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Business Analytics: Transforming the Role of Management Accountants

Article · October 2015

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Business Analytics:
Transforming the Role of
Management Accountants
By Kristine Brands, CMA, DM, and Mark Holtzblatt, CPA, Ph.D.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I
f you have been a management accountant for any
Management accountants are posi- length of time, you know that you traditionally have
tioned to play a key role in the imple- worn four distinct hats in your organization: participation
in strategic cost management to achieve long-term goals
mentation and application of business
and objectives; planning and decision making for internal
analytics in their organizations as they
cost activity; management and operational control for perfor-
move beyond traditional, transaction- mance measurement; and, to support the first three roles,
based accounting to analytics. This preparation of financial statements.1 All four roles have sup-
emerging trend will transform how ported decision making by using management accounting and
management accountants analyze and finance data/information for analysis.
interpret data for their companies. This is an exciting time to be a management accountant
because recent developments in technology and the field of
business analytics are going to equip you with new tools and
processes that will enable you to build value in your organiza-
tion. Rather than being restricted to routine spreadsheet
analysis tools, management accounting analysis will be trans-
formed through business analytics. Figure 1 shows how busi-
ness analytics will anchor and tie together your traditional
roles.
Bradford Hamilton, information technology (IT) controller
at Cummins Inc., a global power-technology company, be-
lieves that you “need to know and be engaged in business an-
alytics because management accountants bring value to the
business as business partners. In order to be a business part-
ner, they have to understand the financial dynamics of the

M A N A G E M E N T A C C O U N T I N G Q U A R T E R LY 1 SPRING 2015, VOL. 16, NO. 3

 Figure 1: Integrated Management Accounting and Business Analytics Model

Strategic
Management

Management
Financial Planning
Statement Accounting and
Preparation Business Decision
Making
Analytics

Management
and
Control

company often beyond simply what shows up in the in- Figure 3 shows the changing picture of a company’s
come statement and balance sheet. Business analytics data sources, which have expanded to include data cre-
provides insight into many cost drivers and other finan- ated outside the company’s borders. Historically, com-
cial dynamics of the business and often in real-time, panies have relied on internal data for analysis: files and
when the data is most critical. Our business leaders look databases generated by enterprise resource planning
to us to partner with them in interpreting and utilizing (ERP) systems, other internal software applications, and
this data.” The enhanced role for business analytics is spreadsheet programs. For example, management ac-
driven by an explosion in the amount of new data avail- countants can analyze travel expenses, sales revenue,
able for analysis. and product costs by creating spreadsheets or querying
a company’s ERP system. Because these examples use
The New Data Ecosystem data with identifiable structures that computer software
Ten years ago, management accountants probably can recognize and read, management accountants can
would not have recognized many of the terms shown in search and choose specific information to analyze. In
Figure 2, much less in the context of business analytics. contrast, unstructured information is incompatible with
As more and more information becomes digitized, the a company’s data formats and therefore cannot be
data ecosystem continues to explode, providing compa- searched. This includes external Internet websites and
nies with expanded data that can be combined with tra- new data sources such as tweets, videos, e-mails, maps,
ditional company data. The changing data picture is and sensors (such as the location-tracking feature used
revolutionizing business analytics and is a key technol- by advertisers), shown in Figure 3.
ogy trend for management accountants. Let us examine When this data floodgate is opened and becomes ac-
this shift in more detail. cessible, companies will be able to combine external

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 Figure 2: The New Data Ecosystem

Source: Created from Wordle (www.wordle.net)

Figure 3: Internal and External Data Sources

Internal Data Sources External Sources

Files Databases Internet Sources

Spreadsheet Files SQL Queries Google Analytics

CSV Files ERP Data SEC XBRL

Database
Microsoft Data Warehouses
Access Files Salesforce

ZenDesk

Other Data
(Sensors, Videos,
E-mails, Tweets)

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data with their internal data for richer analysis and in- sure that data is available and accessible, reusable, and
sight. Research company Gartner predicts that the can be redistributed.5 Absent this initiative, companies
amount of data will grow 800% by 2017 and that 80% would be on their own to sift through mounds of data
will be unstructured data.2 Despite this promising and translate it into usable formats to feed business ana-
news, however, there are many challenges facing com- lytics models.
panies’ use of data in business analytics.
Security
A Bigger Set of Challenges Companies need to protect their data and treat it like
While business analytics has much to offer, several is- an asset. Those that fail to safeguard data jeopardize its
sues are affecting its growth and adoption. These in- integrity, risk severe damage to their reputation, and
clude awareness, interoperability, security, and analysis could possibly invite lawsuits. Responsibility for secur-
quality. ing data goes beyond the IT department and requires
management accountants’ active involvement in imple-
Awareness menting and monitoring data protection and internal
Management accountants may not understand how ac- privacy controls.
cessible and valuable business analytics is to their com-
panies. There has been a great deal of hype about “Big Analysis Quality
Data” and business intelligence (BI) that is outside the The quality of business analytics is at risk if companies
scope of smaller companies because of their lack of do not follow structured design processes focusing on
technical knowledge, inadequate IT infrastructure, and data integrity and well-defined objectives. Just because
cost constraints. Despite these limitations, however, the data floodgate opens does not mean that business
management accountants need to begin thinking in analytics will automatically add value and could lead to
terms of business analytics for their companies and wasted effort. It also means that the garbage-in,
adopt practices and tools that today are readily avail- garbage-out (GIGO) concept is amplified if the wrong
able, affordable, and easy to use. As Helen Brand, CEO information is analyzed.
of ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Companies that manage these challenges success-
Accountants), said, “The key issue now is how the fully will get the most from business analytics. In the
finance function adapts to the fast-evolving technology next section, we will present examples that demon-
to better serve businesses in the future.”3 strate the power and potential of business analytics to
enhance the strategic partnership role of management
Interoperability accountants.
For business analytics to gain wider adoption, it needs
to be able to link structured and unstructured data. But Putting Business Analytics to Work
as the Internet expands the amount of data available At this stage, you might be wondering, “How exactly
to companies, much of the data is unstructured and do I harness the power of business analytics?” To help
therefore incompatible with the organization’s data. As answer that question, we have identified five main
discussed earlier, internal data that originates in ERP areas that provide a clearer picture of business analytics
systems or other business software applications is struc- applications: (1) franchise sales analysis, (2) accounts
tured data with a predefined format. receivable and credit analysis, (3) accounts payable
Help may be on the way, however: The international analysis and payment monitoring, (4) mergers and ac-
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is addressing the quisitions (M&A) due diligence, and (5) forensic ac-
issue of incompatible formats by developing standards counting. While several of the following examples are
to provide structure and linkages for Web data sources from large organizations, many of the analyses can be
to facilitate data consumption.4 This initiative is driven performed on desktop, laptop, tablet, and PDA solu-
by the open data movement, which is working to en- tions that are available now, which we discuss later.

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Franchise Sales Analysis and evaluated against payment-decision rules that flag
Kilwins, a Michigan-based chocolatier and franchisor, fraudulent transactions—rules that were defined by
uses business analytics to analyze sales metrics from its payment processers based on their experience. By the
franchisees to help determine point-of-sale promotions. DoD automating this process, its search for fraudulent
According to Jeff Hall, the company’s director of mar- payments is vastly more efficient than if the process
keting, commerce, and IT, prior to implementing soft- were performed manually. Not surprisingly, the risk of
ware from Tableau, this analysis was performed using overpayment has dropped dramatically, too.
customized spreadsheets that required significant man-
ual preparation, including copying and pasting data—an M&A Due Diligence
error-prone and time-consuming process.6 Making mat- Another application of business analytics is in the area
ters worse, the report writer that had been used to run of due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. Accurate
the analysis often crashed. In contrast, the business ana- business valuations for M&A deals require exhaustive
lytics model is automated, allowing a data refresh func- analysis of the target companies’ financial data. Focus-
tion to populate the model with the most recent infor- ing business analytics on this activity helps improve the
mation, thus providing the company with accurate, due diligence process by providing more-accurate valu-
timely data for decision making. ations. How so? According to authors Dan Tiemann and
Joe Hartman, data sets from both entities can be run
Accounts Receivable through models for scenario planning and forecasting, as
Business analytics can also be applied to tracking days’ well as to test data accuracy and to evaluate business
sales outstanding (DSO). Infosys developed an applica- synergies between the companies.9
tion that examines the accounts receivable (AR) collec-
tion history by customer using a portfolio model that Forensic Accounting
evaluates several AR characteristics.7 The model seg- Business analytics provides forensic accounting with
ments accounts receivable by the following attributes: fraud detection analytics (FDA) strategies to identify
customer exposure by industry, customer response his- fraud, bribery, and corruption in companies. EY’s 2014
tory by AR department contact, customer payment his- Global Forensic Data Analytics Survey found that many
tory, AR payments by past-due category, and reasons for companies are reviewing relatively small data volumes
nonpayment. Based on an AR and DSO portfolio analy- of around 10,000 records—a number that hardly puts
sis model, companies can develop credit and collection the analysis in a Big Data context and allows small and
policies that minimize bad debt risk. medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to apply business an-
alytics with as much skill as the bigger players.10 For
Payment Monitoring example, companies can search for fraudulent payments
The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery by examining the payment descriptions on accounts
Improvement Act of 2012 (IPERIA) mandates that U.S. payable checks.11 By using textual analysis, the pay-
federal government agencies address improper pay- ment description field from the accounts payable
ments and requires the agencies to implement internal voucher file is searched for suspicious descriptions that
controls to identify fraudulent activity.8 In keeping with might indicate fraudulent disbursements, such as mis-
the law, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) cellaneous refunds, consulting payments, and cash pay-
Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS), the ments. This analysis can be performed without expen-
agency authorized to disburse almost all of the DoD’s sive software by extracting payment descriptions to a
funds, implemented accounts payable activity monitor- spreadsheet, using the count function to summarize the
ing software and adopted a business analytics approach number of suspicious payment descriptions, and then
to evaluate payments. By 2013, the DoD had saved ranking the results by number of occurrences. Com-
more than $4 billion in its first four years of using the panies that fail to implement FDA strategies lose the
software. The payments are continuously monitored opportunity to leverage their data to address fraud.

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 Figure 4: Business Analytics Sales Report

Source: Tableau Software, www.tableau.com/learn/gallery. Used with permission.

As you can see, business analytics opportunities are Desktop, laptop, and tablet computers; dedicated
powerful and can be customized to meet any company’s servers; and cloud solutions can accommodate a range of
needs. But the best news is that today’s tools to perform data and analytical needs. For example, smaller compa-
business analytics transcend the limitations of historical nies with small data sets can install business analytics
analysis because they use groundbreaking graphics software on these devices. Companies with large data
technology. sets can run their analyses on the cloud; ERP companies
such as Oracle and SAP provide this solution. Other
Visualizing the Data business analytics software solutions, available now and
Business analytics/BI software tools are available for scalable from personal use to large companies, include
companies of all sizes and budgets. These tools have Microsoft Power BI for Office 365, Tableau, and Sisense.
three functional categories in common, according to One of the wonders of business analytics software is
Gartner: enable, produce, and consume. “Enabling” fa- that it uses data visualization (dataviz for short) to sum-
cilitates data collection, “producing” processes business marize results pictorially. Traditional financial reporting
analytics, and “consumption” creates displays and presents information as financial statements, as spread-
reports. sheet analyses, and in graphs and charts as fixed, for-

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 Figure 5: Business Analytics Airfare Expense Report

Source: Microsoft Power BI for Office 365, www.microsoft.com/en-us/powerBI/solutions/bi-for-finance.aspx.

Used with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

matted, static reports that cannot be modified easily. In down boxes that allow the user to create and modify
contrast, business analytics software includes interactive queries of underlying data. Figures 4 and 5 present ex-
capabilities and automatic data set updates, permitting amples of dataviz: a sales analysis prepared using
users to view the analysis results as dashboards, tables, Tableau and an airline expense analysis created with
charts, and reports. This allows users to drill down into Microsoft Power BI for Office 365.
the data to explore details and relationships, and the These examples demonstrate the power and value of
analysis parameters can be modified on the fly. business analytics using dataviz. The software tools’
According to Bill Inmon, president of Forest Rim power to drill down into the source data and the flexi-
Technology, Inc., “The difference between showing bility to change the analysis parameters are what make
somebody raw data and showing them visualized data is business analytics a game changer. As dataviz continues
truly night and day. All of a sudden they can see rela- to take off, companies will be challenged to find quali-
tionships, they can see visualizations. It comes alive for fied management accountants to participate in business
them.”12 analytics as well as identify strategies to develop and
Business analytics tools provide menus with drop- hire the right talent.

M A N A G E M E N T A C C O U N T I N G Q U A R T E R LY 7 SPRING 2015, VOL. 16, NO. 3

A Growing Field nies need to create new training strategies for them to
The job outlook in business analytics is strong for those develop appropriate skill sets. Figure 6 shows how
management accountants with the right skill sets. companies are honing their employees’ business ana-
According to a 2014 survey of 2,100 CFOs from compa- lytics skills through in-house training, external industry
nies in the United States conducted by Robert Half training, working with consultants, and tuition reim-
Management Resources, 46% responded that business bursement. (Because of the rapid changes in business
analytics skills are mandatory for some positions, 15% analytics, continuing education is needed as well.) On-
said that they should be mandatory for everyone, and demand training videos, white papers, and case studies
22% responded that the skills are nice to have but are developed by business analytics software vendors and
not mandatory.13 According to Paul McDonald, senior professional associations are other training resources.
executive director for Robert Half, finance and account- According to the employment website Indeed.com,
ing departments must learn how to identify, analyze, job opportunities in business analytics and related fields
and interpret key data.14 A company’s decision making (business intelligence, data analytics, and Big Data)
increasingly will rely on data-driven recommendations, steadily increased between 2006 and 2014 (see Figure
and, as a result, the skills necessary to provide this in- 7). The percentage growth rate for these job categories
formation will shift from “nice to have” to “mandatory.” is summarized in Figure 8, and Table 1 summarizes the
To prepare employees for business analytics, compa- number of jobs posted in each category.

Figure 6: How Companies Are Improving Business Analytics Skills

90%
Percentage of Respondents

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
External Working Tuition
In-house
Industry with a Reimburse-
Training
Training Consultant ment
Percentage
of Respondents
82% 40% 40% 35%

Source: Adapted from Robert Half Management Resources, http://rhmr.mediaroom.com/file.php/1566/MR_0914_GRAPH_

Business-Analytics_v4.jpg. Used with permission.

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 Figure 7. Demand for Business Analytics Jobs Is Rising

Source: www.indeed.com

Figure 8. Percentage Growth Rate for Job Categories

Source: www.indeed.com

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 Table 1: Available Business and Data Analytics Jobs*

Job Category Number of Jobs Posted

Data Analytics 62,260
Business Analytics 56,330
Business Intelligence 47,223
Big Data 30,813
Total 196,626

*As of March 2015. Source: www.indeed.com

As you can see from these illustrations, management competitive advantage. Put simply, management ac-
accountants who have the right skill set face a strong countants and other financial professionals must iden-
job outlook. The next challenge is developing a strat- tify how they can use and analyze data. This does not
egy for implementing business analytics, and that re- mean that they need to adopt complex analyses. Rather,
quires companies to create an adoption blueprint. they need to develop a strategy that fits their company’s
size and resources when integrating business analytics
A Road Map for Adopting Business Analytics into its corporate information management strategy. As
Management accountants have a difficult task ahead of we have learned so far, business analytics solutions are
them. If they fail to leverage the opportunities provided not one-size-fits-all; they need to be tailored to each
by the digital information revolution, they could jeopar- company’s requirements. Figure 9 shows the steps in
dize their organization’s operating performance and this process.

Figure 9: Business Analytics Implementation Process

Define Business Analytics Objectives

Define Organizational Structure

Create Cross-functional Teams

Prepare a Business Analytics Framework and Plan

Select Business Analytics Software and Training

Implement Business Analytics System

Evaluate and Revise

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Define Your Objectives Prepare a Business Analytics Framework and Plan
Defining a company’s business analytics objectives is The next step is to develop a detailed plan defining the
the first step in this process. What are the company’s re- company’s business analytics framework and applica-
quirements for business analytics, and how do they sup- tions to support it. The plan serves as a specification
port the company’s mission and strategies? Without a document that translates the requirements of the objec-
clear focus, there is no high-level view of what is really tives defined in the first step into business analytics
needed. This is especially important for SMEs with models; defines and identifies data necessary to popu-
limited resources. By spelling out its objectives, the late the models; and creates dashboards, displays, or re-
company is able to set priorities and address them as re- ports to summarize the analysis. A key consideration is
sources become available. to ensure that business analytics serves business re-
quirements by using the right information to achieve
Define the Organizational Structure the analysis objectives. Developing an analysis that is
Gartner recommends an organizational structure that misleading, incorrect, or irrelevant might be misinter-
combines centralized and decentralized teams for a preted and can lead to flawed decision making. A for-
company’s business analytics deployment.15 The cen- mal process for developing business analytics models—
tralized model, where top management selects and im- including oversight, approval, data privacy, and internal
plements business analytics, provides important consis- controls—should be part of the business analytics plan.
tency in the overall approach, governance, and internal
control of company data. Nevertheless, a company Select Business Analytics Software and Training
needs to combine the best attributes of both structures This process requires participation from the accounting/
(centralized and decentralized) for effective business business and IT departments to ensure that the software
analytics development and management and to provide meets business analytics requirements and fits within
its business units with autonomy. The decentralized the company’s IT infrastructure. SMEs may not have
structure provides end users with flexibility to develop the bandwidth or the budget to run complex data min-
and manage their business analytics needs without get- ing and BI models available to Fortune 500 companies,
ting locked into a centralized structure’s fixed models. but software such as Microsoft Power BI for Office 365
and Tableau, both of which are affordable and easy to
Create Cross-functional Teams use, brings smaller companies to the business analytics
Establishing cross-functional teams is a critical part of table. Before your organization purchases any software
the business analytics initiative. Management accoun- package, however, make sure it meets your business an-
tants are key members of the teams because they have alytics objectives, is supported by existing hardware or
insight into the company’s financial activities and have cloud configurations, can be operated and maintained by
experience preparing and analyzing information to be the existing accounting/business and IT staff, and fits
used in decision making. The IT function is necessary your budget. A comprehensive training program must be
to identify data sources, set up initial data flows to busi- part of this step to ensure that everyone with business
ness analytics applications and updates, create data analytics responsibilities understands the functions and
links, and develop business analytics displays, such as features of the software and how to leverage them to
dashboards, static reports, and interactive reports that maximize benefit and value to the company.
users can customize as they see fit. (After the initial
setup, users can change their own report parameters for Implement and Test the System
different views, eliminating reliance on the IT depart- An implementation plan is necessary after developing
ment.) The IT function also needs to safeguard the ap- the framework and the business analytics plan. A proj-
plications from unauthorized access and protect them ect management team, led by a project manager, should
from internal and external data breaches. be designated to implement the business analytics
models. Management accountants should review and

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 test the system to ensure that business analytics models Chapter. Mark can be reached at (216) 875-9711 or
use the right data, generate accurate results, satisfy [email protected].
business requirements, and add value to the company.
All business analytics tools should be phased in slowly Endnotes
to ensure that the company’s resources can manage 1 Edward Blocher, David Stout, Paul Juras, and Gary Cokins,
Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill
projects effectively and continuously improve the Higher Education, New York, N.Y., 2012.
process. 2 Tom Groenfeldt, “Big Data—Big Money Says It Is A
Paradigm Buster,” Forbes, January 6, 2012, www.forbes.com/
sites/tomgroenfeldt/2012/01/06/big-data-big-money-says-it-is-a-
Evaluate and Revise paradigm-buster.
Finally, because your company’s business analytics re- 3 Helen Brand, “Big Data: Adapt or Die,” Accountancy Live,
March 3, 2014, www.accountancylive.com/big-data-adapt-
quirements will likely change and evolve, periodic re- or-die.
view, revision, and development of new business ana- 4 See more at www.w3.org.
5 “What is Open Data?” Open Data Handbook,
lytics models are necessary. In fact, because technology http://opendatahandbook.org/en/what-is-open-data.
is changing so quickly, it is smart to review new soft- 6 Michelle Wallace, “Chocolate + Data = One Delicious Must-
ware options and data sources annually. Read,” Tableau Software, March 17, 2014, www.tableau.com/
about/blog/2014/3/chocolate-data-delicious-must-read-29088.
7 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and Infosys,
Preparing for the Future Using Analytics to Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), 2014,
www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Thought_leadership_docs/
Companies that embrace business analytics will be able Management%20and%20financial%20accounting/using-
to transform how they manage and consume data and analytics-to-reduce-dso.pdf.
information for decision making. This translates into 8 The original IPERIA law was passed in 2002 as The Improper
Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), which was amended
enhanced insight, leading to a competitive advantage. in 2010 (The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery
As we have discussed, affordable and user-friendly busi- Act of 2010) and in 2012 (IPERIA).
9 Dan Tiemann and Joe Hartman, “Data Analytical Due
ness analytics tools are available today, so there is really Diligence is Driving M&A Deals,” Financial Executive, April
no excuse why any company cannot begin training its 2013, pp. 32-35.
employees to participate in business analytics initia- 10 EY, Big Risks Require Big Data Thinking: Global Forensic Data
Analytics Survey 2014, www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/
tives. Management accountants are ideally suited for EY-Global-Forensic-Data-Analytics-Survey-2014/$FILE/EY-
this role because they are the stewards of companies’ Global-Forensic-Data-Analytics-Survey-2014.pdf.
11 Jared Crafton, “Data Analytics for Finding Corruption,”
internal accounting information and financial analyses. www.tableau.com/learn/webinars/data-analytics-finding-
Technology is the game changer that will elevate the corruption?signin=9dbac1fd83f725031d4300111afda74d.
management accountant’s role. Helen Brand summa- 12 Interview with Bill Inmon, Tableau Software, www.tableau.
com/learn/stories/tableau-will-be-us-long-we-make-sales.
rizes the risk of ignoring this trend. She says that 13 Robert Half Management Resources, “Business Analytics:
emerging technologies are reshaping the accountant’s The New Must-Have Skill Set,” September 25, 2014,
http://rh-us.mediaroom.com/2014-09-25-Business-Analytics-
role and that accountants must “adapt or die.”16 To that The-New-Must-Have-Skill-Set.
we say to management accountants: “Don’t get left be- 14 Ibid.
15 Kurt Schlegel, Owen Milbury, Frank Buytendijk, and Dan
hind. Embrace business analytics today!” ■
Sommer, “Create a Centralized and Decentralized
Organizational Model for Business Intelligence,” Gartner,
Kristine Brands, CMA, DM, is an assistant professor of November 4, 2014, www.gartner.com/doc/2897718/create-
centralized-decentralized-organizational-model.
accounting at Regis University in the College for Professional 16 Brand, 2014.
Studies School of Management in Colorado Springs, Colo.
She is also a member of IMA’s Pikes Peak Chapter. You can
reach her at (719) 264-7035 or [email protected].

Mark Holtzblatt, CPA, Ph.D., is an associate professor of

accounting at Cleveland State University in the Monte Ahuja
College of Business. He is also a member of IMA’s Cleveland

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