City seeks business-savvy accountants
FINANCE professionals working in large companies need to have commercial skills in
order to succeed, new research by recruiters Robert Half revealed yesterday.
Up to 90 per cent of business and finance leaders in London agree that strong commercial skills are needed to ensure the long-term success of finance teams and their business as a whole.
Nearly two-thirds of the business leaders interviewed by Robert Half in London believe their finance teams currently lack strong commercial skills to help drive the business forward and 90 per cent believe this to be damaging to the development of their team.
“Finance teams need to be seen as adding value to a business, especially with all of the
changes in financial regulation,” said Neil Owen, director at Robert Half.
Meanwhile, understanding how the wider business works is one of the most important commercial skills a finance team needs to posses, according to 90 per cent of business leaders. The same proportion of leaders interviewed by Robert Half also said that finance teams need to posses an understanding of business strategy and vision.