– Sripal Jain, Co-founder, Simandhar Education

For students choosing a career in finance today, being good with numbers is no longer enough. Accounting principles, financial statements, spreadsheets and financial literacy remain essential, but the workplace they are preparing to enter is changing rapidly.

Artificial intelligence, automation, data analytics and digital platforms are transforming how finance functions operate—and, in turn, what organisations expect from young professionals. Students entering the field will need to do more than understand financial information. They will need to interpret it, question it and connect it to business decisions.

As we mark International Literacy Day, this is an important shift to consider. Financial literacy should continue to be a core part of a student’s education, but it increasingly needs to be complemented by technological proficiency, data literacy, analytical thinking, communication skills and business understanding.

Financial Literacy Is the Foundation, Not the Complete Skill Set

For a student beginning a career in finance, strong accounting fundamentals remain non-negotiable. Understanding financial reporting, taxation, auditing, controls and accounting principles provides the foundation on which a professional career can be built.

However, students also need to recognise that knowing how to prepare or interpret financial information is only one part of the job for which they are preparing.

Consider a simple example. A student may learn how to identify that a company’s revenue has increased by 10 per cent. A future finance professional will increasingly be expected to go further: What caused the increase? Is it sustainable? Which products or markets contributed to it? How could it affect future performance?

This is the difference between understanding financial information and applying it.

For students, therefore, the objective should not be to move away from accounting fundamentals, but to build additional capabilities around them.

AI and Automation Are Changing the Work Students Are Preparing For

Many students entering accounting and finance may encounter workplaces where routine processes are increasingly automated. Activities such as data entry, invoice processing, reconciliations and standard reporting can be performed or supported by technology.

This should not necessarily be viewed as a threat. Instead, it can create opportunities for young professionals to focus on work that requires greater judgement and problem-solving.

When technology handles repetitive processes, finance professionals can spend more time analysing performance, identifying risks, supporting forecasts and contributing to business decisions.

Students should therefore become comfortable with the technologies influencing the profession. They do not need to become software engineers, but they should understand how artificial intelligence, automation, dashboards and other digital tools are used in finance.

The important skill is not simply knowing how a tool works. It is understanding when to use it, how to evaluate its output and how to apply the information it provides.

Students Need to Build Digital and Data Fluency

Finance has always been a data-driven profession, but the scale and speed of data available to businesses have changed significantly.

For students, this means developing the ability to work with more than traditional spreadsheets. Familiarity with dashboards, data visualisation, business intelligence platforms and analytical tools can help them understand how modern finance teams operate.

However, data literacy is not simply about learning to use software.

A student who can create a dashboard but cannot explain what the data means has developed only part of the required skill set. Greater value comes from being able to identify patterns, question anomalies and translate data into useful insights.

The finance professional of the future will therefore need to move from asking, “What do the numbers show?” to also asking, “Why is this happening, and what should the business do about it?”

Understanding Business Will Make Finance Knowledge More Relevant

Students often encounter finance as a collection of subjects—accounting, taxation, auditing, financial management and related disciplines. In the workplace, however, these areas are connected to the wider business.

Revenue is influenced by customer demand. Costs are affected by supply chains. Margins depend on pricing. Growth can be influenced by marketing and investment decisions. Understanding these connections can help students see finance as more than a reporting function.

Finance professionals who understand the business can contribute to conversations beyond the finance department. They can help explain not only what has happened financially, but also why it happened and what the organisation could consider doing next.

This makes business understanding an important complement to technical accounting knowledge.

Critical Thinking and Communication Will Matter More

As technology makes financial information easier to generate, the ability to evaluate that information becomes increasingly important.

An AI system can produce an analysis. A dashboard can identify a trend. A forecasting tool can generate a projection. However, professionals must still determine whether the information is accurate, relevant and appropriate for the decision at hand.

Students therefore need to develop critical thinking alongside technical skills. They should learn to question assumptions, assess different possibilities and look beyond the first answer produced by a system.

Communication is equally important.

Finance professionals regularly need to explain financial information to people who may not have a finance background. The ability to turn complex analyses into clear business messages can determine whether an insight influences a decision.

Developing presentation, writing and interpersonal communication skills alongside technical knowledge can therefore give students a significant advantage.

Finance Education Must Evolve with Industry Expectations

The changing nature of finance also raises questions about how students are prepared for the profession.

Accounting fundamentals should remain central to finance education, but students also need exposure to technology, data and practical business situations. Learning should increasingly connect theoretical concepts with the way finance operates within organisations.

Professional qualifications can form an important part of this journey. Qualifications such as the US CPA and US CMA can help students and young professionals develop specialised capabilities. The US CPA provides a strong foundation in areas such as accounting, auditing and financial reporting, while the US CMA focuses more closely on management accounting, financial planning and business decision-making.

However, students should view qualifications as part of a broader professional development journey rather than as an endpoint.

Practical exposure also matters. Working with real-world datasets, participating in case studies, undertaking internships and becoming familiar with digital finance systems can help students understand how their classroom knowledge translates into professional situations.

What Students Can Do to Build Future-Ready Finance Careers

Preparation for a future career in finance can begin while students are still in college.

The first step is to build strong accounting fundamentals. From there, students can deliberately add complementary skills instead of waiting for employers to teach them later.

They can become familiar with data analytics and digital tools, strengthen their communication abilities and seek opportunities to solve practical business problems. They can also follow developments in artificial intelligence and understand how technology is changing different finance functions.

Most importantly, students should develop the habit of looking beyond calculations.

When studying a financial statement, they can ask what the figures reveal about the business. When analysing a dataset, they can consider what decision the analysis could support. When learning about a new technology, they can think about the problem it is designed to solve.

These habits can help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and professional judgement.

The Future Finance Professional Will Connect the Dots

The future of finance is not about choosing between accounting and technology. It is about bringing them together.

Accounting provides the foundation. Technology improves efficiency. Data creates insights. Critical thinking helps evaluate those insights. Business understanding places them in context. Communication turns them into information on which decision-makers can act.

For students, this means thinking differently about what it means to be prepared for a career in finance. Financial literacy will remain essential, but it cannot be the complete definition of professional readiness.

Students who build strong accounting fundamentals while developing digital fluency, analytical thinking, communication skills and commercial awareness will be better equipped to navigate a profession that is becoming increasingly technology-enabled and decision-oriented.

Ultimately, future finance professionals will not simply understand the numbers. They will understand what the numbers mean, why they matter and how they can help a business make better decisions.

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