By Farakh Farid
The Author is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant(FCCA) with more than 16 years of progressive experience in operations, financial management and expertise in telecoms, IT, media, real estate and manufacturing operations.
While the world is still recovering from
recession, the fate of businesses is still pretty shaky. The job markets are
unstable with low job security; the businesses are still feeling the after effects
of economic crunch of recent years with unpredictable cash flows, capital
restructuring, and firm downsizing. Quiet evidently one of the professions that
stood the test of economic cycle is Finance.
The profession is redeemed as recession
proof because of the demand of finance professionals regardless of it being a boom
or slump in the economy. In times of economic instability, the business leaders
are relying on these finance professionals such as Chief Financial Officers to
make it smooth sailing for their organisations.
According to The Financial Times survey of
100 FTSE companies, finance is still the preferred profession of a CEO,
followed by engineering and Retail. A recent study by Deloitte and Touche LLP on
Global Finance Talent Survey 2013 showed that the CFO’s role is not only
growing to include strategic planning but also business leaders are looking to
their peers in finance for a deeper, more hands-on approach. Therefore, there
is great opportunity present for finance professionals to not only grow in
terms of experience but also be in the running for CEO of a company.
What is alarming, however, is the Deloitte
survey on Global Finance Talent which highlighted a widening talent gap in the
finance function as a result of businesses achieving sustainable business
growth and surviving in the industry. The gap is widening because the young
finance professionals are not provided growth opportunities which will ease
their transition along the company ladder. This results in more experienced finance
professionals from other companies being hired instead of promoting the younger
professionals. Ergo, the fresh professionals are left with limited training and
skills set, while the experienced ones are either retiring or moving up the
hierarchy which is shrinking the pool of finance professionals.
Currently, in a discussion with industry
peers about today’s unpredictable business environment and succession of
finance professional, there are a number of standout challenges that Pakistan
is facing, such as credit management, asset utilization, mismatch in the job
market, and one of the most imperative talent management. Managing our pool of
finance professionals is important for a successful economic future, as these
same professionals will be responsible for the strategy a takes in times of
crisis or a boom.
My fellow finance peers at other companies
have expressed their concern about recruiting, retaining, and developing talent
in their organizations. Most of the companies have talent recruitment strategies
in place but they are looking for recruits that can bring sophisticated skill
sets into their organizations. Although there are plenty of finance
professionals available in the job market, that doesn’t mean they meet the
criteria finance leaders are seeking.
As noted by my peers and I, and elaborated
by Deloitte study, finance leaders find it is easy to look for talent in areas
such as treasury, procurement, and accounting. Meanwhile, finance planning and
analysis skills are very difficult to recruit for, and many of those positions
remain unfilled. Although professional qualification such as ACCA, CFA, and
ICMA etc have done everything possible to keep the curriculum updated so that
the young professionals do not face difficulty in meeting futuristic demands of
the profession, a lot needs to be done by the companies that induct them. Most
of the business leaders in our country have realized the lack of deep, apparent
financial insights and the pressures of globalization and increased regulation
are reshaping the finance landscape, leading to new talent needs.
It is also perhaps the shift to new finance
operating models over the last decade that has complicated the talent issue.
The introduction of finance shared services and outsourcing has fundamentally
changed the traditional talent equation. Although, the introduction of shared
service is progress in the fields of finance, the heavy reliance of businesses
on these services are in fact causing the less experienced recruits to be
deprived of work ownership opportunities.
Businesses need to rethink their approach
when it comes to developing finance and management capabilities across the new
generation and develop intelligent strategies to identify top talents in the
field. It is imperative that these strategies address the issue of vanishing pool
of qualified candidates: set up a system that will give more opportunity for
younger talent to gain experience, knowledge and advanced skill set.
Leading organisations are stepping up to
the challenge and developing talent at global finance functions, but they have
a long way to go still. The challenges must be addressed as they disrupt the
structures that are needed to evolve the financial business environments that
are changing rapidly. Technology, demographics, and evolving expectations of
various businesses should play a key role in order to reshape our new talent
and make them confident enough to cope with challenges the recent CFO is facing.
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