Embracing data, digitisation and technology have always been an important part of the accountant’s working life.

From the ancient abacus to the modern-day computer and all it offers, throughout history, accountants have used available technologies to help them with their day-to-day tasks.

As such, the accountancy profession is skilful at using technology for the advantage of their clients and their own businesses. But the pace and volume of technological change is incredibly rapid now and will be in the future.

The rise of technology is both feared and welcomed in equal measure. But, for accountancy, developments aligned to technology, digital and machine simulation – such as artificial intelligence – are not about obsolescence.

In fact, technology is an enabler for the accountancy profession, helping it to move up the skills value chain to higher value interpretation, analysis and leadership skills.

As a global professional body, our aim is to create strategic business leaders who can use tech and data to augment the value that accountants bring. The human impact and interaction remain very relevant even when operating in the tech-enabled world. We see technology as one of the seven skills for success a modern professional accountant should possess.

One area of rapid development is coding. In a recent report, ‘Coding: As a professional accountant, why you should be interested’, we looked at how digital adoption is on the rise, with accountants increasingly being asked to leverage digital to enhance the value they bring.

Professional accountants should be aware of and interested in coding. This is a task most associated with developing solutions using technology. It’s done in a programming language, of which there are many types, some in machine code and others very much like natural language, the latter being the focus of our paper.

Even within high-level programming languages there is a spectrum. Third generation languages like C, C++ and Java are extensively used in back-end application development and are popular with IT and programming specialists. Of particular interest are fourth generation programming languages, like Python, where the code is expressed in a very intuitive way, similar almost to writing a sentence in natural language.

These types of languages can lend themselves to use cases like data analysis, data visualisation and scripts for customised reports to reduce low-value repetitive tasks, which are relevant for accountancy and finance professionals.

We make it very clear in this paper that not every professional accountant may need to code, but even a basic understanding can add value to their organisations, help to differentiate themselves and open future career opportunities.

Last year, we conducted research among 992 Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) members about technology and their perceptions of it. When it came to coding, although 57 per cent had no knowledge of it, 40 per cent expressed an interest in learning.

Looking ahead three years, none of the respondents wanted to remain without knowledge of coding. And over that same time frame, six in 10 wanted to develop a basic knowledge, and a further one in four sought advanced knowledge in coding. So the de

Coding is also relevant to the accountancy environment because of a wider trend emerging of more partnering between accountants and other professionals, such as multiskilled audit teams with experts in data science or cyber skills.

To illustrate this, our report also includes a helpful case study on how coding fits into the wider ecosystem of skills relevant to the professional accountant. Indeed, most accountants we spoke to – 86 per cent – said that a better understanding of coding can help communication between accountants and those trained in other disciplines. Collaboration is key.

Ultimately, coding can be a valuable skill set. There are various levels at which an accountant can get involved – from simply a high-level awareness of what it is, to involvement as a user who can partner with specialists, to more hands-on development of code itself.

Shelly-Ann Mohammed is the head of ACCA Caribbean