ACCA: Building a better business through finance diversity
02 May 2012
The ACCA report, 'Building a better business through finance diversity', identifies five key steps for businesses to take in order to harness diversity within their finance teams, and give them a cutting edge in a competitive business world.
Diversity in the finance function goes beyond visible differences. Instead it is about diversity of experience, knowledge, cultures and backgrounds. By bringing together diverse teams, businesses know they can expect the innovative thinking that is needed to steer them through the economic and global challenges they face.
The report looks at the experiences of some of the world’s leading companies, including IBM and GE Healthcare China, and makes the following recommendations for creating a successful, diverse finance function:
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Understand cultural differences. These really matter. You may have a team that looks different, which looks good in your CSR reports, but your team is consequently going to think and work differently too. For companies expanding overseas, new markets bring their own customs, culture, regulatory environments and governance standards. Get to grips with each market, and consider how to integrate working practices into your existing corporate model.
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Diversity starts with recruitment. By bringing in individuals from different backgrounds, sectors, experiences and careers, finance leaders can bring a mix of different skills to their team. Working effectively with HR is crucial and recruitment policies must be effective and engaging.
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Nurture diversity where it doesn’t already exist. A wide range of experiences and perspectives are needed to develop the finance leaders of the future: it’s no longer the corporate career ladder, but the corporate career lattice. Managers from developed markets should be given the opportunity to spend time in emerging markets and vice versa. Experience outside the finance function is crucial and a commercial role can be valuable in developing business experience and awareness. Job rotations might meet resistance from managers who don’t want to lose good staff; support from the top is vital to ensure job rotation becomes part of a business’ DNA.
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Embrace open ways of working. Finance leaders that promote a diversity of thinking, and encourage their teams to express different views, will be better able to identify risks and opportunities.
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Manage the tension between standardisation and diversity. Many companies have established regional shared-service centres – at the expense of in-country operations – to standardise procedures and capture economies of scale. This drive for standardisation needs to be balanced with the diversity of local experience and knowledge from different backgrounds. Finance leaders need to think carefully about the right global/local balance for an optimal finance function.
Press release
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