How will IT shape the future of finance professions?

For some time now, there has been widespread concern over the impact that developing technologies will have – and are already having – on the employment market. It is feared that there could be a significant increase in unemployment in many developed economies, as a wide range of jobs are automated. A report ¹ from the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) sheds further light on the effects of new technologies for the future of work. This article looks how the ONS arrived at its conclusions and at the resulting data for accountancy profession and related areas. Findings from other recent reports conducted using similar, statistical, techniques, to those used by the ONS, are described below. There is significant variation in the findings though more commonality in some of the high-level messages. Although the ONS report focused on England, its findings are likely to have a more general application and relevance; the other reports have a wider geographical scope.