Management accountants and finance professionals have long served as stewards of accounting information, responsible for overseeing financial reporting and providing assurance around that reporting. More recently, that role has evolved. Spurred on by a rapidly changing business environment and technological advances, the role of the finance function has shifted from being that of record keeper and "compliance cop" to being a strategic business partner, with a greater emphasis on decision support. The skills needed to transition to this role of strategic advisor are different than those generally learned in a traditional accounting education. In order to exploit the digital transformation of business, finance and accounting professionals need to be able to explore new ways to manage, analyze, and extract value from data, to apply analytical and critical thinking skills to address strategic issues, and, especially, to be able to effectively communicate the "story" in the data. Having such data visualization skills enables management accountants to tell the stories needed to propel business growth, transform product and service offerings, and ensure the long-term sustainability of the organizations we support.
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