Upskilling is as important to the talent picture as hiring

The growth of automation, outsourcing, and AI, as well as the expansion of the CFO’s role, have changed the conversation around finance talent, according to Tom Hood, EVP of business growth and engagement at the AICPA. Upskilling, he said, has joined hiring and retention as a key concern.

Hood will be speaking on talent at CFO Brew’s next live event, Finance Reimagined: The Tech and Talent of Tomorrow on March 11. He’ll be sharing insights from the Future of Finance Leadership Advisory Group, a group of finance leaders including CFOs from Fortune 500 companies, who get together several times a year to discuss issues around the future of the workforce and digital transformation. Here are a few of his findings:

The geometry of the accounting profession is changing. Traditionally, the accounting profession has resembled a pyramid, with many entry-level staff at the bottom tapering to a few leaders at the top, Hood said. But today, outsourcing and automation are “clipping off both corners of the pyramid,” he said, and there’s less need for a large entry-level workforce. Now, it’s become more important to upskill accountants as they progress.

Finance pros need “T-shaped” skill sets. Upskilling initiatives can focus on creating professionals with “T-shaped” skill sets, Hood said, with a base of deep technical accounting knowledge (the long upright bar of the T) and a plethora of what he calls “boundary-crossing skills” (the horizontal bar of the T). This latter group of skills, which can include “communication and storytelling, collaboration, strategic and critical thinking” help financial staff “create value for the organization by working as business partners with the other parts of the business,” Hood said.

Automation isn’t necessarily going to replace jobs. “Almost none” of the executives in the Future of Finance group are “automating to get rid of people,” Hood said. Instead, he said, they’re automating work in order to help staff “move up to higher value finance functions, creating more value.” That said, he added, “at the same time they would be looking at reducing future workforce needs.”