MAXIMISING PEOPLE POWER - EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT IN FINANCE

ACCA recognises the value that effective finance functions can bring to every organisation. Whether in times of economic growth, recession or gradual recovery, finance professionals need to provide the information required by managers to make strategic decisions and achieve day-to-day operational success.
Each member of the finance team has an important role to play, whether striving to be an influential business partner, meeting financial reporting requirements or delivering efficient transaction processing. The challenge is to create the appropriate finance function structure and provide the necessary support to enable each individual to deliver their role most effectively. This requires a holistic approach to talent management.
The research on maximising people power sends some clear messages about the importance of integrated talent management for finance and should leave no doubt that developing talent is a vital issue for all finance leaders, and one that must be addressed if finance functions are to fulfil their potential and provide the necessary support their organisations need to thrive in this increasingly complex and challenging world.
Maximising people power - effective talent management in finance provides a follow up to a March 2010 ACCA survey on talent management practices across the finance profession. A key finding of this research was that less than 20% of organisations had a talent strategy that fully integrated talent identification, development, deployment and retention activity across the finance team. Most talent management practices were found to be informal, sometimes run in isolation, and often functionally based without being part of an integrated, wider plan.
This is a concern because finance functions now have a real opportunity to make a difference to their organisations success. The economic crisis provided heightened visibility of the value that professional accountants bring, and the next decade presents an enormous opportunity for finance professionals to help create and sustain long-term value for organisations. But this goal depends on the people within finance and the way that the organisation develops and applies their talents. In an economic environment focused on cost, the ability of employers to realise and leverage the talent within their finance functions will be more important than ever.
Talent management can shape and influence the structure of finance functions, and highlight the practices organisations should be adopting in order to deliver the best possible talent development for finance professionals.
Research Recent ACCA research confirmed the vitally important role that finance plays within organisations, with over half of survey respondents indicating that the role of finance professionals had become more important since the global economic crisis.
One of the most critical roles is that of the Finance Business Partner (FBP) - the most business-facing finance role. FBPs provide the insight and analysis to support strategic decision making. Fulfilling the role effectively requires a mixture of strong tech n cal and commercial skills and capabilities, which finance professionals will not necessarily possess unless they have undertaken structured development activity.
Challenges Securing the right talent is one of the biggest challenges CFOs face. In KPMG research among over 500 senior finance executives, over 50% of respondents said that difficulty finding and retaining skilled finance professionals was a major barrier to improving finance function performance. This was their number one concern, as it had been in previous KPMG studies. This is encouraging, because CEO 'buy in' to talent management is critically important - and not just when markets are buoyant, but for the long term. Sustained CEO support is necessary to maintain momentum behind development policies and practices.
Big Picture Talent management is broader than the individual: ensuring the function is structured to maximise the talent pipeline, that roles are designed to give challenge and enrichment to the individual and value to the organisation, is key to an integrated talent management strategy.
Finance functions face many tough challenges as their organisations strive to generate growth and keep costs to a minimum. Talent management will be critically important for their success. The best way for finance teams to meet the demands placed on them - and provide maximum value to their organisations - is by systematically identifying, developing, deploying and retaining those who make a significant difference and contribution to the organisation's success.
The full report is available at:
www.accaglobal.com/accountant_busniess