From accountant to information professional: how my SMU diploma put me on a brand new profession path

For Alynn Tan, the launch of the Grasp of Science in Accounting, Information & Analytics (MSA) programme at Singapore Administration College (SMU) got here at simply the appropriate time. Again in 2018, Alynn was a profitable auditor with 5 years’ expertise below her belt, and he or she was researching post-graduate {qualifications} to stop her profession from “stagnating”.

Simply as Alynn was making use of for one more course, she observed that SMU had arrange a brand new and distinctive programme – the MSA is the primary specialised Grasp’s diploma in accounting information and analytics in Asia.

“I didn’t desire a whole profession change; I wished to maintain my audit focus however add new data in information and analytics. That’s why the MSA was an ideal match,” explains Alynn, who graduated earlier this yr and has since used her new qualification to land a data-driven position at EY in Singapore.

“With out upgrading my expertise by way of the MSA, I risked shedding my job to a pc program,” says Alynn, including that among the extra mundane duties historically carried out by auditors and accountants are regularly being automated.

To remain related within the close to future, auditors must “function at a better stage” and supply extra strategic recommendation to shoppers, says Alynn. “The job is changing into much less about end-to-end processes and extra about offering insights, together with by means of making higher use of knowledge. As accountants, we have to add extra worth and help firms to succeed in higher selections,” she provides.

The MSA helps accounting professionals do exactly that, says Alynn. The programme focuses on the appliance of knowledge expertise in accounting, giving college students data of how and the place to use technological experience in real-world settings. “The talents you study on the MSA – similar to modelling, statistical opinions and information visualisations – have gotten more and more essential to extra jobs in accounting. For instance, there are new reporting requirements in Singapore that emphasise predictive analytics, reasonably than historic targets, in monetary statements,” she provides.

Alynn is at the moment utilizing her new experience in her position as an information analytics and automation assistant supervisor at EY, and says she couldn’t have gotten this job with out the MSA diploma. Her crew, which was solely established in early 2020, helps the agency’s conventional auditors and their shoppers profit from automated instruments. “We step in when auditors have a data-focused job, like visualisation. As a former conventional auditor myself, I perceive their ache factors, and due to my MSA I now have expertise that may make life simpler for them,” she says.

The MSA takes a deep dive into information and analytics – together with forecasting and forensic analytics, programming with information, and analytics for monetary devices – that every concentrate on completely different facets of the general topic. “Whereas at first not all of the modules appeared immediately related to my profession, as I went by means of the MSA I discovered that they had been all linked collectively and supplied the entire image I wished,” says Alynn.

It wasn’t simply the content material of the modules that impressed Alynn; it was additionally the way in which they had been taught.

“The teachings are seminar type, so there’s loads of interplay with the professors. The educating school are very devoted to your studying – they transcend the norm and assist you to community with trade gamers. And there’s a challenge to convey all of it collectively on the finish of every module – a enterprise downside that you just work by means of in small teams,” she says.

For Alynn, these tasks had been a spotlight of the programme. “I discovered loads of new views from working with others in my group and from listening to the shows of different teams. The challenge within the analytics for worth investing module was particularly attention-grabbing as we needed to devise modern methods to get market features,” she says.

In the direction of the tip of her MSA, Alynn additionally labored with classmates on a bigger capstone challenge, during which they constructed a CFO dashboard for a micro-loan firm utilizing predictive analytics. Collaborating on tasks with corporates and different exterior companions is a part of the SMU-X experiential studying framework, which supplies college students priceless trade publicity to allow them to apply tutorial principle outdoors of the classroom.

“At SMU, you’ll be able to see the applicability of what you study. For instance, the capstone challenge confirmed me what it’s like to make use of analytics expertise as a marketing consultant, which is analogous to what I’m now doing in my job at EY. The challenge replicated the truth of the office – that’s the distinctive benefit of SMU-X studying,” says Alynn.  

As a result of she was tackling real-life issues, Alynn says she didn’t at all times attain definitive conclusions throughout her MSA course work. “In my undergrad diploma there was at all times one appropriate textbook decision to every little thing, however the actual world is rather more fluid and the MSA programme displays this – it permits college students to take completely different and modern approaches to offering options,” she provides.

The MSA is taught over two years part-time, or over one yr on a full-time foundation, beginning in August. Alynn, who studied half time, says environment friendly time administration is vital to doing properly on the programme. “Some folks suppose a Grasp’s diploma is a free ticket to a brand new job, however in actuality it is advisable put in loads of effort and time. I used to be in a full-time position for a lot of the diploma, so I spent weekends engaged on tasks and sacrificed socialising with my buddies,” she provides. “But it surely was undoubtedly all definitely worth the effort because it has taken my profession in an thrilling route, particularly throughout this difficult time. I’d actually suggest the programme for anybody who needs to be uncovered to new concepts and purchase new applied sciences in a real-world studying atmosphere.”

To search out out extra about SMU MSc in Accounting (Information & Analytics) programme, click on right here.