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Historically, data analytics have not been used in the professions of accounting and auditing to the extent that they have been in other industries. However, an understanding of big data and the relevant analysis techniques is more often becoming mandatory for accountants and auditors so that they can provide greater business insights for their businesses and clients. This note prepares readers for using big data and data analytics by providing an overview of data analytics, explaining how data analytics techniques can be used in accounting and auditing practices, and providing a tutorial that walks students through a basic use of ACL Analytics.

In June 2017, the managing director of T-Systems South Africa (TSSA) was considering how best to inspire stakeholders to join his movement towards contributing positively to nation building in South Africa. TSSA had experienced some success in setting up information and communication technology systems and academies to create jobs and to create shared value, but it needed to overcome a threshold to exert its influence over a broader level within the country. Specifically, the managing director wondered how TSSA could receive a positive sustainable return on its investments in environmental and social impacts during a time of cost-cutting.

GAIL (India) Limited (GAIL), a public-sector undertaking, was India’s largest gas transmission and marketing company. As a leader in India’s gas and energy sector, the organization aimed to set a benchmark for other companies in the industry by implementing the best safety practices for its employees. In late 2013, GAIL’s top management decided to implement the behaviour-based safety (BBS) program across all of the company’s work sites. BBS was a health and safety standard that promoted change by training and enabling employees to observe and correct unsafe behaviour on the spot. BBS’s strength—changing employee behaviour—was also BBS’s challenge. Employees initially supported the initiative; but over time, employee commitment began to wane, and leaders redirected their energy to other pressing work demands. In 2016, general manager of HSE, and his team were finding it increasingly difficult to sustain the BBS initiative and transform the safety culture of the company. With the company’s operations growing and the number of employees increasing, management was grappling with what more could be done to inculcate a culture of safety.

Under the visionary leadership of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Nintendo) of Japan had transformed from a small founder-controlled business to a global and professionalized firm. Yamauchi’s death in 2013 had the potential to affect Nintendo’s corporate financial policy. Following his passing, Yamauchi’s family was left with a huge inheritance—but also an exorbitant inheritance tax bill. The family sought advice from Nintendo on how to deal with the matter. How could Nintendo solve this financial trouble in a way that balanced the interests of both the family and Nintendo’s management?

Supporting material to accompany product 9B18B013.

Supporting material to accompany product 9B18B013.

In 2013, the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the Christian Children’s Home of Florida (CCHF), a well-established, faith-based residential care facility for neglected and abused children, was in the process of seeking a deep understanding of the issues affecting company morale. The CEO had just received the field notes of an extensive qualitative research study of CCHF completed by a Master of Business Administration consulting team from a local university. She wanted to make her own assessment of the themes that were emerging from their data and identify any policies, procedures, or other recommendations that the data would suggest. With morale rumoured to have slipped prior to her appointment, and with employee turnover above industry norms, the new CEO felt that identifying and addressing needed changes was a priority.

Supplement for product 9B18C026.

Fauzia Kehar was a woman working in the male-dominated legal profession in Pakistan. She had overcome many barriers to achieve outstanding career success in Pakistan—a male-dominated environment with conservative laws and culture. Her impressive educational background and work experience led to her rapid progression to the role of head of Legal, Gulf Cluster, at Citibank NA in Dubai. After more than 20 years working as a lawyer, Fauzia had reached the top of her profession. In May 2018, she was reflecting back on the sacrifices she had made, and although she was confident she had made the right career choices, she wondered what was next. Should she continue her career in law or utilize her skill set to pursue a new career?

iSpace, a start-up hub that focused on women in technology, was founded in 2013 in Ghana’s capital, Accra, and provided space, technology, and funding to 62 entrepreneurs. In May 2017, the co-founder wanted to expand the business to maximize social impact by empowering a greater number of entrepreneurs who lacked technical skills, emotional support, and access to funding. iSpace had four strategies to choose from to meet its goal: create new programs to attract more entrepreneurs in Accra, establish a presence on university campuses, expand into other regions or countries, and collaborate with government programs. In addition, the company needed a plan to address the financial and human resources constraints it would face in executing an expansion strategy.

In July 2013, the chief executive officer (CEO) of TVOntario (TVO) was reviewing a report from consultants for the future direction of the organization. TVO was an educational media organization under the Ontario Ministry of Education, in Canada. TVO’s mandate was rooted in supporting the ministry’s social role of providing education—a crucial public good—to Ontarians of all ages. Over time, the mandate was broadened to include current affairs, documentary, and drama programming. But unlike its private-sector peers in the television industry who relied on commercial advertisements as a source of revenue, TVO depended on annual grants from the ministry of education to the extent of 66 per cent of its annual expenditure. For the rest, it relied on donors and on its own revenue-generating programs. At the end of the 2012/13 broadcast year, TVO reached 83 per cent of Ontarians. However, new data was emerging that showed early adopters to Internet video were beginning to watch as much as 45 per cent of their television through non-traditional channels. The consultants outlined a five-year plan with three strategic directions. The CEO must decide on the direction and the execution plan that will place TVO on a path of recurring growth.

Supplement to TVO: Leading Transformation Change (A)

Supplement to TVO: Leading Transformation Change (A)

In 2007, the owner and director of marketing and research and development at Jaga was preparing for a meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the future of the Belgian company’s Uchronia project (an online community and playground for creativity and product development). Over the previous 15 years, Jaga had transformed from a production-based radiator company to a highly innovative organization with a focus on the premium market. The owner, who had succeeded his father as chief executive officer during the 1990s, had managed this transformation. As an anthropologist with a unique view of the world, he saw the economy, innovation, and management as integral parts of his vision. Jaga had developed three major innovation projects in recent years. The first two were inexpensive projects and focused on direct benefits for the company. The third, the Uchronia project, was a larger and a more expensive project initiated at the Burning Man festival in 2006 that gained worldwide media attention. However, the Uchronia online community that resulted from the project had not grown as expected, leaving its founder to have to make a decision about the project’s future.

Jaga suffered negative economic effects from the 2008 financial crisis. As the crisis persisted in 2011, management planned to substantially reduce the number of employees, but the founder instead chose to fire half of the management team and reorganize the company. Although this decision was considered counterintuitive, it was perfectly aligned with the philosophy of this creative company.

In June 2016, Sumayyah Sayed, a resident of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, decided to donate food to those who needed it through a sharing fridge for the full month of Ramadan. When she noted the extent of the need for more help, she turned to social media. What followed demonstrated the power of social media campaigns and the collective management of supply chains and perhaps initiated a new entrepreneurial venture. Within one month, the Facebook Inc. group Sayed had created to support her Ramadan Sharing Fridges initiative had 22,000 members, 165 donating fridges had been set up, and the story was creating waves in international media. What kind of entrepreneurial style was this? Was it sustainable? Was it an alternative model that could be adopted by others who aspired to set up business ventures, or was it a fluke?

In 2015, the assistant general manager at JSW Steel Ltd. (JSW), one of India’s largest steelmakers, faced a dilemma. Should JSW continue to transport the company’s end products to clients, or should JSW instead outsource the transportation to a third-party provider? Outsourcing would ensure timely delivery but would increase the cost. Another option was to pay an agency a premium for sharing information on the availability of Class I and Class II barge vendors. Class I barges were more reliable in terms of on-time and damage-free delivery, whereas Class II barges had a smaller capacity, were less reliable, and had a greater risk of goods being damaged, for which JSW could face both monetary and non-monetary losses. Although the Class I barges led to higher payoffs, the outsourcing option offered a fixed and relatively lower payoff. The assistant general manager’s objective was twofold: to meet the customer requirements in time and to benefit JSW financially. How should he decide which option to pursue?

Care Unlimited was a start-up in Kolkata, India, engaged in providing support and services to elderly customers whose children lived far away. The venture, four years old, had garnered a clientele who strongly believed in supporting the well-being of their elderly parents. The start-up endeavoured to change the experience of old age by supporting its customers in various chores, and by meaningfully engaging them in the various activities they enjoyed. By April 2018, the set-up had captured a share of the early market in Kolkata; however, the concept that the needs of elderly people extended beyond a need for emergency services had yet to gain wide-scale acceptance. Should the founder consider adding emergency services? Or should he continue to focus on driving home the point that elderly people needed far more than emergency services? Was there a need to explore alternative ways of earning revenue and diversifying his business?

Headquartered in Gurgaon, India, Vaidam Health Private Limited (Vaidam) was an online medical-value-travel (MVT) facilitator that had been hosting overseas patients travelling to India for medical treatment since its inception in January 2016. It had partnered with over 100 world-class health care facilities across the major cities in the country. Given the improved attractiveness of the MVT services, the founders of Vaidam realized that they would face tough competition in their attempt to further leverage this massive unaddressed business opportunity. Although they had successfully bootstrapped and come this far, they now had a tougher challenge to face in May 2018: as an MVT facilitator, how could Vaidam continuously offer value to medical travellers so that they would continue to choose Vaidam to plan their treatment and travel to India?

In 2016, Somany Ceramics Limited (SCL), a ceramic tile manufacturing company in India, needed industry-ready workers to meet the company’s expansion plan; however, the whole ceramics industry was affected by a shortage of labour. Most of the technically competent ceramics and construction personnel in India preferred to work in the construction industry or join other sectors such as information technology. The company’s human resources team needed to develop a strategy to hire an adequate number of skilled employees and to retain them as the competitors also attempted to take advantage of growth opportunities in the global ceramics industry.