CGMA knowledge fast forward
The AICPA and CIMA have joined together to form a joint venture which powers a new designation for management accountants, the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). The CGMA is designed to elevate management accounting and further emphasise its importance for businesses worldwide. this group of professionals where they’ve got this broad base of experience in training, and as you’re looking to plug holes or fill opportunities, you’ve got this great pool.”
Be willing to take some career risks for the benefit of learning the broader business, he added. Don’t focus on promotions; focus on learning experiences. Falzon himself moved from a corner- office job to a cubicle job within Prudential knowing that in the long run, the education would benefit him. “From a career progression standpoint, it was a big step back,” he said. “But it was a whole new field for me.
“Sometimes you need to get in that elevator that goes down and then take it back up again.”
Zukauckas added: “People oftentimes want to stay in their comfort zone, and that may be the quickest path to promotions,” she said. “… And [when] you’re looking for people that you want to plug in because you know you can count on them to deliver, they’re more often than not the people who have the diverse skills who have taken some risks in their career, who have made lateral moves at the sacrifice of promotion to become a more well-rounded finance person.
Soft skills – communication in particular – are critical if you want to advance, panellists said.
“Technical expertise is highly valued,” Falzon said. “And those are the people who
A deep understanding of the relationship between financial analytics, risk analytics, and strategy is an important part of being able to grow value in any organisation. And as analytics spreads to new parts of any business, finance will play a bigger role in influencing decisions throughout the organisation.
American Express is a case in point. The company relies heavily on data to determine what its customers want, where they want it, and how they want to make transactions. “It’s really critical to our business, and it gives us the insights that we need,” Zukauckas said.
Young finance professionals should take advantage of internal training at their organisations. And companies should devote resources to developing internal talent, panellists said. After all, development is an important retention tool for many employees. And the cost of replacing an employee can often exceed the cost of training and retaining existing employees.
“If you’re not in tune to the dependency on the talent of your organisation and the investment you need to make in them and the investment they need to make in themselves, I don’t think long term you have a sustainable business model,” Falzon said. “There needs to be that connection between the development and retention of talent and that way in which that translates into making you more sustainable in the marketplace.”
And it doesn’t always have to come at an enormous cost to the company. Mentoring and in-house courses may require planning time but not a lot of cash.
“You can get creative and find a way to do it that doesn’t require as much of an outlay of financial resources,” Zukauckas said. “But it’s a non-negotiable.”
Senior leadership needs to take responsibility for training if the company is not going to fund it, she said.
Pittelkow, the ArrowStream director, described an internal training programme through which an employee picks a class to teach and then develops a lesson around his or her own research. Pittelkow herself has taught courses on ethics and listening.
“It keeps our cost down,” she said. “… And it’s great because you teach about what you’re passionate for.”- Jack Hagel