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Skills and talent

Developing the skills of the sustainable business and finance professional

11th May 2022
Quality learning and development helps accountants become the sustainable business and finance professionals organisations and society need.

At a glance

  • Explores learning pathways for sustainable business finance professionals
  • Source training strategies to build finance sustainability expertise
  • Explore roles linking finance and sustainability for organisational impact
However, the learner population is growing, becoming more diverse, and with this requesting tailored learning and development interventions that many of the latest educational innovations support. To capture this opportunity, educators must proactively take ownership for their destiny, if not learners will look elsewhere, and whilst the demand for education is growing so is the competition.

This insight report drawing from the views of over 800 learners and L&D experts will help future members, members and especially their educators identify features and qualities of good L&D, which ACCA have termed the dimensions. These dimensions take account of the drivers for L&D evolution, including how to:

  • Incorporate the learner characteristics and needs that are becoming more diverse, in part due to the need for lifelong learning necessary for ever-evolving skills requirements and longer working lives
  • Accommodate the educational trends associated with
    • data, digital including AI and gamification
    • personalisation, communities and personalised communities
    • formal, non-formal and informal learning
  • Account for the main factors impacting the education business model
    • Digital and data innovations
    • Economic opportunities
    • Regulation impacting education and the profession
    • Integrated economic, social and financial sustainability

Key recommendations

Learners should seek the six dimensions in their L&D programmes and educators should apply them when developing, implementing and monitoring their strategies.

The dimensions of good L&D programmes:

Relevance

  • Meeting learner and stakeholder needs

Motivation

  • Driving the achievement of the learning purpose and supporting lifelong learning

Digital and data

  • Supporting the development of L&D strategy and its implementation across content, production, delivery and monitoring

Reliability

  • Delivering learning outcomes that are trusted irrespective of different learning approaches for a given capability or learner

Person and people

  • Placing learners and their tutors at the heart of learning and its approach, at an individual, cohort and community level

Sustainability

  • Business models employ an integrated approach to environmental, social and financial matters

The learner population is growing, becoming more diverse and, with this, requesting tailored learning and development interventions that many of the latest educational innovations support.

Alan Hatfield

Executive Director, ACCA

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