Bridging the corporate skills gap

“ONCE you stop learning, you start dying.” So said Albert Einstein.

In last week’s column, we analysed the evolution of leadership within the context of the finance function and how this affects the rest of the organisation.

In summary, we resolved that “everything rises and falls on leadership” whilst noting that “the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack”.

The world is increasingly converging, with effects of localised transactions being felt globally, coupled with greater analytical capacity and automation, increased focus on risk management and regulations, more demand for faster transaction processing and greater complexity of transactions.

Therefore, a finance function that remains firmly rooted in traditional methods, as opposed to learning from emerging trends, peers and from its own past, will soon contribute in the demise of the organisation it seeks to serve as its effective business partner. Continuous learning and development within the finance function becomes imperative for success.

Let us look at the finance function common entry points.

Globally, the traditional academic system has been the main gateway into the finance and accounting profession. Finance functions have largely relied upon the education system to prepare its recruits for the workplace. In Zimbabwe, the journey from preschool to graduate school can take 19 years. However, the lack of adequate focus on comprehensive soft skills development in the traditional curriculum has resulted in some team members being ill-equipped to meet the demands of finance function in industry.

An outdated curriculum yields unsuitable candidates for the workplace with outdated skills, which contributes to the creation of a skills gap.

Classroom-based learning has been at the core of the traditional education system since time immemorial. In this format, learners rely on the instructor to lead through the whole knowledge transfer process.

To illustrate this, in the 1828 Yale Report, the university strongly defended its traditional curriculum by stating it trained student “how to think and what to think about”.

Therefore, candidates are programmed to think and solve problems only in terms of the context and perspective of their instructor.

Though there have been calls to make learning more relevant to the workplace, with some notable learning institutions such as Harvard Business School taking a lead, there has been little reformation from the majority of institutions.

Unfortunately, the inadequacies of a traditional curriculum in failing to equip learners with relevant technical and soft skills are felt in the workplace with development costs borne by the organisations in capacitating their staff.

We will now share a few perspectives to put context to this matter. ◆ In 2016, Quartz Creative published a paper on behalf of Oracle, titled “Bridging the skills gap in finance is more than just a people problem”, noting that emerging finance leaders not only need the ability to analyse data, but to distil information from across the company into actionable insights — like new revenue growth opportunities, amongst others. According to the PWC 19th Annual Global CEO Survey/ February 2016, the percentage of finance executives who were concerned about the availability of key skills within their organisations, jumped from 48 percent in 2012 to 70 percent in 2015. ◆ A 2016 EY DNA of the CFO Report in which 769 finance leaders were surveyed, the number one combination of soft skills that dominated the Top Five Qualities and Experiences Deemed Necessary to Transition into the CFO Role, were leadership, team building and C-suite relationships, with 57 percent of respondents acknowledging their importance. In its 2018 Global Report on Learning Trends, LinkedIn Learning noted that executives and talent developers are increasingly anxious about the growing skills gap in the workplace, particularly regarding soft skills. If we take time to understand the common thread that weaves through these separate reports, we note that: ◆ there is a skills gap in the finance function, between the various levels; in addition to technical skills, employee soft skills are increasingly becoming important with the function; and leaders in the finance function are expected to proactively engage in continual team building. As a finance function leader, how are you and your team adapting to these emerging trends? As the leader of your finance team, are you actively developing your support team’s capacity to improve their skills in line with the direction which the function and the organisation are heading? ◆ This article was originally published in The Sunday Mail based on research conducted by Lionel Tarumbwa, an accounting and finance enthusiast, and Umoja Phiri, a chartered accountant (Zimbabwe) and a registered public auditor (Zimbabwe) on behalf of SAFiM. This piece was generated as a source of general information and should not be viewed as a formal professional and legal opinion. Despite the fact that reasonable skill and due care has been taken in the creation of this literary work, SAFiM does not offer any warranty on the accuracy of the information shared. The information is not intended to replace the need for professional legal advice on the relevant legal, technical or regulatory provisions. SAFiM does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage you or any third party may suffer as a result of utilising the information provided herein