Page 72 - JoFA_Jan_Apr23

TECHNOLOGY / PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Communications skills Xledger Inc., put it, the profession is shifting away
from answering the question, “Is this correct?” and
don’t come naturally toward answering, “What does this mean and what
should we do about it?”
Liz Barhydt, CPA (inactive), founder of She
to everyone, but data Speaks Numbers and CFO at Pardon, saw the im-
portance of data storytelling in her career at a time
when she was looking for ways to provide more
storytelling is a skill value to the professional services startup where
she worked. “I took our department and revenue
leaders through the story of two different custom-
that can be learned. ers and the journey each had with our company,”
she explained, highlighting the differences in how
each one was acquired and onboarded, as well as
how their account was managed and how long
they stayed with the company. “Then I shared the
AICPA recently hosted a webinar for accounting financial impact each customer had on our revenue
educators on the subject, and the Massachusetts and profit numbers over the course of their time as
Institute of Technology requires undergraduate and customers. The difference between a customer who
graduate business analytics students to take a course signed on and only stayed for three months and a
on the topic. customer who signed on and stayed for two years
“Students have recognized how critical the skill was 20 times greater value to our company even
is to functioning and succeeding in the modern when it took about the same amount of effort to
workplace,” said Miro Kazakoff, a senior lecturer at acquire and onboard them in the beginning.”
the MIT Sloan School of Management and author “Financial storytelling isn’t just using stories to
of the book Persuading With Data, who created make numbers more relatable,” she said. “At its core,
coursework on the subject. it’s persuasion, explanation, and creating motivation
to inspire action and change behavior.”
WHY DATA STORYTELLING IS IMPORTANT Schmidt recalled how his firm once helped a cli-
FOR CPAs ent develop its accounting systems to analyze more
CPAs, too, are recognizing the relevance of data data and provide greater insights. The client had
storytelling as they become more data-literate and historically split its revenue — but not expenses —
take on more of an advisory role in their jobs. Ac- between two operating divisions, he recalled. When
countants who offer client advisory services (CAS) his firm examined the client’s data, “what emerged
make use of the skill when they analyze clients’ data was the story that even though one division
and interpret it to give them new insights into their — where most of the effort was being focused —
businesses. Management accountants and finance produced 300% more revenue, it produced less than
professionals use it to move into more strategic half of the net income,” he said. After learning
roles. As Dan Schmidt, founder of management ac- this, the client reallocated resources to the more
counting services and advisory firm EBCFO LLC efficient division, Schmidt said, “and the impact on
in Kansas City, Mo., and head of partnerships at the bottom line exceeded 200% without incurring

IN BRIEF ■ Data storytelling is a good skill for audience’s place and adapting their
CPAs to cultivate, especially if they are language to their listeners.
■ Data storytelling is the practice of in advisory roles that require them to ■ Another tip is to keep a “story vault”
giving numerical data a storyline to explain numerical data to nonexperts. of anecdotes that can help illustrate
make it more compelling and easier to ■ CPAs can improve their presentation different concepts.
grasp. of data by putting themselves in their
To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Courtney Vien at Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.

22 | Journal of Accountancy February 2023