Employees in the Finance Function of the Future Employees in the Finance Function of the Future

In our recent blog post about the KPMG trend analysis Finance 2025 – Focus on the financial sector of the future, we highlighted where the finance function stands today, what its vision for 2025 looks like and which future path should be taken in order to realize the full potential of all benefits. In this blog post we would like to take a closer look at employee qualifications that are required for success. As anticipated, having the right employees plays a key role for future success.

In today's finance functions, you often find financial specialists with traditional commercial training. In the future, this professional background will be supplemented by further qualifications – such as self-management skills and a stronger IT affinity as the transactional process automation will play a key-role. Hiring professionals with such advanced skills is a major challenge, as these profiles are coveted and scarce on the job market. The importance of internal employee development is therefore more important than ever before. Companies must build up knowledge within their own company, show perspectives to existing employees and offer an attractive workplace in order to increase the job satisfaction and loyalty of existing employees.

Today's finance employees are usually characterized as well-organized and structured, reliable, focused and thorough with a clear focus on their relevant specialty. As the finance function transforms more and more into the role of a business consultant, the qualification profile changes. The required future skills will be: greater dynamism, pronounced analytical understanding, and advanced leadership skills. In addition, characteristics such as increased communication skills, proactivity and IT affinity are required. Especially employees who understand their company’s business model and who recognize which tasks are important for the company’s further development are crucial.

Employees should know how to contribute meaningfully, proactively offering advice and recommendations on business issues. Because they have a profound understanding of the processes, such employees will question the status quo and identify improvements, thus taking an active and decisive role in defining and designing corporate requirements. These core competencies and process knowledge is necessary for a holistic further development of the finance function to compete with new challenges and requirements as business partner.

The trend analysis shows that employees are the central linchpin for the further development of the finance function. Three points should be considered in particular:
 

• Harness the power of ideas of your employees for further development.
• Create incentives for long-term staff loyalty through attractive jobs and clear career paths to keep and develop your employees.
• Promote the understanding of your company’s business model in order to empower finance employees in their role as proactive business partners.