Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • March 9, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 9 © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. 2155 East Main Street • Torrington, Connecticut 06790 Dupont Storage Systems, Bristol, CT | 2009 | 32,500 sq. ft., 46' tall • 2012 | Addition — 15,300 sq. ft. Quality Construction + Butler Manufacturing = Repeat Customers www.borghesibuilding.com Contact us at 860-482-7613 or visit us on the web. WE PROVIDE CT BUSINESS LEADERS WITH THE INFORMATION THEY NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY RUN THEIR BUSINESS. ARE YOU IN THE KNOW? SUBSCRIBE BY GOING TO HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM CLICK ON "SUBSCRIBE" FOCUS: ACCOUNTING last fall, according to its website. Meanwhile, Sacred Heart introduced an analytics track to its MSA program this year to "respond to the profound impact that the interpretation of data is having on the way we educate future accountants," said accounting and information systems department chair Barbara Tarasovich. One of two possible concentra- tions (the other is forensics), it covers database management, descriptive and predictive analysis, data visualization, and audit and tax data analyt- ics, she said. Quinnipiac University has woven technology into all account- ing courses and encourages accounting majors to minor in data analytics. "And most of them do," said Nelson Alino, QU's accounting department chair and MSA program director. To stay ahead of the trends, he said some faculty members attended an intensive data and analytics summer workshop last year sponsored by the American Accounting Association. While all students are trained in Microsoft Excel, he said the university leaves it up to each faculty member to decide which of the emerging technol- ogies to introduce in their classrooms. The aim is for students to be comfort- able using analytical tools, rather than mastering a specific piece of software, since tools vary among firms. "This is what the accounting firms are telling us, too. They should know how the tools are used, how data is col- lected, analyzed and presented," he said. At the University of Hartford ac- counting students are encouraged to either minor in business analytics — offered through the Barney School of Business — or in data sciences, launched by the College of Arts and Sciences last year, said accounting department chair James Bannister. Bannister said many accounting majors had already been signing up for programming classes, recognizing the growing demand for accountants familiar with Python and R, languages geared toward data sciences. On the flip side, he said he's also seen more computer science majors taking minors in accounting. "Because they know there's a need in the industry and maybe they're in- terested in doing some AI program- ming around accounting," he said. 'Unicorn resource' While there's been an uptick over the last two years in higher-educa- tion programs offering accounting/ data sciences hybrid pro- grams, blumsha- piro's Pelletier said so far those programs are churning out relatively few "dual-honed" job candidates — that is, strong accountants who are equally adept at data sciences. "That's the kind of unicorn re- source you're looking for," he said. But he and others say the profes- sion, as a whole, is still only on the precipice of the machine learning and AI revolution. Unlike many other industries, accounting firms are bound by compliance and auditing standards, making innovation more challenging and slow-going, he said. "So I think [colleges and univer- sities] are stepping to the plate at about the right pace with respect to where and how we can use these technologies," he said. Michael Sabol, partner at Glaston- bury-based accounting firm Ma- honeySabol, agreed. "I think it's going to be another year or two until the software gets to a point where we're using it on a daily basis in our auditing," he said. "It will be coming and the schools do have to prepare, but we as a profes- sion have not put it all together yet." UConn's Plesko said regardless of the technology and hiring shift, college accounting programs' core mission is still the same. "Fundamentally, we are producing accountants. We're not looking to produce statisticians or computer scientists who know some account- ing," he explained. "We have to make sure that everyone we train is going to be qualified to sit for and pass the CPA licensure exam." George Plesko, Accounting Program Director, UConn James Bannister, Accounting Department Chair, University of Hartford

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