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This report provides comprehensive data, analysis and calls to action on the skills and competencies required for the finance function and the strategies needed for recruitment and retention of the best talent.
It is based on research from the CIMA Centre of Excellence at the University of Bath School of Management, and over 4,500 global consultations and peer insights.
Finance transformation and the shift in finance towards value creation is responsible for the changing needs of organisations and the changing requirements of its people.
Identifying the type, developing and then maintaining these changing skills and competencies is the priority for finance professionals.
All finance professionals – across all finance role types – will require technical and better business and commercial skills going forward to provide the value that organisations expect from the finance function of the future.
It is a shift that raises many questions covered in the report:
- What exactly is meant by ‘business competency’?
- Does its importance outweigh that of technical competency?
- What is the optimum balance between technical and business competency?
- How can this balance be established in an organisation’s finance function?
- How can an individual finance professional achieve the right levels of competency and maintain them throughout his or her career?
- How can organisations plan for the development of their finance staff to really add value to the organisation?
- What are the optimum ways in which organisations recruit and develop talent?
- What are the actions to consider for organisations and individual finance professionals?
Contents
Insights
Naveen Agarwal, CFO - Asia Pacific & India, Global Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch
Steve Cresswell, CFO EMEA, Jones Lang LaSalle
Mark Lubienski Vice President of Finance EMEA, Ariba
Keith Luck, Director General of Finance, Foreign and Commonwealth Office FCO
Sriram Kameshwar, Head Finance Operations, Prudential UK's shared services, India
Chris McCarthy, Director, Hays Senior Finance, Hays
Dominic Moorhead, Chief Financial Officer, Roche Pharma, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG
Section
1. The competencies required of finance professionals
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Business and technical competencies
1.3 Competencies needed for different roles and duties
1.4 Competencies needed in different sizes of organisation
1.5 Competencies needed by difference role types
1.6 Competencies needed for increasing levels of business partnering
1.7 How non-finance management view the competencies of finance
professionals
1.8 Actions
2. Training and development of finance professionals
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Training and development methods: use and usefulness
2.3 The effect of training and development on the career development of non-senior professionals
2.4 Organisational support for training and development
2.5 Organisational support by geographical region
2.6 Organisational support by size of organisation
2.7 Organisational support by sector
2.8 Actions
3. Recruitment and retention of finance professionals
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Recruitment criteria; issues and preferences
3.3 Preferred professional qualifications
3.4 Recruitment challenges
3.5 Retention issues
3.6 Actions
4. Conclusions and next steps
5. Research methodology
6. Figures, charts and tables