Data science: The next evolution for accountants?

Some of the hottest fields in business call for exactly the skills that the accounting profession offers, according to IBM's Leon Katsnelson. In a keynote address on artificial intelligence at CPA.com's 2017 Digital CPA conference, held in San Francisco in early December, Katsnelson, who is director and chief technology officer for strategic partnership for data science at IBM, introduced the accountants in attendance to two of the newest professionals on the block: data scientists and data engineers. Both of those jobs are only about five years old, he said, but are already in the top ranks in terms of compensation. "To be a data scientist, you need three things," explained Katsnelson. First are programming skills – not necessarily full coding capabilities, but a familiarity with the field.