The courses are aimed at accounting and finance professionals looking to build their awareness of the digital technologies which are relevant to the finance world, and the impact they are having on the business environment. The immersive courses deliver the key topics in an interactive session led by First Intuition’s digital finance experts. The courses are offered as either a bespoke programme for members of one firm or as open sessions for individuals.
Emma Gription, Financial Controller at Tropic Biosciences and Hannah Spencer, Head of Finance at News UK, and their teams were some of the first attendees of First Intuition’s digital technologies and data analytics courses. Emma attended the courses for individuals whilst Hannah and her team joined a bespoke course. We asked them to answer the questions below about the courses and share their thoughts on how they benefited them and their teams.
1. What were the factors that influenced your decision to sign up for First Intuition’s bespoke digital finance course?
Emma signed up for the courses because she felt digital technologies and data analytics in finance are “something which is becoming more important for accountants to consider and adapt to”.
Furthermore, Hannah said she joined the courses because her team “are launching an ambitious finance transformation programme, moving on to multiple new systems so it was to get people thinking about data and systems”.
It is for these reasons that First Intuition launched the Digital Academy, to meet the ever-changing needs of finance professionals and help them to adopt digital finance technologies with the most impact, as well as increase their knowledge and understand how technology can create value for their organisations.
2. Did you come away from the course with tangible actions that you could implement in the workplace?
Both Emma and Hannah agreed they came away from the course with actions they could take in the workplace. Emma commented, “Yes very much so, as we are looking to implement something like Power BI in the near future, so it really gave me things to think of which I hadn’t maybe thought of.”
3. Have your team implemented any changes since the course, and if so, what?
Since attending the course, Emma said she had been better at messaging as well as being more concise and prescriptive on current projects. Whilst Hannah said her team have amended their spreadsheets to align across teams in the most effective way, as well as also improving reports.
4. Do you feel as though the course has helped your team, and if so, how?
Hannah commented that it had. “Yes, as it’s got them thinking about working more together when tasks are similar to share best practice, and also just being curious about where information comes from, whether that’s efficient, how do we show data to our stakeholders.”
Emma equally felt that the course had helped her. “Yes, it gave me a better way to plan projects, making sure you capture all aspects and not just the financial implications.”
5. Do you feel that the time you invested attending the course was well spent?
Again, both attendees agreed that the time invested in the course was well spent.
In response, Emma said “Very much so, as you got the chance to speak to peers who are all in the same position and share ideas which is always helpful. You get to share ideas and develop plans together.”
6. What level of experience do you think an accountant requires in order to benefit from this training course?
The attendees felt that anyone at any level could benefit from the training course as each person would get something different from it. Hannah felt it would particularly benefit anyone working with data or sending out reports as part of their role.
Find more information about our digital, leadership and management courses here