Sunday, 2 March 2014

P3 wider reading: IT resources

Information Technology (IT) is a crucial part of the ACCA P3 Business Analysis syllabus, and indeed is a part of business in general that is growing exponentially. A lack of comfort in this area will hurt you on exam day and in your career. Today's accountants and finance analysts already use IT heavily in their day-to-day work, and the leaders in the C-suite have to approach IT as something that can give their business a strategic advantage.

P3 candidates would do well to read more widely on IT so real-life examples are on ready recall in the examination hall. More importantly, to be knowledgeable and conversational on contemporary business IT is an asset that will serve candidates well once they've completed the ACCA qualification.

In terms of IT articles to read ahead of the P3 exam, as always the starting point is the relevant technical article published by the ACCA itself, available here.

Wider reading
For further reading, I would recommend this recent report by Deloitte on technology trends. This is the 2014 edition, notably arguing why Chief Information Officers (CIOs) need to be more like venture capitalists when designing their firms' portfolio of IT solutions. A quick Google search should yield the previous years' editions.

I'd also recommend keeping an eye out for The Economist's Technology Quarterly which is, as you might have guessed, released quarterly.

A familiarity with the business IT issues of the day should help you approach IT-related questions in the P3 exam with confidence.