Keywords: shared services, finance shared services, talent management, recruitment, ACCA, Deloitte, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Talent management in the shared services world ‘ineffective’, finds ACCA

Anna Bowsher | News | 28 September 2012

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In a global survey of finance functions, the ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has found that in both finance shared services and centralised finance functions, the adoption and effectiveness of talent management practices across the finance function is patchy and inconsistent.

The report, entitled ‘Talent Management in a Shared Services World: 2012 Survey’, is a compilation of research with over 1,200 organisations, with one third representing companies reporting more than $3bn in annual revenues.

The report highlights the consequences of ineffective talent management delivery, from challenges with staff motivation, poor talent recruitment and retention, as well as the risk of finance silos developing, the existence of disparate finance cultures and poor mobility of talented people across the finance organisation. The report also implies that cost effectiveness will be sub-optimal as strong talent pools of people are not tapped into.

Key findings include:

• 72% of respondents said they do not implement talent management programmes across the entire function, or admit that they are not aware of such programmes existing
• Of the 28% of respondents who said they do have a talent management programme across the entire finance function, only one third of these say their programmes are effective
• 79% of respondents said talent management was important
• 66% of respondents said their talent management programmes were “not very effective”
• 71% confirmed there are no defined career paths across finance

Jamie Lyon, head of corporate sector at ACCA, said, “The findings are startling and show a need for change. Many respondents recognise that talent management in the finance function really is a business imperative, particularly with the advent of changing finance operating models, and the growth of shared services and business services models. However, the reality is that only a minority of finance functions have effective, consistent joined-up programmes across the entire function. Surely we can expect some future CFOs to start their finance careers in a shared services or global business services environment and then want to progress through the finance organisation? They should have the right support frameworks in place to do this.”

Sally Fisher, partner in Deloitte’s Finance Transformation practice, added, “The survey findings confirm our own experience that implementing successful talent management consistently across a global finance function is hard to achieve, but is in demand from finance teams. There is significant business benefit from getting it right, for example reduced attrition, greater business knowledge and insight, finance driving and protecting value in the business in a more pro-active way, more effective partnering between shared services and retained finance. One of the interesting findings of the report is that finance leaders need to invest more in making the day to day work experience a development experience for their people.”

ACCA’s survey will be launched at Deloitte’s Annual Shared Services and Business Process Outsourcing Conference 2012 this week in Cannes. Susie West, CEO and founder of sharedserviceslink.com will be attending, so watch this space for updates.