trends. We try to
correlate all those and try to make a picture of that. We do that almost at every level of the
organization. (6, p. 14)
DA in management accounting also supports inference and prediction and assurance by
having a variety of analytical tools for MA. DA is also able to support assurance because of
the embedded capabilities, to detect exceptions, patterns and non-compliance much more
readily than without DA. The following quotes from respondents are good representations
of how DA supports MA, and Table 4 summarizes the different types of DA performed by
organizations in the sample.
It is all the time. I will try to give you some examples, one routine thing that we do is the
management report. Where we look at mostly analysis of what is happening in the business, like
with revenues. It is really focusing on variances a lot of times; what is current forecast versus
your previous forecast, or current vs budget forecast? The analysis is slicing and dicing it, so if
your revenue is up 100 million, which product? More or less price-volume analysis by significant
products, for revenue. For cost, it is by asset, by each mine/mill. We have certain drivers like steel,
diesel, electricity [. . .] those are not in the management report, but we analyze those in another
area. Mostly those are price-volume. (10, p. 4)

Every month, from an actual perspective, and we do the analytics from a forecast perspective as
well. When you think of sales, oh it went up by 10%. Where and how? They do all kinds of
analysis by banner, so what was driven by [one banner], was it existing stores or is it because we
had a bunch of new builds? Was it weather related? [. . .] If it was good weather, it could be a one-
time thing. Maybe the [. . .] catalogue? How much is that driving in sales? (6, p. 9)
One element to consider is that DA performance depends on the role of the MA. A more
budgeting role will do more forecasting and modeling. An internal control role will focus
more on cost exception reports, regression analysis, variance analysis, cost benefit analysis
(CBA) and drill down. The financial reporting role will lead to more descriptive analysis and
drill down analysis. The following two quotes illustrate the finding:
The most crucial is what we go to investors with, we have to explain the guidance at the
beginning of the year versus where we are now. That is more of an external standpoint.
 Internally, it can be anything: cost management, revenue, price point analysis. All of those are Data analytics
done very frequently [. . .] I do not know if there is anything to add. (4, p. 4)

It really depends on your role. In mine right now, because I am very reporting focused, it is your
general ledger. Making sure that the reports come up, the variances, the controls. At month end,
that lead sheet and looking at the changes within your accounts is essential, and of course your
P&L. It is really focused on financial reporting integrity. (16, p. 6)
139
For example, the use of drill-down capabilities and variance analysis in DA allows MA to
gain more detailed insight about costs and their behavior, and the identification of
irregularities and potential areas of fraud. The drill down function, by examining the causes
or sources provides greater assurance on the validity of financial numbers and what those
numbers infer. Drilling down allows errors and misrepresentations to be purged. DA is able
to support prediction with the same capability of DA and able to perform forecast and
predictive analytics, trend analyzes that before DA were more complex and difficult to
execute.
The responses from interviews revealed that predictive analytics is still in its infancy and
that many organizations are still not aware of it. Only three organizations acknowledged
using prediction and others consider it to be part of other analyzes they already perform.
Given the quality of the answers, it was clear that respondents had not been exposed to
predictive analytics. However, this is an area where MA might see change. The following
comments are illustrative of the current status of predictive analytics in management
accounting and its implications for the future.
We do some predictive analytics, but it is still small. I think too much weigh on past and current,
and less on future. I think we need to have a better balance. I think they all add up together and it
is how much time you are spending doing it. [. . .] everyone in healthcare speaks about how they
want to do predictive. I think it is great, but I do not think many people are actually doing much of
it. A lot of organizations are still very heavy on understanding the current state. (13, p. 9)

We do less predictive data than I think we should. A lot of it here is fixing those late indicators.
The example I like to use, you can either run out to get gas or you can check your gas gauge to see
where you are at, we are doing a lot of the running out of gas and trying to correct. (5, p. 9)

[. . .] sure. Predictive, would you include a CBA [cost benefit analysis] as predictive? If yes, then
we do a lot of different CBAs and trend analysis. Forecasting there, always trying. We find the
forecasting model much more of a focus now on future oriented stuff than it has been in the past,
and even month-end. They want to shorten the month-end time period. Let us tell the story and
move on, how do we drive the business, how do we make changes? Much more future predictive
oriented. (6, p. 14)

4.3 How can management accountants ensure through data analytics that data insights are
effectively turned into decisions that add value?
The evidence from the interviews uncovered several factors that influence the effectiveness
of MA in turning data insights into decisions that add value. The first one is for MA to have
a good knowledge of the business of their organization, such as knowledge of competitors,
industry, market and supply chain. This enables them to more likely ask the right questions,
and therefore, identify the data to be analyzed and perform the right analysis. The following
quote is a vivid example.
QRAM The trick for accounting people, is to first of all, try to determine what they would like to report on
and what they would like to add value to the business. That is the first step, and I do not know the
18,1 answer to them. The second step then is to look into their databases to see if they actually have
the data and [question] are the clients and the business entering the data in real time or not at all –
the whole process of your data management needs to be looked at. (17, p. 6).
A second factor involves taking into consideration different perspectives when doing DA.
140 Business problems are typically not limited to a single functional area, but rather are
interrelated. For example, customer complaints can be the result of issues in product quality,
customer service, distribution, manufacturing, purchased materials, etc. The following
comment is illustrative of this finding, i.e:
There are so many systems, you want to be able to link to. The reason why we have decision
support is that we take data from different systems. When finance work with their data, they only
work with their data, it is not linked to something else. As an organization looking to understand
the full picture, you can get it by looking at what is happening across the system. (13, p. 9).
The third factor identified by respondents that would impact decision-making is the ability
to communicate results effectively. In this regard, respondents pointed to the ability to
present information to senior management in a clear and readily understandable way, which
often gets accomplished with the use of graphics, maps or visual displays. The following
comment illustrates this point:
The challenge is finding someone who knows SQL, have healthcare experience, and good
communication skills. Finding someone with a strong technical experience is easy. Maybe some
health experience, but having strong communication skills is a challenge. You want someone who
does the analysis, all the graphs, and be able to present in front of the VPs. (13, p. 4).
One final way suggested by the respondents for MA with DA to add value to decision-
making is by providing the quantitative insight that senior management needs for input to
decision-making. As the following respondent suggested, MA through the use of DA can
provide numerical evidence about new sales trends or changes to forecasts.
The whole point of it is to support executive decision making. We need to give them a
quantitative basis. Executives do not want to fire from the hip without any numbers because they
are going to look like fools. They are going to go to the board. The CEO may say he [or she] wants
to do the project, and the board is going to ask him [or her] for numbers. These are big qualitative
things, but you also have to have the quantitative. This is where the models come in. (10, p. 3)

5. Discussion
The purpose of this paper was to gain a better understanding of how practicing MA is using
DA and specifically to address three questions previously identified by Rikhardsson and
Yigitbasioglu (2018), namely, first, what are the responsibilities of MA with DA? Are more
focused roles within management accounting required? Second, how does DA support
inference, prediction and assurance in management accounting tasks? Third, how can MA
ensure with DA that data insights are effectively turned into decisions that add value? In
analyzing the evidence from the interviews, several findings were identified and we now
proceed to discuss them in more detail. These three questions are related following a
progression that we proceed to analyze.
One of the main findings is that MA responsibilities are not expected to change due to the
introduction of DA. MA will continue to provide assistance through analyzing available
financial and non-financial data so that senior management can make effective decisions.
However, what our findings also revealed is that the scope of such responsibility is expected
to expand in two fronts, first in the data preparation in DA, and in the presentation and Data analytics
communication of the results of DA.
A second major impact in the responsibilities of MA due to DA was the importance
placed on the presentation and communication of results. The evidence indicated that this is
as important and necessary for DA as the more technical data analysis skills.
In addressing RQ2, the findings revealed that DA supports tasks of inference,
prediction and assurance by making it easier and simpler for MA to perform complex
data analysis and calculations where Excel is the preferred tool, being able to use 141
different types of data (e.g. operational, financial, historical, predictive, etc.) and different
types of analyzes (e.g. drill-down, comparative, variance analysis, regression, etc.).
However, we were surprised about the low level of adoption of predictive analytics. The
respondents did not reveal an answer. However, we speculate that it could be because of
the nature of forecasting and managers pressing needs to deal with current problems.
As for RQ3, the evidence revealed three success factors for DA in MA use to support
decisions that add value. The first two, having a good knowledge of the business and taking
different approaches to the problem at hand, are related in that they require MA to get out of
their functional areas to look at other areas of the business to increase their knowledge of the
business and to be exposed to other functional perspectives.
The findings also indicated that presentation and communication skills are a third
success factor in adding value to decision-making through DA. This finding is also related
to RQ1 in that the role and responsibility of MA with DA has expanded to presentation and
communication of results. In any case, the findings do highlight the key important role that
the presentation and communication of results with DA has when adding value to decision-
making. Whether it is from the point of view of expanded responsibility within DA or the
adding of value to decision-making, presentation and communication of results has a very
important role to play.
Our evidence yielded five other findings. First, there were great differences among
respondents as to the extent to which their organizations pursued DA. Some of them
developed extensive expertize with DA (e.g. 13). Others have made much less progress (e.g.
12). However, nearly all undertake the DA activities of drill-down and trend analysis.
Let us consider an example at each extreme. One public hospital (12) does little drill-down
and trend analysis limited to financial despite having two senior MA, reporting to the chief
financial officer (CFO), responsible for what the CFO perceives to be DA. In another public
hospital (13), the CFO has established a separate unit to undertake DA, headed by a
manager of decision support, who has a PhD. Drill-down and trend analysis are done with
financial and clinical data with the aim of improving the use of resources and enhancing
treatment success. To have maximum impact, this unit has been located in the same
geographical area of the main building as vice-presidents for easy interaction. In contrast,
accountants for the first hospital are located in a secondary building away from the decision-
making vice-presidents.
The advanced hospital (13) has also introduced self-service analytics. Analysts in the
decision support unit provide regular and ad hoc reports to hospital staff, who are
encouraged to use Excel data and a pivot table for deeper analysis. Self-service is also
included with a manufacturer (4) and a government organization (17). For the latter
organization (17), the responding CIO’s organization was operating at a level beyond the
relatively modest drill-down and trend analysis of the average organization in the sample.
Second, the government organization (17) above – with its contemporary ERP systems
and BIs – perceives DA as involving centralized data production and decentralized self-
serve data usage. Users were provided with the tools for DA. The CIO strongly suggested
QRAM that MA need to decide on what they want to report on, and then determine if they have the
18,1 information in the database to track progress. If the required information is unavailable, it
must be produced or otherwise obtained. The CIO strongly advised that if MA wants to
grow a business, they must have information that gives them the insights that are
unavailable to others. The CIO added that the information in databases for managing
growth generally comes from the work of those who understand IT, the data and the
142 business.
In assessing our research topic, the impact of DA on MA, the CIO used a metaphor: MA
and IT people are on different islands. Those islands must be connected with bridges. MA
needs to be data experts if they are to do DA. We interpreted data experts as not being the
same as IT experts.
Third, most of the DA involved internal data; little macro or external data was being
used by MA. The exceptions were external macro data for analyzing trends and for
developing predictions.
Fourth, Excel is used by many of the practitioners interviewed. It is flexible and can be
used by nearly everyone. As organizations move to self-serve DA, Excel will be increasingly
important because users are generally familiar with it.
Fifth, Quattrone (2016) concluded that DA leads to more data than managers can handle
and consequently leads to wrong decisions. None of the 20-organization noted that DA
resulted in excessive data to the extent of jeopardizing decision-making. The evidence
strongly supported the opposite position, i.e. DA leads to greater accuracy and validity in
the numbers because of drill-down and trend analysis.

6. Implications for practitioners

For a recently identified field of research, presenting the practical implications separately
brings power to the study as the field is still in rapid change. For example, in relation to our
RQ1, changes to MA tasks and responsibilities, the MA profession will still be expected to
support senior management with DA, a crucial service. Also, the inclusion of the DA role
would require MA to have a better understanding of data, data structures, data accuracy,
data management and data cleansing. MA may not need to be experts, however, at least
some basic knowledge and skill would be necessary. In addition, MA with DA will be
expected to be able to communicate the findings and present them in a way that senior
management can act on. This means that, for example, educational programs in MA with
DA will need to include effective use of graphics such as charts, maps and dashboards and
effective communication and public speaking to be able to present results in front of senior
management.
In regard to RQ2, the implications are also important, as the use of DA simplifies
significantly the work of MA. Therefore, the promotion of DA within the profession is
something to be supported through professional one-day workshops and online webinars
where the benefits of DA can be made manifest to the profession, as well as provide an
avenue for MA to acquire DA skills. Similarly, MA in senior management roles should
facilitate the resources (time and otherwise) to allow for MA professionals to further their
knowledge and skills in DA. Thus, Excel skills should be a must in any training or
educational efforts at introducing DA in MA.
The findings also identified three success factors as a way for DA to add value to MA
decisions. These were knowledge of the business, the use of different perspectives when
analyzing the data and the presentation and communication of the findings. The
implications for these findings are also clear. As one CIO indicated, the information in
databases for managing growth generally comes from the work of those who understand IT,
the data and the business. Budgeting, for example, offers a unique opportunity for MA to Data analytics
interact with the different areas of a company and learn about the business and acquire
different perspectives to solve business problems. This might require a change in attitude,
and an openness to other ways of looking at business problems.

7. Concluding comments
The MA in the sampled organizations displayed a range of DA sophistication. The results of 143
the study allowed us to respond to the three initial RQs.
For RQ1, the responsibilities of MA have not changed with DA but their roles have been
expanded. MA are still responsible for data analysis to support senior management’s
decision-making. The expansion of such a role occurs in two parts, one to include the
preparation of data to be used in DA. The last part involves the presentation and
communication of results based on using DA.
The last part of this of the first question asked, are more focused roles within
management accounting required? The evidence presents two options. MA can develop the
necessary knowledge and skills to be able to directly provide decision-making managers
with DA. Alternately, others with DA specialized knowledge and skills can provide the DA
to managers for decision-making. In the second alternate, MA would work with financial
data in parallel with these DA specialists in reporting to controllers or CFOs. The evidence
from this research is ambiguous about whether one option is being pursued. CPA Canada
waited until 2019 to add DA to its competency map; this has likely added to this current lack
of clear direction in Canada.
If the findings were used to evaluate the responsibilities of MA affected by DA, we would
start with the premise that MA would be largely restricted to internal financial and non-
financial/operational data. Major activities would tend to be variance analysis and trend
analysis/predictions. Despite these commonalities, our research provides numerous
dimensions upon which MA responsibilities vary, i.e:
 Serving management narrowly defined, to broadly defined.
 Directly service clients, to directly service clients and offering them self-service.
 Financial-based management accounting skills, to management accounting with
non-financial/operational data plus statistical and mathematical skills.
 Management accounting units, to IT-augmented management accounting units.
 Management accounting units, to management accounting units in parallel with DA
units and
 No “bridge” to IT, to “bridge” to full integration with IT.

The starting point of each dimension is approximately the position of MA without DA. The
end points are where DA has been extensively pursued by MA. We can place each of the 20
organizations into three groups as specified. Four of the organizations were deemed
traditional MA in that they restricted themselves to modest drill down and trend analyzes.
In total, 11 of the organizations were classified as DA-augmented MA. These organizations
use DA tools and develop-related expertize to provide competent drill down and trend
analysis. Data are extracted and then analyzed in Excel files. Finally, five organizations
practice MA as data scientists. These organizations were more likely to analyze data in
place rather than extracting for Excel. They were fully integrated with IT, statistics and
mathematics; excellent with drill down and trend analysis and prediction; with a high level
QRAM of DA expertize that is either integrated or parallel; and self-service also used to serve
18,1 clients. MA tend to be data scientists.
The result is a tentative or comparative assessment of 20 organizations rather than a
transcendental conclusion (Sen, 2009, p. 9).
RQ2 was how does DA support inference, predictions and assurance? The evidence is
that with ERP systems, Excel and various BI systems, DA enables MA through drilling
144 down and trend analyzes/prediction to better understand financial numbers. DA, thus,
yields greater financial detail and operational understanding. More accurate information is
the route by which DA supports inference, predictions and assurance.
RQ3 was how can MA ensure through DA that insights are effectively turned into
decisions that add value? The evidence suggests that MA can add value if they
understand the operations of the organization, and understand the data sources and
systems including the ERP system, use different perspectives in their analysis and
use visuals to communicate the data provided to decision-makers. The insights from
DA add value in two ways. First, DA enables MA to provide an understanding of
what exists underneath financial numbers in terms of causal explanations. These
insights improve inference and assessment. Generally, these insights are received
through variance analysis in conjunction with drill down functionality. The resulting
insights explain what was oblique with financial data. Second, with trend analysis
providing insights into revenues, costs and expenses, especially through moving
averages and regression analysis, decision-makers have a greater understanding of
the past and enhanced understanding of what might happen in the future.
In our concluding comments, we need to mention that based on our evidence, it is time for
the accounting professions in Canada and elsewhere to either take major positions in DA or
to largely vacate. For the former, this would need to start with competency maps for
accountants in training. The results would be like one of the hospitals (13) in our sample,
except instead of a non-accounting unit, the necessary knowledge and skills would be placed
in the MA. This choice would be a break with the past.
In addition to the primary contributions from answering the three RQs posed by
Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu (2018), the fourth contribution is disproving Quattrone’s
(2016) premise that DA leads to data overload and bad decisions. Overall, according to our
evidence, the practice of DA by MA is still in its early stages with few organizations using
non-financial/operational data and advanced predictive modeling.
At this point, we infer from the paper that there are important messages for practitioners,
either MA or managers who are the supervisors or clients of MA. The results from 20
organizations show the variation in how DA is incorporated into the work of MA.
Consequently, MA may determine the DA skills and knowledge they want to pursue for
their own careers. Similarly, supervisors and clients may determine the DA skills and
knowledge they want in management accounting units. Practitioners should recognize that
the effect of DA on MA is in an early stage of its evolution.
The limitation of this research is that it is based on a relatively small, geographically
restricted sample (20 organizations and 29 respondents in central Canada) as well by
interviews that were limited in duration.
This general study of DA by MA suggests many opportunities for future research.
Research could test the same three RQs with practitioners over a longer past period of time
to assess their reliability, and to obtain vivid examples of the various stages, as well as
examples of transitions among stages. That research could be done by adopting a case
study approach to undertake in-depth investigations in fewer organizations to understand
more thoroughly DA adoption and use. The second part of RQ1 – are more focused roles
within management accounting required? – could be studied with more depth. Although this Data analytics
study found that some management accounting units developed DA capacities, others
received support from central resources, directly or indirectly via self-service or not at all. A
third area of future research could be the study of drill-down practices, the tools used, the
nature of the findings and variations by industry classification. The fourth area could be the
study of the trend analyzes and predictions, the tools used, the nature of the trend analysis/
predictions and variations by industry classification. These research opportunities are the
result of the rich evidence provided by the present study. 145

Notes
1. Pickard and Cokins (2017, p. 152) use the term data mining and analytics.
2. Marr (2016) was mentioned at the 2019 annual conference of the American Accounting
Association, Panel session 7.7.
3. The 32 papers were reduced by one, which was a highly cited paper from Google Scholar.
4. The other four themes tended to be less related to our overall purpose: to understand how MA are
affected by DA.
5. Rikhardsson and Yigitbasioglu (2018) used the expression “should be” as to responsibilities of
management accounting. That expression was replaced with “are.” The justification was that
MA would likely be better able to explain what they are doing than what should be done.
6. We used the term Excel explicitly as an earlier study found that it was the most popular analysis
tool for MA (Spraakman et al., 2015).
7. A number in brackets indicates the organization being referenced. For example, (11, p. 4)
indicates the 11th firm in Table 3, and p. 4 in our verbatim translation of our interview with
organization 11.

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Blocher, E.J., Stout, D.E., Juras, P.E. and Smith, S. (2019), Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis,
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Canadian Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (2018), The Chartered Professional
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Demonstrate to Become a CPA, CPAC, Toronto.
Institute of Management Accountants (2020), available at: www.imanet.org/-/media/
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Laney, D. (2001), “3D data management: controlling data volume, velocity, and variety”, Gartner File,
Vol. 949.

Appendix
Data analytics interview questionnaire
 What is your position or job title?
 What do you do? Does your work involve analysis?
 Does your position or job require you to have IT knowledge and skills?
 What IT/ERP/mainframe systems do you use and how do you use those systems?
 What IT/analytical knowledge and skills do you need for using those systems in your
work?
 In your opinion, how do Excel and other analytical tools get used for analysis?
 Can you provide examples of how Excel and the analytical tools have been particularly
beneficial for analysis? These examples do not necessarily need to come from your
current organization.
 In your opinion, is the drill down function used for analysis? Please explain how and
why this function is used.
 In your opinion, are both financial and predictive data used with your analysis? How do
the two types of data relate to one another with analysis?
 In your opinion, what analysis is done most frequently? What analysis is most crucial?

Corresponding author
Gary Spraakman can be contacted at: garys@yorku.ca

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