Financial Data Management Work-Based Assignment Task 1 2025-2026

Advancing Careers Manage

Learner Brief

‘Anew person has joined your organisation in a senior management capacity. You will be reporting directly to this person after some re-organisation of your workplace’. Prior to implementing any significant workplace changes, the new senior management is interested to find out more about your specific role and to know your thoughts about how your role and the workplace generally should develop (or not as may be the case) from an information technologies perspective.

You are therefore required to write a report for the senior manager that will facilitate;

1. a comprehensive understanding of your occupational role and how it is evolving in response to technological developments,

2. the technological environment in which you work and how that is evolving,

3. technological opportunities and threats that you think are or could be relevant to your workplace
environment, and

4, any ethical/legal issues related to current and future information technologies that you think should
be considered by the senior manager.

‘Put yourself in my shoes’ the senior manager tells you by way of explaining how you should approach this task. ‘

What would you want to know and understand about how information technologies are affecting accountancy-based occupational roles and workplaces?

Also, what are the impending changes that we could and should prepare for?

Guidance for the Student – Writing the Report

1. Occupational Role (max 300 words)

Explain and describe your occupational role and responsibilities. Describe how you interact with co-workers and information technologies to fulfil your specific responsibilities. The senior manager will want to understand how and why you are important to your organisation in terms of the work you do.

Reflect on whether your specific role in the workplace has or is changing in response to developments in information technologies.

If you perceive that there has been little to no change in recent times in how you do your work, explain why this is the case and conclude on whether the absence of technological change is justified given the work that you do.

Recommend and justify technological changes that you think could be implemented in the near future to enable you to fulfil your specific work responsibilities more effectively and efficiently.

(40 marks)

2. Technological Environment (max 250 words)

The new senior manager has a general awareness of new and emerging technologies that could be relevant to your workplace but does not yet have any specific understanding of whether and how these technologies are actually implemented in your workplace.

Describe and explain how the general technological environment in your workplace has evolved in recent years.

Ifthere have been very few or no changes to the general technological environment, explain why this is the case and conclude on whether the absence of technological change is justified.

(15 marks)

3. Evolving Role in Response to Technological Developments
(max 400 words)

The new senior manager does not have awareness of how the occupational role and/or those of co-workers are evolving in response to the developments in the workplace technological environment

Advise the new senior manager on whether and how these technological environment changes have made noticeable differences to the fulfilment of work responsibilities (in terms of effectiveness and efficiencies)

Recommend and justify technological changes that you think could be implemented in the near future to enable your workplace to operate with greater effectiveness and efficiencies.

(20 marks)

4. Opportunities and Threats (max 400 words)

The new senior manager has heard of terms such as ‘big data’ and ‘data visualisation’ but is wondering whether these are just the latest buzzwords or whether there are substantive benefits that are or can be realised in your workplace.

Advise the new senior manager whether and how your workplace applies the principles and practice of ‘big data’ and ‘data visualisation’. If your workplace does not utilise data analytical techniques, explain why not and conclude on whether the absence of data analytical techniques is justified.

Recommend and justify appropriate ways of undertaking analytical work in your workplace – what opportunities are there in your workplace, if any, to realise greater benefits from data analytics and data visualisation?

Based on previous experience, the new senior manager is cautious about implementing new information technologies prior to understanding both the opportunities and the threats. Advise the new senior manager on the potential pitfalls associated with implementation of data analytics and information
technologies generally. Identify the potential threats that would apply to your workplace in particular. Conclude and justify whether the opportunities are likely to outweigh the threats in short to medium term. (45 marks)

5. Ethical and Legal Considerations (max 300 words)

The new senior management read somewhere recently that the pace of technological development is often faster than corresponding legal and ethical frameworks. The senior manager is therefore of the opinion that legal and ethical considerations related to technological progression ‘cannot just be an afterthought in your workplace.

Describe and explain the main legal and ethical considerations that underpin (or should underpin) the technological environment in which you work. If there is little to no evidence of legal or ethical considerations, recommend and justify the legal and ethical matters that could be discussed and
potentially implemented to underpin the workplace technological environment.

(15 marks)

6. Any Other Matters and Conclusions (max 400 words)

The senior manager is open to suggestions in relation to matters that may not have been raised in the preceding paragraphs. If, based on your Accounting Technicians Ireland course work and your work experience, there are any other matters’ related to information technologies that you want to bring to the attention of the senior manager, then include them in this section.

Reflect and conclude on your occupational role and the specific skillset that you expect to have to develop and maintain in the next three to five years.

Conclude on the technological developments that you think are most important in your workplace. If you were to recommend two or three action points for the new senior management to starting work on immediately, what would they be and why?

(15 marks)

7. Format and Presentation of the Report

• The Work Based Task must be typed and uploaded in Word format – NOT PDF
• Line spacing to be set to 1.5 lines.
• Font (size 12), with 2.54 cm margins on all sides.
• Headings identifying each part of the task.
• Do not include your name in the Work Based Task document.

(10 marks)

Make sure to upload the Mentor sign off sheet (there is no need to upload the full task document) – just the mentor sign off sheet fully completed. This should be included as an image at the end of the submission document.

Guidance for the Student – Assessment of the Report

The expected word count for the report is 2,000 words – marks will be deducted if you exceed it. Remember this is your own work and plagiarism is not acceptable.

The examiner assesses the student’s submitted report from the perspective of the ‘senior manager’ referred to in the scenario. The examiner therefore assumes that they have recently joined the student’s workplace in a senior management role. The onus is on the student to communicate effectively with
the examiner by means of the submitted report. The examiner is therefore entirely dependent on the student’s submitted report to draw conclusions on whether and the extent to which the examiner is informed about the matters raised in the scenario. Note that there is no obligation on the examiner to
inform themselves about the student’s workplace prior to assessing the student’s submitted report.

There are 100 marks available for this assignment. The breakdown by marking item is as follows:

1. Organisational Role and Responsibilities (10 marks)
2. Evolving Technological Environment (15 marks)
3. Evolving Role in Response to Technological Developments (20 marks)
4. Opportunities and Threats (15 marks)
5. Ethical and Legal Considerations (15 marks)
6. Any Other Matters and Conclusions (15 marks)
7. Format, Style, and Presentation of the Report (10 marks)

Inadequate identification of how the occupational role and/or those of co-workers are evolving or could evolve in response the developments in the technological environment in the workplace.

References to some literal change in the occupational role and/or those of co-workers but insufficient linkage of those changes to broader developments in the workplace technological environment. Insufficient reference to related

General summary explanation of how occupational role and/or those of co-workers are evolving (or are likely to evolve) in response to developments in the workplace technological environment. Minimal reference(s) to Financial Data Management course material.

Detailed explanation of how occupational role and/or those of co-workers are evolving (or are likely to evolve) in response to developments in the workplace technological environment. Several references to Financial Data Management course material.

Explained, using specific examples, how the occupational role and/or those of co-workers are evolving (or are likely to evolve) in response to developments in the workplace technological environment. Specific linkages between course material addressed in Financial Data Management and the evolution of occupational roles.

Guidance on marking item 4 – Opportunities And Threats

Guidance on marking item 5 – Ethical And Legal Considerations

Guidance on marking item 6 – Any Other Matters And Conclusions

Guidance on marking item 7 – Format, Style, And Presentation Of The Report