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Since Enron, accountants and their clients have been the subject of greater scrutiny. Regulatory authorities have been persistent in their mission to stamp out deceptive practices, while courts have used their powers to impose punitive fines on industry giants. Nothing makes front page news like a scandal, meaning that the media glare remains as strong as ever. The profession is now aware of the risks, posing a challenge for employers.

Red tape

Regulatory and business risk management are core technical competences. Emma Charnock, manager of Hays in Hong Kong, says demand for audit and risk skills has rocketed. “There’s a knock-on effect beyond the US-listed firms,” she says. “Unlisted companies are losing people to companies who need to be SOX-compliant. One Chinese company here is taking on 40 new auditors. Candidates who also have financial services experience are conducting bidding wars among employers as they know they’re in big demand.”

“Switching to a more technical remit raises the same recruitment and development issues for all firms,” says Richard Gartside, director of learning and development at Ernst & Young, London. “People understand that a greater focus on record-keeping is the nature of the game now.”

Globalization of business has meant that new employment markets have long been opening up beyond the traditional confines of the developed economies. With increasing opportunities for accountants and finance practitioners in developing economies, employers need to ensure their accountants in existing markets have the skills to help them maintain competitive advantage. They must also identify those finance professionals who are keen to contribute their knowledge via teams supporting new set-ups in emerging economies.

Building long-term skills

Accountants need to hone their technical expertise and ethical awareness to meet the challenges of tightening regulations. However, enlightened employers are those which offer opportunities to acquire new skills beyond simply those of a technical nature. Focusing on individual development – empowering their best people to reach their potential – paves the way for successful retention.

“We want our key finance managers to improve their soft skills – such as presentation, effectiveness, communication, leadership, time management and organization,” says Yap Wai Yip, regional accounting controller for IBM’s Asia Pacific South division. “Our people can be highly selective about their training, and we provide an e-learning centre, to which everyone has unlimited access. A key part of our retention scheme is the IBM Individual Development Plan – a complete end-to-end programme covering performance objectives, career aspirations and skills gaps. People set targets with their line manager and understand exactly what they have to do to meet those targets.”

At Ernst & Young, identifying leadership potential underpins how staff performance is assessed as part of an overall retention strategy. “We look at how people act as individuals, as well as their ability to lead others – both their peers and their own teams,” says Richard Gartside. “We pay close attention to the service element – the sector-specific insight and knowledge that they offer, and whether they can deliver over and above what are already high client expectations.”

Those identified as high-achievers are accepted on to Ernst & Young’s Accelerated Leadership Programme, a fast-track initiative that provides greater access to learning opportunities within the firm and a quicker route to partnership. Those who don’t make it on to the programme though, hardly feel left behind: “Learning and development opportunities are available to everyone,” explains Gartside. “It’s just that the accelerated group gets theirs sooner. The selection process is clear and open, and everyone who’s not selected still gets full access to mentoring, secondments and work-shadowing. One of the challenges we faced when we launched Accelerated Leadership was to convince everyone that it wouldn’t mean development would be watered down for everyone else; it’s simply a way of adding to our armory.”

The international connection

Employers must also work to ensure that talent already out in the marketplace heads their way. Standardization of reporting requirements and the ease with which the internet allows information to flow freely mean that people are more responsive to the idea of cross-border careers. And with skills gaps to plug, recruiters already exploit the allure of international postings. “Accountants who worked abroad for a couple of years used to be regarded with some suspicion by employers,” says Susie Barrett, manager of the international division of recruitment agency Hays, in London. “They’d imagine time spent in a backwater or working holidays by the beach – with no real gathering of useful experience. These days, overseas experience is highly marketable on CVs. I’m placing a significant number of qualified accountants from India, Pakistan and the Gulf with firms in the Caribbean and Bermuda. Accountants from Malaysia and the Philippines – especially those who’ve trained with US or international companies – are also tempted across, and are prime targets for Caribbean employers as the salaries they can offer are usually highly attractive. Eastern European accountants have been coming over to the UK in increasing numbers since EU expansion, but there’s little movement in the other direction.

“Hong Kong accountants who graduated and qualified in Canada are now being actively encouraged to return,” says Emma Charnock. “Fluency in Cantonese or Mandarin is essential within practice, so there isn’t the demand for westerners. But Singapore is proving a real draw for qualified accountants from India. In China, the boom in manufacturing, engineering, construction and property has created countless opportunities for foreign accountants – and in these industries, you don’t need local language skills to land a good position.”

Outside public practice, employers in the oil and gas sector have been sweeping up more adventurous job seekers. Russia and many former Soviet republics play host to a number of western and locally-funded exploration and refining outfits, while Africa is also a happy hunting ground for accountants with the travel bug. “People find the idea of working somewhere like Angola or Liberia exciting – they can accumulate capital on the back of good tax-free packages, and they enjoy the camaraderie of the expatriate compound,” says Barrett. “Many of these jobs only appeal to single people though, as the lifestyle doesn’t usually suit families. Countries with longer-established western employers, such as Nigeria, are more family-friendly, although expatriates will still often have to spend long periods out on the actual rigs, away from their families.”

The skills exchange

The Big Four firms all offer stints in overseas offices. Ernst & Young’s Indian practice, for instance, has exchange programmes with both the UK and China, while at Deloitte, international secondments are an essential retention tool, according to David Sproul, the firm’s managing partner for talent: “A small proportion of our people – our future leaders – compete to participate in our Global Development Programme, which is an annual secondment programme specifically designed for our top talent. These individuals are sent to other Deloitte offices to hone particular business skills or to focus on particular client delivery – for example, Houston for the oil industry.

“However, with a range of multinational clients there are many opportunities to travel with work and to gain experience and build contacts outside the UK. We also run an International Staffing Programme, designed to assist people who may not have a business case to go on secondment, but would like the opportunity to experience a different culture and get new skills.”

Work-life balance

Acknowledging that workers need to enjoy coming to work – and also have the energy to live life to the full outside the office – is important to most employers, large or small. UGI, one of Jamaica’s leading financial services companies, operates a successful wellness programme for its workforce, which has helped retention. Group human resources manager, Sharon Wignall says: “We want people to have a sense that they’re cared for here – and that goes beyond just training them to do a job.” The company has established a staff committee, a gym has been installed and there are regular expert presentations, on everything from nutrition to self-defence and makeovers. Through the programme, employees also take part in local community and charity initiatives that also play their part in helping to bond teams.

“We are much more focused on the fact that there is greater competition for qualified accountants,” says Wignall. “In those circumstances, it makes sense to do all you can to encourage people to feel like they get good payback from coming to work, not just through receiving a competitive salary.” “We recognise the importance for our people of providing flexibility so that they can balance their career development with their other aspirations,” says David Sproul. “We try to be responsive to our people’s needs in providing career breaks and sabbaticals where individuals want to travel or pursue an alternative interest, as well as flexible working arrangements. By allowing staff to achieve their interim goals and go on a sabbatical after three years, they are more likely to stay with Deloitte in the longer term.”

Encouraging people to commit long term in an increasingly mobile workforce is a tall order. Uncertainty over future demographic trends means many employers are implementing retention strategies without full confidence of their likely success. However, they can be sure of one thing: as the emphasis on compliance grows and reporting criteria tightens, it is accountants who can demonstrate a safe pair of hands – and it appears no price is too high to avoid becoming the next Enron.

Learning and development opportunities, fast-track management paths, globe-trotting careers and a strong sense of responsibility for employee welfare are not particularly revolutionary concepts, cynics might say. Yet it seems organizations are being more thoughtful about the tactics they employ for winning over those professionals who may have been rather taken for granted. And sometimes the simplest ideas are the best – those “why didn’t we think of it earlier?” moments that bring fresh perspective to ageold problems.

“One of my clients is recruiting six finance managers who have to travel five days a week,” says Susie Barrett. “They’ve decided these new recruits can be based anywhere they like, not necessarily at the head office – and they’ll be flown home every weekend. The campaign has generated a huge amount of interest.” Interested observers wait to see whether the most highly soughtafter finance professionals – those who can bring commercial business skills to the table while exhibiting technical excellence – will become such hot property. As globalization powers on and opportunities to capitalise on burgeoning economies intensify, retention issues may well revolve around managing the commercial risks posed by skill shortages as much as they will the avoidance of falling foul of the regulators.

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