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Highlights from ACCA's second conference series

Attended by employers and key speakers from business, the conference series was launched in Limerick, Ireland, at the end of last year, and was then followed by events in Kuala Lumpur, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Among the subjects discussed at the events were the difficulties posed by skills gaps in the profession and the short supply of qualified finance professionals. This, it was said, had resulted in the need for employers to invest more in their human capital. ACCA's conference series helped employers to engage with this key issue, and to develop new perspectives and new solutions. The events attracted CEOs, CFOs, HR directors and other senior finance and HR representatives interested in developing their human capital and furthering their understanding of how to derive maximum value from their finance functions.

The highlights

In Ireland, the first conference in the series focused on an area of significant local, and increasingly international, relevance - financial shared service centres. The event brought together over 50 delegates from 20 companies. They had the opportunity to listen to a key speech delivered by Marian Corcoran, a partner at Accenture (Dublin), on the role of shared services in creating high performing finance functions. The speakers at the event emphasised the importance of attracting, developing and retaining key finance staff at all levels to cope with the increasing trend towards placing more finance activities within shared environments.

Over in Kuala Lumpur, a two-day workshop was organised with several high-profile companies, including BP, Malaysian Airlines, GE, Shell and Hong Leong Bank. The workshop focused on the key challenges of performance management, retention and development facing employers in Malaysia.

Next in the conference series was London. Held at the newly built Arsenal Emirates Stadium, the event was attended by Jill Robinson, head of finance business management at Barclays Bank, who spoke about Barclays' measures for identifying and recruiting finance talent. The importance and the challenge in defining talent, plus the methodology for identifying individuals when developing an effective talent management programme, were matters of key interest to the delegates. Meanwhile, in Singapore, Khusi Ram, CFO of Lucent Technologies, presented his view of recruitment and talent management in the finance profession. He predicted that the role of the finance function would change from the current position - where much time is spent on transaction processing  - to a time when most transactional-based activities would be outsourced. This, he said, would allow finance functions to concentrate on decision-making and leadership of the organisation - a view supported by ACCA's Insight series research - The finance professional in 2020. Singapore Human Resources Institute council member, Bernard Yeo, also spoke at the Singapore conference on the matter of measuring return on human capital.

In Shanghai, ACCA unveiled the results of its recent survey in the region on talent management in the finance profession, and also promoted a newly created best practice framework for talent management of finance professionals. In addition, Rosalind Tan, director - management development finance, Philips (Asia Pacific region), spoke to delegates about Philips's approach to developing leaders, and managing talent and succession planning in the finance function. She indicated that much of Phillips's success in its approach was as a result of executive buy-in to their management development process.

Finally, Hong Kong's conference focused on the role of finance professionals in mergers and acquisitions. A keynote address delivered by Daniel Leung, regional finance director for DuPont, cited the organisation as a case study example of this. He spoke on the increasing role that finance professionals play in the financial and operational aspects of mergers and acquisitions. The address was followed by a lively panel discussion on solutions to effective talent management. The panellists included Kam-tong Lai, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, and Siew-Quen Thong, CFO Texon International Group (Asia Pacific). This interactive format proved very popular with the audience as it showcased tried and tested approaches that organisations use to attract, develop, motivate and retain talent.

An overview

ACCA is delighted with the number and range of organisations that participated in the conference series. Over 300 delegates representing organisations such as AXA Insurance, BP, Barclays, Black and Decker, Citigroup, Ernst & Young, Kerry Group, KPMG, Oracle, GlaxoSmithKline, Standard Chartered and HSBC attended. The events were well received and attracted excellent feedback from attendees who valued the opportunity to discuss different approaches to recruiting, developing and retaining talented employees with key finance and HR representatives from around the profession.

Following the success of the events in 2006, ACCA is planning further conferences this year - beginning in Moscow. Please e-mail the Learining and Development team at employerservices@accaglobal.com if you would like to attend or participate in future conferences, or have some thoughts on the issues that should shape the conference agenda.

From accounting link magazine