Organisations seeking financial talent often have a picture painted of what they want their future talent pool to look like - their competencies, qualifications and educations.
But, while we hear about the specific requirements for an ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified professional, how many organisation actually understand what each has to offer and why each is a benefit in its own right?
Take the CIMA for example. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountant qualification offers Management Accountant skills, spanning across 173 different countries and produces more commercial, strategic thinking and adaptable finance professionals – able to understand business objectives as a whole and not just straight finance.
Then there’s ACCA. Perhaps thought of as the least prestigious out of the three due to its flexible training offering, giving professionals the ability to qualify online in their own time. The Associate Chartered Accountant has some 586,000 members and is now the fastest-growing qualification in the UK. While thought of as self-study and therefore not as esteemed, this type of flexible qualification gives some of the world’s most exceptional talent a chance to re-train, second time graduates for instance or, returning parents, lawyers, marketeers or HR professionals looking for a second chance in their careers.
ACA on the other hand is deemed top of the hierarchy. It is the professional qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) and is considered the hardest due to its some 15 exams, even thought to lead to dismissal in the Big Four if failed.
But which type of qualified professional is right for your business?
There are certainly different qualifications for different roles but it does depend a lot on the business. A lot of FTSE listed companies for instance, look for ACA qualified people from the Top Ten Accounting Practices because professionals here have to audit FTSE businesses. This allows them to have an already ingrained understanding of the model, the size and the growth of the business.
It also depends a lot on the type of role you are recruiting for. A Reporting role as an example is a very technical mandate and would arguably best suit an ACA qualified professional as they are detail orientated and have experience in analysing large data sets. A Commercial Finance role on the other hand would perhaps sit best with a CIMA qualified person – someone who is both strategic and able to influence the wider business. An ACCA may seem bottom of the list but this actually works well for companies with smaller budgets and professionals looking to return to work after absence or re-train in a new vocation. It also allows for greater career diversity, and an individual who is dynamic in their thought process.
I advise organisations on the different types of candidates available to them depending on their requirements but one thing is standardised across all qualifications and mandates and that’s personality.
Finance professionals can no longer rely on their analytical and numbers-driven competencies, they now need to be personable, approachable, likeable and able to translate ‘finance’ into a language the whole business understands.
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