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Surveying nearly 3,500 ACCA members, with participants drawn from 116 countries, the research report Paths to the top – best practice leadership development for finance professionals confirms that finance leaders around the world are now expected to demonstrate higher levels of accountability and control than ever before, together with delivering financial value.

These pressures mean that organisations must ensure excellent development programmes are provided for finance professionals who are needed for the business to operate in an increasingly scrutinised and competitive global environment.

But findings also reveal that nearly 70 per cent of respondents said there was an element of luck in their career progression and development – simply being in the right place at the right time.

Significant barriers 

Tony Osude, head of learning and development at ACCA, says: "For an empirically trained profession, accountants are usually sceptical of concepts such as luck in the world of business. This particular finding suggests that being identified for and being enrolled into leadership development programmes is less systematic than might have been thought."

When asked about challenges for the future, respondents said both large and small organisations must remove the significant barriers to leadership development, which include low levels of investment in training and development, (60 per cent); a perception amongst respondents of poor HR capability in leadership development (60 per cent) and lack of top level sponsorship and buy-in (51 per cent).

The report also says that generic leadership programmes alone are unsuitable for finance leadership training, which needs its own methodology and content complemented by generic programmes.

Mr Osude adds: "The report identifies the rise of the new finance leader in a global economy. As stakeholder expectations continue to grow, accountants need to become ‘über-leaders’ – people who exhibit a whole host of behaviours from being able to challenge the status quo to being optimistic and positive to demonstrating a clear vision. And because of these stakeholder expectations, the roles of the finance leader and the CEO are increasingly overlapping and complementing one another."

Other key findings from the research reveal that 96 per cent of respondents believe the finance leader is responsible for ensuring regulatory requirements are upheld, while 93 per cent believe the role is about delivering financial value. Pressure and expectations are high, with 90 per cent of respondents linked having a successful finance leader as critical for organisational success.

Key stakeholders 

Finance leaders are also expected, like the CEO, to shape business strategy (92 per cent) and develop people (92 per cent). Respondents said that external stakeholders are driving expectations of the finance leader, identifying these key stakeholders as shareholders (82 per cent), market analysts (57 per cent), and lastly clients at (47 per cent).

Immediate and pressing challenges for the finance leader are sustainability management and building an ethical culture, while the top three challenges for now and in five years time are to deliver financial value, uphold regulatory requirements and shape business strategy.

To deal with these challenges, respondents identified four vital attributes and skills being necessary to cope - strategic business insight (97 per cent); regulatory knowledge (91 per cent); change management (85 per cent) and lastly technical expertise (75 per cent).

Osude adds that finance leaders need to be "a sort of CEO plus".

"They have to exhibit similar values as the CEO whilst ensuring the internal and external credibility and sustainability of the business. With key external stakeholders driving expectations and being more demanding, professional life for the finance leader is becoming tougher with this added scrutiny."

Osude concludes: "The findings reaffirm the importance of the finance leaders’ role and the higher degree of accountability and control they have in delivering financial value and ensuring the organisation remains compliant. But the role will and must change, expanding in breadth and visibility. This change will have a knock-on effect of encouraging an evolution in the CEO role."

"Organisations must see finance leadership development as a specialist stream. Training and development should be constructed accordingly, albeit integrated or run alongside general leadership programmes. Employers must have good succession plans in place - given the importance of the finance role, now and in the future, this is an investment organisations cannot leave to chance, luck or simple good fortune."

Related links

• ACCA
• Paths to the Top - Best practice leadership development for finance professionals (full report)