At a glance

Understand why communication skills are becoming critical for the next generation of finance professionals.

Learn how to be a good storyteller from the professionals, including actors.

Explore case studies of storytelling across different finance roles.

Key findings

  • Employers increasingly treat storytelling as a differentiator between technically capable candidates, helping them identify candidates who stand out and will advance faster.
  • As automation and AI increasingly take over routine tasks, professionals are expected to communicate insights, influence decisions and engage stakeholders much earlier in their careers.
  • As a result, storytelling is emerging as a critical business skill, particularly for the next generation of finance and accounting professionals.
  • At the same time, the communication environment itself has changed. Social media, digital platforms, visual content and new forms of interaction have transformed how Gen Z communicates, learns and engages.
  • Becoming a good storyteller in finance is a journey of 11 steps across the preparation, delivery and reflection phase.
  • Employers who recognise and build on Gen Z's strengths, including digital fluency, adaptability and fresh perspectives, will be better positioned to develop confident communicators, stronger collaborators and future leaders.

Reshaping skills needed for success

Changing communication habits, evolving workplace expectations and the rise of automation are reshaping the skills required for professional success. 

Aimed at finance professionals, especially those in the early stages of their careers, this guide blends advice from employers with recommendations from some of India’s leading stage actors and directors to help develop communication, confidence and storytelling capabilities that are increasingly essential in today's workplace. 

Crucially for finance professionals, employers increasingly treat storytelling as a differentiator between technically capable candidates, helping them identify candidates who stand out and will advance faster. As automation and AI increasingly take over routine tasks and roles, becoming global and cross-functional, professionals are expected to communicate insights, influence decisions and engage stakeholders much earlier in their careers.

At the same time, the communication environment itself has changed. Social media, digital platforms, visual content and new forms of interaction have transformed how Gen Z communicates, learns and engages. The guide argues that employers can no longer rely on traditional approaches to talent development and must adapt to support a new generation entering the workforce.

A guide to the storytelling journey

The guide maps the storytelling journey across three phases.

Before you present, preparation is everything: 

1. Know your objective, your content, and your audience.

2. Find the core of your story; focus on the why not just the what.

3. Signpost the delivery clearly. 

From that preparation foundation, the guide moves to delivery — trusting your material, using visuals and examples to make data concrete, and reading the room rather than sticking rigidly to a script.

The final phase is reflection: asking for feedback and treating every presentation as a learning opportunity.

‘Becoming a good storyteller is a process. Building on insights from creative professionals who practice the craft of storytelling, finance experts and early stage professionals, the guide brings together 11 steps — both technical and personal — as well as insights for employers to work as co-partners in this journey,’ explains Pooja Chaudhury, policy and insights lead for India at ACCA and the guide's author.

Role of employers

The findings suggest that employers who recognise and build on Gen Z's strengths, including digital fluency, adaptability and fresh perspectives, will be better positioned to develop into confident communicators, stronger collaborators and future leaders.

The guide also captures the perspectives of early-stage finance professionals, who identified active advice from managers, confidence-building support, mentorship and opportunities to practise audience-specific communication as critical to their development.

To strengthen storytelling capability across organisations, the guide recommends creating safe spaces for practice, embedding mentorship and feedback into development programmes, using role-plays and simulations, and providing early-career professionals with greater exposure to real business conversations and presentations.

From number crunchers to storytellers forms part of ACCA's ongoing commitment to building future-ready talent across the finance profession. It includes an 11-step process on ‘how to become a good storyteller’, case studies and a self-assessment toolkit.