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Coding for accountants: It’s not just for programmers

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31st Jan 2018
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The venture capitalist Marc Andreessen once said: “The spread of computers and the Internet will put jobs in two categories. People who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do.”

Dystopian predictions like these aside (we see enough of them already), coding is quickly becoming an essential skill required in sectors where traditionally there has been no presence. A report published by PWC in 2015 put coding, predictive analysis and machine learning high on the list of skills accountants will need to succeed in a rapidly changing business world.

Why learn?

Why learn how to code in the first place? After all "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so the saying goes.

Most software used in accounting has its limitations, but with coding the possibilities are literally endless. The user interface no longer becomes a barrier in what you are able to do. You are in full control of your data and what it can do for you. Spreadsheets soon become a concern of the past.

After a brief stint as a maths lecturer, I made the leap into investment banking where I have seen first hand how software has the power to radically enhance the performance of teams. Beyond the efficiency gains it brought, being able to code also enabled us to easily distribute and share tools which would otherwise be trapped within the confines of a spreadsheet.

We’re lucky to be living in a time where learning how to code has never been easier. But with so much choice out there where should one start? This article is the beginning of a series written especially for accountants and bookkeepers, which will serve as a springboard into acquiring a deeper understanding of coding, machine learning and AI.

What we'll cover in this series

With so many programming languages out there, it’s quite common to be stumped for choice before even getting started. In this series we’ll be using Python which is an excellent language choice for data oriented professions. Python is comparatively easy to learn, and it has a wide range of machine learning and data analysis tools at its disposal. As a technology it is also quite scalable - used to built some well-known apps like Instagram, YouTube, and Dropbox.

The series will be broken up as follows:

Part 1: Setting up your coding environment, loading data from a CSV file

Part 2: Filtering and sorting data, function basics, adding new columns

Part 3: Plotting data using pie charts, bar charts, scatter plots, and more

Part 4: Pivot tables, create an aged debtors report, other data aggregation techniques

Part 5: Setting the scene for our machine learning problem and approach taken

Part 6: Implementing the machine learning algorithm to create a predictive model

Join me if you’re interested in learning these skills, and how they can be applied in practice.

Replies (8)

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By Brend201
01st Feb 2018 13:18

This sounds promising! I'm in.

Thanks (1)
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By Johnw1966
01st Feb 2018 14:26

So how do we recieive these lessons, as there is no link to join or to go to an external portal

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Replying to Johnw1966:
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By Philippeevrard
01st Feb 2018 14:32

I believe this will be in the content section. There is a link on the page (right side if on desktop) which send you to the content page.
Alternatively, it goes there: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/content/coding-for-accountants

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Replying to Philippeevrard:
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By Brend201
01st Feb 2018 14:43

In the article above, just above the bio "About Jahan Zahid", there is a link to "Follow this content". Click there.

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Replying to Brend201:
Richard Hattersley
By Richard Hattersley
01st Feb 2018 17:28

Hi everyone! It’s good to see that people are as interested in this series as I am.

Articles in this series will be released weekly on AccointingWEB. So look out for the first edition mid-next week.

Thanks (2)
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By Andrew1946
01st Feb 2018 15:56

Wanting/needing to learn about coding, but I can't even find the link, despite all the previous hints/tips!! Perhaps this is the first hurdle to sort out those for whom like me, it may not be really suitable

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Replying to Andrew1946:
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By Philippeevrard
01st Feb 2018 16:04

There should be more added soon.
Follow Brend201's advice to get notified:

Brend201 wrote:

In the article above, just above the bio "About Jahan Zahid", there is a link to "Follow this content". Click there.

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By edhy
05th Feb 2018 14:01

Two more benefits of Accountants learning to code:
When coordinating with Systems design & development teams you have the common language with them benefiting the project a lot and structured thinking that comes with coding experience. Those who code even a little have very good Excel sheets when using it.

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