Human capital management
Stephen Heathcote addresses the audience
The harmonisation of accounting standards, the introduction of continuing education
for accountants, and the increase in financial shared service operations are
all changes which are impacting upon South East Asia 's finance professionals.
This is echoed on a global scale. For example, through research commissioned
in March 2005, ACCA found an increasing emphasis being placed on finance professionals
to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. The result is that human capital
management is increasingly being placed closer to the forefront of organisational
strategy.
The key challenge for business leaders in South East Asia has been how to develop financial operational and people policies that derive maximum value from the finance function – resulting in a positive impact on the organisation's bottom line.
ACCA has responded to the increasing interest being generated in this area by holding a series of events for employers in South East Asia, designed to meet the specific issues facing employers in the region. Events took place in China, Malaysia, and Singapore throughout November and were well received; the activity culminated in a headline one-day conference - Managing Human Capital: Realising Value through Finance Professionals - in Shanghai on 22 November 2005. Each of these events, were successful in bringing together finance and human resources professionals to explore and address issues of mutual interest. Well over 300 senior professionals across the region participated, representing a wide variety of organisations which included the Big Four accounting firms, Microsoft, CapGemini, Accenture, and BP.
The feedback from employers is that they are increasingly looking for innovative ways to support their finance professionals. Organisations are looking to examine and enhance their human capital practices, which results in pushing learning and development forward as a strategic imperative. Such enhancement of workplace practices not only benefits the reputation of an employer, but also the professionals who work for that employer. The consensus is that, in any organisation, it is essential for finance and HR functions to work closely together in order to drive forward these changes working together to set coherent and effective development policies.
As a global professional accountancy organisation, ACCA is well placed to identify and track development trends and issues on a global basis, and to inform and support employers and professionals in the learning and development arena. Stephen Heathcote, ACCA director of training and development, spoke to employers at the Shanghai conference about how ACCA can use its position to help ensure finance professionals are supported in today's challenging environment, and was impressed with how receptive attendees at the event were to finding ways of increasing support in this area.
'We have found that organisations are actively looking for ways to support their finance professionals. This is very positive and it was clear that this is moving firmly on the agenda − not just in South East Asia but around the world. There is no doubt that employers gain much from improving learning and development opportunities for their finance professionals. They can improve their performance, increase their bottom line and, ultimately, attract and retain the top talent. ACCA has every intention of keeping human capital management issues in the focus over the coming year, and continuing to support employers in this key area'.