Opportunities in Advanced Technologies

We live in a time of technological disruption, where the next big advancement could significantly change how we do business. At Moss Adams, we’re anticipating potential disruption, supported by our forward-looking approach and entrepreneurial culture. That’s why we’re developing business advisors who are committed to staying on top of advanced technologies to help our clients thrive.

Here are answers to some of the most common questions surrounding our work with advanced technologies, how we’re leveraging them, and what it takes to get involved.

What’s our outlook on advanced technology?

As the professional services industry continues to be disrupted by emerging technologies, our ability to curate, analyze, and present data in ways that provide strategic value is essential to our success—and to that of our clients.

Remaining relevant requires adaptability and the ability to quickly learn and understand both the applications and value of advanced technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and data science.

How are we adapting to technology disruption?

Here are just a few of our current initiatives:

BDMP Technologies. As part of a joint venture between Moss Adams and three Praxity firms, we’re pooling our resources to accelerate the development and application of advanced technologies to support the future of our assurance practices, including:

  • Machine learning contract analysis
  • Advanced risk and planning analytics
  • Robotic process automation
  • Optical character recognition technologies
  • Automated and intelligent data curation
  • Predictive analytics
  • Data visualization tools and techniques

Blockchain Task Force. Our internal thought-leadership group helps foster a sense of urgency for cultural change within the firm by actively identifying and prioritizing the implementation of advanced technologies that will benefit our clients.

Entrepreneurial Culture. We encourage all our people to come forward with ways in which we can better serve our clients. Our internal idea-management platform empowers everyone at the firm with the knowledge and resources they need to proactively innovate and implement meaningful change. Recently, individuals with a passion have driven the development of using Tableau in auditing and a tool to automate tax data input.

How are we handling the changing regulatory landscape?

We’re pragmatically addressing the current environment while keeping a close eye on the quickly changing landscape being built by standard-setters, regulators, peers, and market forces. 

For the current environment, we’re piloting and adjusting our audit approach, quality control procedures, and people needs to improve how we look at and use data. This requires instilling in our people a focus on what’s possible while still complying with existing standards. This initiative has led to better usage of business intelligence software and user-friendly machine learning software.

We’re also anticipating that standards and regulations will become more modernized to accommodate the variety of advancing technologies, including business intelligence software as well as early-stage machine learning. 

Because of this, we’re looking at revisions to our quality control guidelines to parallel standard-setting guidance on usage of data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other emerging technologies.

Why join Moss Adams?

At Moss Adams, we’ll develop you to be a business advisor serving the many needs of our clients. Our advisors are client-focused and cultivate deep, collaborative relationships to understand their clients’ businesses, lives, and needs. To do this, they develop a wide breadth of accounting, industry, and technical expertise that enables them to provide valuable insight—all while balancing their work and personal lives.

Our advisors have the freedom and resources to be entrepreneurs while still continually building their technical and business acumen. They’re empowered to own their careers by coaches and mentors who care about them, and they gain exposure to diverse industry sectors and companies that help influence their development as leaders.

We welcome all continuous learners. In addition to obtaining business skills, developing skills such as emotional intelligence, intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and a growth mindset will help you excel.

We’ll look for you to augment your traditional business and accounting skills with other areas of technical expertise to accomplish the following:

  • Curate, analyze, and present data in ways that are meaningful to clients using business intelligence tools and statistical modeling
  • Understand, monitor, and improve analytical, automated, and cognitive systems and processes by having a data-driven and continuous improvement mindset
  • Innovate and challenge the way our firm and our clients do things by applying process optimization and then advanced technologies where appropriate
  • Build your industry and technical expertise in areas where you’re most passionate

Recommended Coursework

The list below details helpful areas of study outside of core accounting that will empower you when you join Moss Adams and throughout your career with us.

Areas of Study

  • Accounting information technology
  • Data science
  • Data mining and predictive modeling for business intelligence
  • Economics
  • Statistics
  • Information technology
  • Computer science
  • IT security
  • Fraudulent financial reporting
  • Artificial intelligence, including machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning, and robotic processing
  • Blockchain, including Ethereum, wallets and smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and solidity programming
  • Advanced Microsoft Office capabilities, including Visual Basic for Applications focusing on development and automation

Online Resources

How do you get started?

All students and faculty have access to the visual analytics tool Tableau for free. To get started:

  • Go to the Tableau for Students site.
  • Start learning with the on-demand training videos and starter kits.
  • Find answers to your questions and more self-service learning options on the student resource page.