Act or be acted upon: Revolutionizing accounting curriculums with data analytics

SYNOPSIS: Technology is revolutionizing accounting. To survive, accountants must focus on areas where they can complement technology and carve out a competitive advantage where the expertise of accountants is uniquely needed. To do so, we highlight the new core competencies emphasizing the use of data analytics. We propose a new, revolutionized curriculum focusing on (1) providing students with a step-by-step framework/approach for analyzing the data that includes the use of statistics; (2) using data analytics across the accounting curriculum to build data analytics skills; and (3) incorporating the use of real-world data for its analysis. This new curriculum combines business acumen to provide context as well as technological adeptness to analyze the data, and prepares the CPA professional for the future. We conclude by arguing that the accounting profession faces a choice: either master technology or be mastered by technology. The choice is ours. Act or be acted upon.