The ability to navigate the world of digital finance and utilise new tools to obtain and analyse findings that aid in decision making would be the key skill required of finance professionals moving forward, reports global recruitment experts Hays.
“Historically the perception of accountancy and finance functions in Mainland China has been of specialisms that are purely administrative; a backroom of bookkeeping, a department to decode profit and loss figures, but of little other consequence. However, the last few years have witnessed a maturation of Mainland China in line with business models in the U.S. and Europe, and this attitude has changed, bringing the acknowledgement that accountancy and finance departments, with greater visibility and input, can enhance a company’s value greatly,” says Sue Wei, Business Director at Hays in Shanghai.
“Such vision can be achieved alongside incoming waves of digital transformation of the sector, which was once viewed as a threat to jobs and livelihoods. By contrast, recently as tedious tasks get automated, talents are needed to oversee and manage such technology and instead be a business partner to their organisations.”
The skills/roles in demand in the Accountancy and Finance industry are as follows:
- Commercial FP&A managers
- Financial due diligence specialists
- Financial modelling experts
- Digital Finance/ System Finance
- CFO for local companies looking to IPO on global stock markets
- Tax managers
Hays also notes a rising trend of consumer businesses with e-payment or ecommerce system requiring their finance teams to understand the latest financial systems while being able to analyse data to value-add commercially.
“As a result, finance candidates who come from the BAT companies (i.e. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencents) are highly coveted because of their natively digital skillsets,” adds Sue.
“Individuals who are able to marry technical abilities with the superlative soft skills that are mandatory to develop into the newly required business partnering roles - particularly in niche areas such as compliance - are in short supply and are able to exploit this situation to receive multiple offers and counter offers.”
Other trends surrounding Accountancy and Finance in Mainland China can be viewed below:
- As Chinese businesses go global, talents with fluency in a foreign language such as English, Japanese and Korean, have an edge over their peers due to the increasing need for a collaborative environment between finance associates in transnational teams.
- With competition for high-level candidates fierce, the last 24 months have seen an upsurge in learning and development as companies put together financial management programmes and leadership rotation programmes in order to enhance the development of their own staff within Accountancy & Finance departments.
- Major MNCs have also been sponsoring MBAs and other external training programmes, under the condition of a bond with the company as further efforts to develop their existing talent.
- To keep pace with the latest technologies, many employers have been encouraging their staff to network in external accounting and finance forums.
- Particularly, CFOs are urged to promote their professional branding by giving presentations or speeches while showcasing the company’s thought leadership.
For the full Inside Story report for Accounting and Finance in Mainland China, click here.