Walking The Talk

Walking the TalkAligning Investments in the Finance Workforce withExecutive Priorities to Achieve High Performance

The finance organization used to behome to the "numbers guys," the peoplesimply responsible for monitoringincome and expenses and ensuringthe company did not run afoul of tax and reporting requirements. Butas any chief financial officer willacknowledge, those days are longgone—replaced by mandates to provideguidance on everything from capitalinvestments, outsourcing, businesscombinations, large-scale technologyimplementations and even businessstrategy. Given this, it's not surprisingthat executives participating in recentAccenture research named financeone of the three most critical work-forces within their company.

Yet for all its increasing importance,the finance organization has struggledin many cases to live up to expectations—largely because investment in thefinance workforce has seriouslylagged spending on technology and process improvement. In fact,a new study by Accenture reveals thata lack of comprehensive and holisticinvestment in the finance workforceoften prevents the function fromeffectively supporting the largerenterprise not only in day-to-day pursuit of high performance, but alsoin major transformation initiatives.

The study shows that while financeleaders are aware of the importanceof the workforce to the achievementof high performance, their investmentin that workforce is strikingly small—less than 2 percent of their budgets in many cases. And when they doinvest in the finance workforce, thatinvestment is not comprehensiveenough, focusing only on a few "hotspots." In fact, our research discoveredthat the workforce initiatives that arein place in the finance function dealonly with discrete aspects of theworkforce—such as staff commitmentand performance feedback—whilepaying comparatively little attentionto leadership, recruitment and stafftraining programs. This underdevelopmentof programs has a predictable result:Most executives do not believe they have the organization, staff or skill level to meet their challenges.Furthermore, most think their work-force initiatives are either inadequatelydeveloped or insufficiently applied,and only one-third are satisfied withthose initiatives.

But while prevalent, this condition isnot always the case. Our research diduncover a number of organizationsthat are supporting the finance work-force with appropriate investment—

1 | Investments in the Finance Workforce Report

Introduction both in size and scope. These "financeleaders" reported obtaining higherlevels of benefit from their transformation programs, betterreturns on their workforce investments,and higher overall performance.

In this paper, we explore the financeworkforce challenges reported by participants in recent Accentureresearch, as well as the leading practices identified by those respondents with superior results. We also discuss an integrated, concrete process and enabling toolsthat finance executives can use toaddress their workforce challengesand realize enhanced productivity, amore value-centered culture, greaterefficiency, higher levels of employeeengagement and high performance.

As the global economy gains steam,today's corporate leaders are mindfulof their responsibility to generate asmuch shareholder value as possiblefrom each fiscal updraft. Indeed, the2006 Accenture High-PerformanceWorkforce Study has confirmed a clear shift in their focus towardgrowth and away from cost containment. More specifically, the study revealed that 22 percent of CFOs said their company's primaryfocus today is on cost control, 16 percent on growth, and 59 percentevenly split between cost and growth.In 12 months time, those figures shiftto 14 percent on cost, 33 percent on growth and a 36 percent splitbetween the two (Figure 1).

Source: Accenture 2006 High-Performance Workforce Study

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An increased need for highperformance in the financefunction

Figure 1: Primary focus of global companies

Furthermore, when these growth-focused executives appraise theirorganization's bench strength and its ability to support their futuregoals, they are increasingly looking to the finance function for help.When we asked executives participatingin the Accenture High-PerformanceWorkforce Study to rank the functionsmost critical to achieving high performance, finance was tied withstrategic planning as one of the topthree—just behind customer serviceand sales.

In addition, according to Accenture's2006 Investment in the FinanceWorkforce Study, finance executivesbelieve that the workforce is the single-most important factor inachieving high performance finance—ahead of efficient processes, appropriatetools and technology, or an effectivestrategy (Figure 2). In the words ofone surveyed CFO, "We are emphasizingputting in place the absolute bestathletes that we can find." AnotherCFO added, "In terms of makingthings happen, the workforce iseverything: providing judgment andan interface with business operations.Workforce is everything."

Today

16%

22%

59%

12 months from now

33%

14%

36%

Growth Cost controlEven split

"There is an expectation that we infinance someday will be businessleaders," explained one CFO we surveyed. "So beyond the basic technical skills, the educational background and so on you also needskills in change leadership and in performance management. We areensuring that the people we're puttingin positions now in our finance andaccounting organization are going to drive our long-term performance.Whereas 10 years ago, if you were a great finance mind, you were justgoing to keep moving up. It takesmore than that now—I'm not promotinganybody to a VP position who isn'talso a proven organizational leader."

These findings are consistent withAccenture's ongoing research into thecharacteristics of high-performancebusinesses which confirms the risingimportance of the finance functionand its leaders to the achievement ofgrowth and other performance goals.Indeed, when we talked to CFOs andother leading finance executivesabout their jobs and the challengesthey face, we heard a strikingly consistent tale.

Once upon a time, the finance work-force was narrowly focused on themanagement and containment ofexpenditures, the timely collection of revenue, compliance with regulatorystatutes and the accurate reporting offinancial results to shareholders andanalysts. Over time, however, finance


has become increasingly responsiblefor the success of the company'stransformation programs, and is beingasked to advise top management on growth-related issues such asmergers and acquisitions, product linechanges, organizational restructuringsand geographical expansions.

And while CFOs and other financeleaders have invested richly in newtechnologies and business processesto support this changing role, they have overlooked the need tosimultaneously upgrade and enhancethe workforce. Without new skills,new training and in some cases newpeople, finance leaders can find themselves in charge of a functionthat cannot fulfill the demands of itsnew, more strategic role.

Source: 2006 Investment in the Finance Workforce Study

Figure 2: Most important factors for achieving high performance finance

Highly skilled and well organized workforce

65%

29%

5% 1%

52%

44%

1%1%1%

43%

44%

9% 2%1%

38%

45%

12% 3%1%

Extremely importantVery importantSomewhat importantA little importantNot at all important

Efficient process design and execution

Appropriate tools and technologies

Effective and well-executed strategy

4

Unfortunately, the increasingly mission-critical finance function is not seen as achieving high performance by a large majority of executives in the Accenture HighPerformance Workforce Study.Specifically, using a scale of 1=low to 5=high, only 19 percent of allrespondents and 13 percent of CFOswho named finance a top-three function said the function performs at a high level. So while the financeworkforce is widely perceived as criticalto growth and a direct contributor to overall high performance, its lowrelative performance is a potentialstumbling block.

Indeed, this perception is reinforcedby the 2006 Investments in theFinance Workforce Study, whichfound most finance leaders do notbelieve they have the organization,staff or skill level to meet their challenges, including growth. More

specifically, most think their workforceinitiatives are inadequately developedor insufficiently applied and only one-third are satisfied with those initiatives. The specific challengesthese executives face include recruitment,retention, leadership development andadaptability to change—in sum, theentire employee lifecycle.

For example, more than 60 percent of finance executives participating in the survey describe their staffrecruitment strategies as inadequatelydeveloped (Figure 3), and findingqualified finance staff is a challengefor more than half of respondents(Figure 4). Indeed, only about one-quarter of finance executives are satisfied with their recruitment anddevelopment programs (Figure 5).Furthermore, fully 62 percent are onlysomewhat satisfied or are dissatisfiedwith their staff retention programs(Figure 6).

In addition, when it comes to keepingpace with a dynamic competitivelandscape, just half of finance executives think their departmentsadapt well to change and even fewerbelieve their departments anticipate itwell. Finally, only half the respondentsbelieve in the coordination of theirleadership team—in other words, howwell the top leaders work together—and even fewer give a high rating to the team's overall quality. "We recognize that we are not doingwhat's needed to get deep ranks inthe finance organization, and that our line of succession is very thin,"said one CFO. "We know we need todig in on these issues."

A function that often fallsshort of high performance


Figure 3: Development of recruitment programs for skilled staff

No recruitment programs in place

65%

27%

61% 43%

12%

Inadequatelydevelopedprograms

Programs are adequately developed



Figure 4: Difficulty in attracting and growing talented staff

Figure 5: Satisfaction with staff recruitment anddevelopment programs

Figure 6: Satisfaction with staff retention programs

Not at all

65%

13%

A little

30%

40%

11%

Somewhat Very much

6%

Extremely

Recruitment strategy

25%

53%

22%

27%

31%

42%

Extremely/very muchSomewhatNot at all/little

Development program

38%

38%

24%

Extremely/very muchSomewhatNot at all/little

6

Most finance leaders do notbelieve they have the organization,staff or skill level to meet theirchallenges, including growth.

0-2%

33%

>2-5%

45%

20%

1%

>5-10% >10%


We believe that this low performancemay be due in part to a dichotomy inthe minds of CFOs. Most executivesparticipating in the 2006 Investmentsin the Finance Workforce Study agreethat the workforce is more importantthan technology and process for creating a strong finance organization.However, in contrast to this mandate,finance executives are allocating a relative pittance to the workforce compared with their investments intechnology and process improvements.Indeed, fully one-third of surveyedexecutives spent 2 percent or less oftheir investment budgets on enhancingthe workforce (Figure 7).

Furthermore, in companywide transformations such as ERP implementations, outsourcing andpost-merger integrations, financeexecutives continue to overlook theworkforce when making investments.

In fact, with respect to workforceinvestments as part of overall transformation programs, nearly 40 percent of finance executives in our survey said their companies had made minor or no investment. Of particularly low importance tofinance executives were investmentsin employee morale and leadershipdevelopment during transformations,with nearly 50 percent reportingminor or no investments in those areas.

These decisions are not without consequences. Indeed, the result offailing to invest in the workforce aspart of transformation programs isthat while quality, access and speedof information is improved and operational efficiency increases,improvements in workforce productivityand workforce service to the organization are not fully achieved.

A respondent who did invest richly in the workforce during a majortransformation had this to say: "[Withless investment in the workforce] we would be in a very marginalizedposition. Instead, we are enjoying a great degree of success and our people are optimistic. We often thinkof what would have happened if wehad not invested in the workforce—Ibelieve that we would be in a big holeand trying to dig ourselves out of it."

Furthermore, the initiatives that are inplace in support of these transformationprograms deal only with a few aspects of the workforce. Our financesurvey revealed an all-too-commonphenomenon: serious gaps in the initiatives intended to make financeworkforces capable of achieving high performance.

A critical factor: lack of alignment between investments and priorities


Figure 7: Percentage of finance’s investment budget spent onworkforce enhancement

38%

18%

42%

1%1%

Have had programs in place for over 2 yearsRecently initiated programsPrograms are being consideredNo perceived need for programsNo funds allocated for programs

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For example, fully 40 percent ofrespondents do not have leadershipinitiatives in place at all, which isespecially surprising given every organization's need for qualified leaders (Figure 8). And while theseorganizations are failing to adequatelydevelop leaders, they also are fallingshort in developing the best skills of"the rank and file." In fact, 81 percenthave staff development initiatives inplace for half of their employees, andnearly 61 percent have them for 25percent or less of their employees(Figure 9).

Leadership and staff development areonly two areas where finance executivesare failing to provide adequateresources. Our survey also revealedthat 66 percent of respondents havetraining initiatives in place for lessthan half of employees, and only justover one-third of companies have initiatives to develop employees' ability to respond to change.

The good news is that finance executives are aware of the need for change in their approach toworkforce management. Our studyreveals that executive evaluation of


Figure 8: Leadership development program in place Figure 9: Staff development programs in place

workforce initiatives is widespread,indicating finance executives' awarenessof a need for attention. And, about50 percent of respondents to our survey have plans to address someaspect of the workforce.

"We feel pretty good about where weare, but we also have a healthy levelof discontent with the status quo,"noted the CFO of a major retailer. "We know we need to get to the next level of maturation, and to geton that path we are establishing several formal development programswithin finance."

20%

9%

11%

33%

28%

Yes, for all staffYes, for >75% of staffYes, for about 50% of staffYes, for about 25% of staffNo staff development programs


There's one inescapable conclusion of our research: To shift from "talkingthe talk" to "walking the talk," financeexecutives must not only make theirapproach to workforce investmentmuch more comprehensive and complete, but they also should consider improvements in workforceproductivity and service to the organization as essential as technologyenhancements-as is being done by asmall subset (30 percent) of companiesparticipating in our survey. Thesecompanies—which we deemed the"finance leaders"—reported skills equalto or better than those of competitorsin three or more key aspects of thefinance function.

An analysis of the survey responses of the finance leaders and all othercompanies in the sample (the laggards)revealed two clear patterns: Leadersspend a greater percentage of theirbudgets on workforce developmentand they take a much more comprehensive approach toward that investment. For example, 31 percent of leaders reported spendinggreater than 5 percent of their investment budgets on workforce-oriented activities, versus only 19 percent of laggards.

Leaders also reported much morebroad-based strategies than laggards.Less than half of laggards indicatedthat they had strategies to addressfour out of six basic dimensions of

workforce development. In comparison,the majority of leaders had strategiesin place for all six (Figure 10).

In all, the leaders as a group havestrategies in place to address a muchwider range of workforce challengesthan do laggards. The words of oneleading CFO capture the comprehensive,"can-do" attitude that separates themfrom laggards. "You've got to get thewhole organization in tune with thefact that we really need to developour people, and this is what we need to do to do that," the CFO said."You've got to get everybody on boardand say we're going to measure it and it's got to become a part ofeverything you do."

What separates the bestfrom the rest?


Figure 10: Percent of finance organizations with strategies in six dimensionsof workforce development

30% 61%

47% 67%

51% 97%

46% 78%

56% 94%

36% 56%Leadership acquisition and development

Organizational structure

Talent management

Workforce performance

Employee engagement

Change management

LaggardsLeaders

10

Accenture's own client experiencesupports the CFO's sentiments andshows that this comprehensiveapproach to workforce performancecan reduce costs while it increasesproductivity, leading to significantbusiness benefits (Figure 11). Such anapproach can enable an organizationto attract employees with higher levels of proficiency, decrease thetime it takes employees to gainadditional skills and knowledge,retain top performers and put in placeperformance management processesthat lead to continuous improvement.As the figure shows, these benefitscan add substantial value by quicklyand effectively ramping up the organization's overall performance.

Accenture's experience also hasrevealed that comprehensive workforce initiatives are particularlyimportant at key moments in an organization's lifecycle. For example,during a change in finance leadershipor strategy, a merger or acquisition, a systems consolidation or ERP implementation, or a period ofincreased regulatory oversight, suchinitiatives can help win employeesover to the organization's new focus,goals and procedures. Furthermore,comprehensive workforce initiativeshelp employees develop the skills theyneed to adapt to change, and helpensure that change does not result inthe loss of top talent. For example,during a shared services program

companies can focus not only onbuilding a new organization, but alsoon enhancing the roles and skills of the retained organization. For organizations implementing new Enterprise Performance Management(EPM) toolsets, workforce initiativescan help ensure that the people that will use the new tools have therequired skills and business acumen.And during a post merger integration,workforce initiatives can help makesure that skills from the old and neworganizations complement each otherand align for maximum benefit.

The payoff of emphasizinginvestments in the workforce

Source: Accenture

Time

Exhibited job proficiency in %

80% proficiency

Performanceenhancement

Orientation and initialtraining

Recruiting

Performanceimprovement

Build core finance skills

90 days60 days30 days

Attract top talent

Retain top performers over time

Cost

Continuouslyimproveperformance

Currentperformance

Potentialperformance

The Value: The gap between the two (shaded) areas highlights the reduction in cost and increase in productivity achieved through the increase in performance attained by comprehensive investments in workforce

Figure 11: Benefits of a comprehensive approach to workforce performance(illustrative)


For the leaders in our survey, a comprehensive approach to workforceperformance has resulted in similaroperational and competitive advantages.

In general, leaders felt much betterequipped to face the challenges thataffect their ability to operate at highlevels of performance, with muchlower percentages reporting extremelevels of challenge with "number or caliber of managers/leaders,""organizational structure/job definition and alignment," "skills and knowledge of workforce,""employee engagement, morale, and commitment," and "workforceadaptability to change" (Figure 12).Perhaps this explains why nearly 60percent of leaders reported havingfinance leadership teams very capableof delivering high levels of performance,and why only 34 percent of laggardscould make the same claim.

Leaders also experienced fewer challenges attracting and developingskilled staff. Indeed, while nearly onein four laggards reported high levelsof difficulty attracting and growingtalented staff, only less than 1 ofevery 10 leaders reported the samelevels of difficulty. In fact, 53 percentof leaders experienced no difficulty or"a little," while that level of ease wasattained only by 36 percent of laggards(Figure 13). This advantage can bevery meaningful, especially given thechallenges facing finance recruiters.In the words of one CFO: "For high-end talent there's always a war—everyone wants the best and thebrightest and that's always a challenge.As people start retiring, that's goingto be an even bigger challenge." In this context, it seems especially significant that more leaders thanlaggards described their turnover ratesas "much lower than industry average."

Furthermore, when it comes to proactively preparing for change, taking a more comprehensiveapproach has clear benefits. Morespecifically, 52 percent of leadersrated their workforce's ability to prepare and react to change either a 4 or a 5 (on a scale of 1=lowest to5=highest). In comparison, only 31percent of laggards reported the samelevel of preparedness. At the lowestlevels of preparedness, the comparisonwas just as compelling, with 29 percent of laggards describing theirfinance workforces as a 1 or 2 on thesame scale and only 6 percent ofleaders reporting the same low levelsof readiness for change (Figure 14).

The comment of one leading CFOsums up the attitude of the leaders.When asked whether or not his staff responded well to change, thisrespondent said, "In my lifespan asCFO we have changed operating models at least two or three times,changed CEOs and regimes threetimes, installed SAP in 50 countriesand several hundred legal entities,and did an IPO without much of ablip. So I would say the answer tothat question is yes."

Finally, companies that invest significantly in workforce initiativesduring transformation programsachieve a greater percentage ofexpected benefits than those thatdon't. High-investment respondentsreported better results in terms oftheir control environment; the serviceprovided by finance to the rest of theorganization; operational efficiency;and data quality, speed, and access(Figure 15). In sum, nearly 90 percent of respondents who investedin workforce initiatives during transformations reported that those programs helped achieve the transformation's full benefits(Figure 16).

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Figure 12: Percentage of respondents reporting "extreme levels of challenge"in workforce areas

Figure 13: Difficulty attracting and growing talented staff

Figure 14: Workforce proactive preparedness for change

15% 6%

6%

8% 3%

14%

10% 3%Workforce adaptability to change

Employee engagement, morale and commitment

Skills and knowledge of workforce

Organizational structure/job definition and alignment

Number or caliber of managers/leaders

LaggardsLeaders

14% 11%

22% 42%

40% 39%

6%16%

8% 3%Extremely

Very much

Somewhat

A little

Not at all

LaggardsLeaders

2%

27% 6%

40% 43%

46%31%

6%5 - Extremely high

4 - High

3 - Average

2 - Low

1 - Very low

LaggardsLeaders



Figure 15: Percentage of respondents achieving greater than two-thirds ofexpected benefits from transformation programs

Figure 16: Extent to which workforce investment helped realize the full benefit of transformation programs

Improved control environment

29%

Strengthened workforce

53%

23%

49%

Improved service

Enhanced use of technology

Increased operational efficiency

28%

47%

41% 41%44%

47%

37%

47%

Better quality, access and speed of information

Lower average investment in workforce during transformation Higher average investment in workforce during transformation

3%

37%

10%9%

41%

Extremely Very much Somewhat A little Not at all

14

While our research provides manyreasons why more comprehensiveinvestment in the finance workforce is critical, how should a CFO go aboutimplementing such an approach? Our deep experience in finance transformations is helpful in augmentingour research findings. In our years of working with the world's leadingcompanies, we have observed thatwhile those with superior financefunctions follow approaches that differ, each of those approachesincorporate the following three basicsteps: diagnosing shortfalls in currentworkforce performance, establishing a target state, and devising andimplementing a comprehensiveimprovement plan.

To be sure, these steps may seemobvious and intuitive. However, whatdistinguishes leading companies fromall others are the tools and expertisesupporting these steps. Superior tools

and expertise spell the differencebetween initiatives that have substantial, lasting business impacton the organization and those that generate merely incremental performance improvement.

Diagnosing shortfallsThe first step in transforming thefinance workforce involves diagnosingany shortfalls in the current workforceperformance. One tool that we havefound to be highly effective in suchan evaluation is the Accenture HumanCapital Development Framework.Developed by Accenture as part of its High Performance Business initiative, the framework measures the performance of a company'sworkforce along six key dimensions:

1. Leadership: Top-quality leadershipis critical to the performance offinance organizations. It focuseseffort and attention on the most

important issues, creates a climatethat attracts and retains top talent,and helps the function build strongand productive relationships with thebusiness. Accenture estimates thatbetween 15 percent and 20 percent of an organization's business performance is determined by the quality of its leadership. This estimate is born out by our experience,in which we have seen greater than20 percent productivity gains whenleaders have worked hard to developtheir own capabilities.

2. Organization structure: A focuson organization structure enablesfinance workforces to better alignwith the company's strategic direction,understand how finance roles andleading practices can be best integratedand incorporated into the function'sstructure, and develop "customizations"of the basic organizational structure todeliver the specific finance capabilities

A proven approach to makingthe most of investments inthe finance workforce

required by the organization. Adetailed study of leading financeorganizations has revealed that optimal organization design contributes to lower cost, increasedeffectiveness, and improved focus on higher value-added activities.

3. Talent management: By employinggood talent management practices, anorganization ensures that its workforceis always "fit for purpose." Best of all, even when this is not the case,organizations with strong talent management know exactly where the fit is off and can take actionquickly. Our experience shows thatconscientious talent management can be a source of real competitiveadvantage. For example, the differencebetween a "right" and a slightly "out of balance" talent pool can mean as much as 15 percent to 20percent of the total labor cost for the finance organization.

4. Workforce performance: Byfocusing on driving high levels ofworkforce performance through on-demand, role-based informationdelivery to employees, organizationshave achieved productivity increasesof up to 20 percent. Furthermore, skill gaps in the workforce have beenfound to be an important reason forproject failure; by bridging these gaps, organizations have been able to significantly reduce these failures.And by better leveraging high performers while elevating the performance of "average" workers,finance executives can achieve dramatic productivity increases thatbenefit every level of the organization.

5. Employee engagement: A recentGallup study showed that 20.6 millionemployees or 15 percent of the U.S.workforce are actively disengaged,

leading to lower productivity, low talent retention and high absenteeism1.Gallup estimates that the lower productivity of actively disengagedworkers costs the U.S. economy $328billion. On the other hand, there is little that can stop a motivated work-force on a mission, equipped with allthe tools and knowledge it needs tocomplete that mission. By focusing on employee engagement, financeexecutives ensure that their workforcesachieve that level of motivation, andare not distracted by organizationalchanges or career frustrations.

6. Ability to change: The ability tochange is critical to addressing large,potentially disruptive events such asacquisitions, internal re-organizationsor market re-positionings. Conversely,in the absence of a change-ready culture, finance organizations are leftwith slow and ineffective reactions tothe changing business environment,leaving workforces in disarray andincapable of supporting continuousimprovements and progress. Researchby Change Track reveals that only one in nine workgroups is able toeffectively manage change—meaningmillions of business dollars are wastedeach year2. In contrast, the creation ofa change-ready culture ensures thatthe finance organization is capable of implementing, owning, developing,and sustaining the process and structural changes required for sustained high performance.

Using the Accenture framework, acompany begins diagnosis of shortfallsin each of these areas with a comprehensive data collectionprocess. This process includes surveys,focus groups and in-depth interviewswith a wide range of stakeholders togain insights on the current state ofthe function, the function's desired

capabilities and how they differ fromexisting capabilities, and how thefunction can best support the overallgoals of the organization. Also duringthis stage, a company establishes andsupports clear, objective performancemetrics that will allow it to analyzethe return on any workforce investments.

Establishing targetsOnce data is collected, it is synthesized,organized and analyzed to provide aclear, actionable picture of wheregaps exist within each of the sixdimensions just discussed. At thispoint, it should become clear wherethe finance workforce falls short compared with industry benchmarks,key competitors and peer companies,and the needs and desires expressedby stakeholders. Armed with such a comprehensive view of capabilitygaps, the organization can prioritizeeach opportunity for improvement interms of its value to the enterprise.Once approved by all key stakeholders,this priority list enables the organizationto develop high-level recommendationsfor workforce improvement.

To aid the efforts in this step andthrough its experience working withmany companies, Accenture hasdeveloped the Accenture FinanceWorkforce Maturity Model (see Figure17). This tool allows a company tomake a point-by-point comparison ofactual finance performance againstindustry benchmarks, as well as assessthe function in comparison to the capabilities required to achieve both the overall company strategy and the finance function's specific goals.

Devising and implementing the planThe final step is generating andimplementing a detailed action planfor improving each of the workforce

1Source: Gallup Management Journal 20062Source: ChangeTrack Research, Breaking the Cost Cutting Cycle, Insight CT-0205


16

dimensions under focus. This plan shouldclassify improvement opportunitiesinto quick wins and long-term goals,and should be explicit about thedependencies between each—with the ultimate goal being to developsuperior capabilities in each of the six workforce dimensions.

It's important to note here that "comprehensive and holistic" investment in the workforce does not necessarily mean addressing allsix workforce dimensions simultaneously.In some cases, a company mayalready have sufficient capabilities in some areas and needs to focus onthe two or three in which it is lacking.In other cases, a company could use more investment across all sixdimensions, but its business model or strategy requires emphasis on oneor two that would have a substantial,immediate payback.

For example, as part of its "AchievingFinance and Controlling Excellence"agenda, Siemens decided it needed to focus on workforce performance—a major portion of which is learning.The company created and deployed asustainable accounting training programsupported by a Web-based-trainingtechnology, with the goals being tofoster an understanding of intermediateand expert Siemens-specific account-ing knowledge; provide fast updatesfor new accounting topics; enableusage of accounting and expertknowledge; evaluate individual training needs; and enhance decentralized accounting quality.

Two other companies we looked at,however, are looking at the challengemore broadly and addressing severaldimensions of the finance workforce.One of these, a multibillion dollarglobal high-tech company, embarked

on an initiative to transform theentire finance function—an effort thatincluded a new finance organizationstructure, clear divisions of responsibility,global shared services, a holisticfinance training program, and supportingchange management. The other company, Halliburton, has committedto building a world-class financeorganization by focusing on leader-ship development, talent management(with an emphasis on recruiting andmaking finance a more rewardingcareer at Halliburton), culture changeand workforce performance, andknowledge sharing.

The point is that there is no "rightway" to develop critical finance workforce capabilities, nor does onecapability necessarily take precedence.Rather, the type and scope ofimprovement efforts should be dictated explicitly by the needs of the business.

Source: Accenture

Figure 17: Accenture's workforce maturity model (illustrative)

Leadership

Organization

Talent management & HC efficiency

Employee engagement

Ability to change

Workforce performance

Human capital capabilities

Ad-hoc Basic Proactive Progressive Pioneering

Actual capabilityTarget capability


In a profession characterized byratios, equations, and spreadsheets,the human element retains considerableimportance. Multiple Accentureresearch studies, coupled with ourdeep experience working with companiesthat have achieved high performancewith the help of a superior financefunction, have revealed that thehuman element is a linchpin forachieving economic value. This bodyof knowledge makes it irrefutable thatthose companies that take a morecomprehensive, holistic approach todeveloping their finance workforceachieve higher levels of performancethan those that do not.

Clearly, it is critical that workforceenhancements assume the same level of priority among CFOs currentlyenjoyed by technology and processenhancements. While technology andprocesses inevitably become obsoleteas a function of time and progress,the workforce is intelligent, dynamic,and able to be upgraded to a nearlyunlimited degree. Without a systematicapproach, however, knowing howmuch to invest and where to spend it can be akin to finding the proverbialneedle in a haystack. Furthermore,today's finance function faces a hostof unprecedented demands on itstime, attention and expertise, increasingthe pressure to perform at high levels.

Guided by tools and techniques suchas the Accenture Human CapitalDevelopment Framework and FinanceWorkforce Maturity Model, financeleaders can make workforce investmentsthat address a wider range of challenges and generate substantiallyhigher returns. With the right peoplein place and the right initiatives supporting their growth and develop-ment, these executives can make substantial progress toward creating a finance driven value-centered culture of the finance organizationand, in the process, take major stridestoward the achievement of high performance in the overall enterprise.

The secret to a successfulfinance function: people

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About theresearchThree recently conducted Accentureresearch efforts are referenced in this paper, each of which focused on important aspects of workforceperformance and managing humancapital in today's dynamic environment.

The Accenture High-PerformanceWorkforce Study is conducted approximately every 18 months to measure workforce managementtrends among executives in large corporations around the world. The2006 edition included a telephonesurvey of more than 250 senior executives (including CFOs) acrossseven broad industry segments in the United States, United Kingdom,France, Germany, Spain and Australia.

Accenture's 2006 Investment in theFinance Workforce survey was a globalmulti-industry Web-based polling of

118 CFOs or their direct reports conducted over a two-month span.Respondents were distributed acrossthe world's leading companies frommore than 12 industries. Survey findingswith finance executives at leadingglobal organizations were bolstered by in depth interviews.

Accenture's Finance and Performance Management Mastery and the HighPerformance Business report examinesthe relationship between financemastery and high performance.Throughout the report, which includesa benchmark analysis in collaborationwith the Hackett Group and morethan 40 CFO interviews, Accentureempirically demonstrates the uniquerole that finance and performancemanagement capabilities play forcompanies aspiring to become high-performance businesses.

About AccentureAccenture is a global managementconsulting, technology services andoutsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenturecollaborates with its clients to helpthem become high-performance businesses and governments. Withdeep industry and business processexpertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture canmobilize the right people, skills andtechnologies to help clients improvetheir performance. With approximately146,000 people in 49 countries, thecompany generated net revenues ofUS$16.65 billion for the fiscal yearended Aug. 31, 2006. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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About the authorsRodney Bergman is an executive partner in the Accenture HumanPerformance service line. He serves as the lead for the HumanPerformance practice in Canada andas the global lead for Accenture'shuman performance offerings inFinance Workforce Transformationand Organization Design. Rodney specializes in design and developmentof human performance solutions andstrategies and has deep expertise inorganization design and development.With over 17 years of experience, hehas led shared services projects forfinance and HR functions as well asnumerous transformation projects forfinance functions in the high tech,communications and media industries.

Chris Rutledge is an executive partner in the Accenture Finance & Performance Management serviceline. Chris has responsibility for managing our finance strategy practice. Since joining Accenture,Chris has focused on global finance transformational efforts across industries and functional areas. He has expertise in finance visioningand strategy, finance and accountingshared services and outsourcing, andenterprise performance management.

Rosanne Williams is a partner in theAccenture Finance & PerformanceManagement service line. Ms.Williams has over 15 years experienceconsulting in the finance and performance management area and is currently the Director ofResearch and Innovation for the service line.

For further information on this research or the Accenture Finance & PerformanceManagement service line, pleasevisit www.accenture.com/fpm or contact us at [email protected].