Finance pros called to front lines

Firms are looking for finance professionals who can inform strategic decision-making. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Employers should be opening their doors to accounting and finance staff from all kinds of backgrounds, according to a new report by recruitment firm Hudson.

Meanwhile accountants currently working in the industry should be looking for ways to contribute more value to their employers.

New expectations around the responsibilities of finance and accounting executives mean that chief financial officers and their teams should be welcoming a diverse range of talent from various backgrounds and industries, says Hudson.

"It's time to drop stereotypical concepts of accounting and finance [professionals] as backroom number crunchers," says Tony Pownall, director of Hudson Accounting and Finance.

"There is a definite evolution happening. Are we keeping up as a profession and do we need to be looking at all sorts of people and giving them learning and development opportunities in order to keep up?" says Pownall.

"Today, accounting and finance professionals are not solely defined by their technical skills but increasingly by their strategic and entrepreneurial capabilities, and we're experiencing a shortage of candidates with these broader skills."

Hudson's report is based on roundtable discussions and interviews with CFOs and CEOs at the Certified Practising Accountant and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, who talked of a dearth of commercially savvy accountants in business.

They say entry paths into the profession must be more flexible in order to attract skilled professionals who can use their experience from other industries to apply it to roles in the accounting and finance sector.

Anyone with an interest in the principles of measurement, assurance and reporting would have the potential skill set to succeed in the accounting and finance profession, they said.

Accountants and finance directors are being increasingly called upon to give strategic recommendations for their companies and come up with ingenious growth solutions, says Pownall.

"When I assess someone, I want to know what they'll bring to the boardroom and not just the interview room," says Pownall.

"Candidates have to be able to see improvements and opportunity in business, and possess the leadership and communication skills needed to convey and act on these.

"This is particularly important in Auckland, where many New Zealand headquarters of Australasian and multi-national businesses are based."

A lot of transactional accounting is now being outsourced, so expectations of finance professionals are higher. "They are required to review financial information and translate this into commercial intelligence to help inform business decisions."

During the downturn, people in finance departments had greater visibility in their firms, said Pownall. CEOs want information as close to real-time as possible - as a consequence, finance executives need to be adept with IT.

Accountants don't have to be "spreadsheet jockeys" or bean counters any more, says Pownall. "These people are becoming dinosaurs." On the other hand, accountants are often not invited to the decision-making table if they are not perceived to be commercially savvy or if they are expected to say "no" to suggestions.

"Accountants grow up trained in the black and white, to look for risk. In that way, every opportunity becomes a risk. By pushing back and asking questions, you can add value. Challenge thinking or innovate."

When Pownall interviews an accountant for a senior post, he looks for them to demonstrate where they have taken opportunities to innovate. What have they done to understand the business proposition or challenge thinking?

"It's no longer good enough to say, 'I'm a CPA accountant.' It's what do you do with these skills," he says. '

Being efficient at compliance has been a high priority in the last few years for finance departments, but gaining insights and commercial focus is now probably of equal importance, says Pownall.

All the research points to a need for somebody "more rounded and personal, who will think about innovation as well as risk challenge", he says.

As the industry evolves, the big accountancy partnerships are moving with the times in widening their search for people from different backgrounds, says Pownall.

"I would say it is happening today at entry point in [chartered accountant] firms but you are not necessarily seeing it happening in private enterprise." The latter tends to play it safe, he says.

CPA Australia recognises that the accounting profession needs to welcome a wider range of people, says CPA Australia NZ country manager David Jenkins. The organisation has two qualification levels, one for accountants and the other for those making a change of career.

"They might have an engineering career but then they have decided to take an accounting pathway. We've broadened our programmes to accommodate people like that," says Jenkins. "We hope to encourage people from different backgrounds to accounting and finance."

CPA Australia has been doing the rounds at career fairs to talk about its foundation programme for graduates who haven't been trained in pure accounting.

Being an accountant is about getting away from spreadsheets, says Jenkins. It's about having softer skills, being able to talk back to business, to present and communicate.

In the international banking industry, firms will take young people from a broader range of areas than accounting firms, he says. Bright graduates with a background in languages, philosophy and economics are welcomed.

Jenkins says people new to the profession want a qualification that is portable and internationally recognised.

Meanwhile Hutch Thorne, finance controller at Barkers Menswear, says he does not to do much day-to-day accounting. He has played a key role in changes to senior management, IT, distribution and strategy, and offers consistent support to his managing director. Barkers has 26 stores, an online shop and 170 employees.

"I have realised there's a lot more to finance than crunching numbers," says Thorne. "There's getting involved in the entrepreneurial side of the business.

"I like having the ability to get in front of stakeholders and the board. These are the 'yes' moments. Also being being able to convey the numbers but in a meaningful way, relating to your peers on a flexible level, explaining, 'This is what it means to the business.' These are the exciting things to me," he says.

Thorne says he enjoys negotiating leases with big companies such as Westfield, a landlord for many of the Barkers stores. "There's nothing more satisfying than beating the big boys.

"I have watched the profit go from something that I was always interested in to something that I'm entirely passionate about. I'm one of the biggest ambassadors for the brand."