Accounting & Finance Recruitment

Importance of accounting or finance positions in a company

The accounting and finance department and the employees who are in charge of the positions involved in this department play an important role in the management of a business or company. The main reason for this is that the finance/accounts (FA) is responsible for the management of the money or funds of the business. It is the FA team that accounts for all the financial activities and transactions of a company.

In addition to maintaining the books of accounts and preparing the final statements, the FA team is also responsible for the overall financial management. This covers areas like capital budgeting, working capital decisions, sourcing and utilisation of funds, liquidity management, repayment of loans, dividend decisions, audits, compliance, etc.

From simple to complex, the FA team carries out all the financial assessments and projections. This covers budgeting, cost analysis, assessment of the financial health of the company, analysis of financial performance, managing investments, etc.

Keeping the financial management of a company compliant with the law is another important responsibility of its FA team. This covers maintaining the books of accounts as per the accepted standards, timely filing of returns and payment of taxes and other financial liabilities, fulfilling auditing requirements, and ensuring compliance to any other rule or regulation that is required by a company to obey under the law of the land.

Competencies required for various FA positions

Within any functional department of a company also, there is a structure of roles and positions. Every position has a unique set of roles and responsibilities. To perform these duties, certain skills and competencies are required. Let us examine the competencies required for various roles and positions in the finance department of a company.

Head Level

The position that is in overall charge of the financial management of a company is considered to be the head of the finance department. In big companies, this position is also known as CFO or the Chief Financial Officer. But irrespective of what name we call this position, the person who is in charge of it is expected to possess certain essential competencies. In modern-day business, the position of CFO is no longer confined to crunching numbers. The need has shifted towards the use of advanced financial analytics, focus on disruptive technologies, people management, international finance and economics, and expertise in strategic finance. In every big decision, CFOs are expected to present the financial vision, implications, and roadmap.

Managerial Level

The finance managers in a company generally constitute the middle-level management. In this position, the roles and responsibilities include compliance with financial rules and regulations of the company, supervising adherence to financial and accounting standards at the execution level, evaluation of cash flows, analysis of financial statements, management of the financial aspects of contracts with suppliers and clients, ensure proper working of the financial systems, ensuring regulatory compliances, timely conduct of audits, etc. Employees holding managerial positions in the finance departments of companies need to exhibit competencies like commitment to the standards of the profession, technical expertise in financial management, authentic reporting, ownership leadership and communication, and negotiation and empathy.

Executive Level

The duties and responsibilities of finance and accounts executives vary from business to business. For financial institutions, the duties of FA executives involve ensuring KYC compliance, scrutinising account opening/closure forms, system entries, reporting, communication with customers and clients, applying company policies, coordination with other departmental employees in executing business processes, maintaining the books of accounts, generating and preparing reports, reconciliation, prepare invoices, update financial trackers, etc. Of course, the duties and responsibilities may be divided among the FA executives as per business and organisational requirements and the skills and expertise of the employees. The competencies required for executing these duties and responsibilities cover applied understanding of accounting and financial management, logical thinking, intellectual alertness, ability to organise work, teamwork, technical expertise in handling IT-finance software applications, experience of handling taxation and compliance formalities, integrity with work, reporting and cash management, etc.

Things to be defined before starting the recruitment process

Recruitment planning renders the hiring processes go as per the business requirements. At the end of the day, having recruitment plans and sticking to them helps businesses ensure that they hire the right people for the right job on time. In the bigger picture, it helps businesses keep their manpower requirements match the business requirements. Having a plan ensures that recruitment activities go smoothly and remain on track towards successful hiring. Without proper planning, businesses end up spending more time and money on recruitment drives.

Mentioned below are some of the essential components of recruitment planning:

•         Manpower planning report (Details of manpower requirements)
•         Job analysis report (comprising job description & job specifications)
•         Defining the ideal candidates
•         Defining the salary and benefits structures
•         Identification of recruiting pools
•         Drafting of recruitment advertisements for different channels
•         Defining the selection process
•         Place and mode of conducting tests and interviews
•         Identifying and securing the availability of selection team/interviewers
•         Setting the timelines for different recruitment activities
•         Assigning roles and responsibilities to HR and other departments
•         Post-selection activities like joining formalities, induction, and onboarding

The basic recruitment planning is generic to all functions. But some adjustments have to be made during each activity of recruitment planning. For example, in determining the salary and benefits to be offered to a finance manager, the prevailing market standards for similar businesses with similar competency requirements have to be taken into consideration.

Things you must consider during screening the candidate

Top-Level Positions

Selecting the right candidates for top-level positions in a company is one of the toughest jobs for its existing board members or senior-level management. The top-level executives deal with sensitive and confidential business information. Trust and reliability become the foremost screening criteria. Sometimes difficult questions have to be asked in conversations with the candidates. This is not with the motto to churn out confidential information of other companies but to check the integrity of a candidate towards the companies they have served before. Some candidates may flatly refuse to entertain such questions. But the reasons for asking such questions should also be made clear to the candidates after their response.

Relevant experience and technical expertise in handling relevant financial matters are the next two important criteria. It may sound generic but what is ‘relevant’ here varies from company to company. For instance, a CFO candidate with a profile of managing any family-based enterprise may not be a perfect fit for leading and managing the financial affairs of a listed company. Or a private equity firm should be looking for candidates with experience in managing IPOs and investment portfolios for companies with a good performance track record. Given the complexities involved in hiring for top-level finance positions, many companies turn to specialised finance and accounting recruiting firms.

Other traits and competencies that must be screened for are vision and financial acumen, decision-making abilities, focus on business drivers, result-orientation, leadership and presence, high-level negotiating abilities, accountability for decisions, and collaborative abilities.

Managerial Level Positions

The top-level management relies on the middle-level managers for the execution of their decisions and keeping the financial operations of the company under control. On the other hand, the finance and executives look up to and rely on the finance managers for supervision and orders. Thus, the finance managers have a two-way responsibility. From the top-level management perspective, they are expected to embrace ownership and responsibility for implementing strategies and decisions at the operational level. For this, they are required to possess applied knowledge and understanding of financial management. They also need to showcase their past experience and expertise in executing corporate decisions and maintaining the financial operations under control.

From the perspective of accounts and finance executives, the finance managers are expected to exhibit broad technical knowledge and expertise, leadership skills, and strong communication attributes. It becomes difficult for finance managers who do not possess these traits to manage teams and make team members follow their orders. When a finance manager fails to keep his team in order, s/he also struggles to execute the decisions from their superiors and properly maintain the financial affairs of the company assigned to them.

Executive Level Positions

Technical expertise with high focus and attention to detail should be considered as the top-most screening criteria for FA executives. These are the positions that are assigned the roles and responsibilities of ensuring KYC compliance, scrutinising application forms, making entries into the financial management software, timely and accurate reporting, communicating with stakeholders, applying company policies, maintaining the books of accounts, generating and preparing reports, preparing invoices, etc. These activities not only call for technical expertise in financial management but also a high degree of attention to detail. Desirable personality traits that should be sought in FA executives include integrity, teamwork, pleasant personality, and a helpful attitude.

Need Analysis

Need analysis is the step where our expert accounting and finance recruiters establish the details of the manpower requirements using a wide range of factors. The first and foremost one among these is job analysis. Job analysis includes job description (job details) and job specification (skill and competency requirements). Job description is a detailed definition of a job in terms of the duties and responsibilities involved. Job specification highlights the skill sets and competencies required to effectively and efficiently carry out the duties and responsibilities associated with each job. Furthermore, we define the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for all positions. The KPIs are the pre-established benchmarks for checking whether an employee is able to perform as per the requirements of the job or the position s/he is holding. Our experts shall also determine the right salary and benefits to be offered for each position in consideration of the internal budgets, organisational parity, individual resourcefulness, industry standards, and regulatory requirements. Other details covered are job location, working schedules, reporting authorities, requirement for interdepartmental coordination, etc. Need analysis is the foundation based on which the rest of the recruitment process is carried out.

Search

Before beginning the search for the right candidates, businesses need to know first where to look for them. This is where our expertise comes in. Based on our rich and extensive experience and exposure in the job industry, our experts already carry proven roadmaps for identifying the right talent pools for different positions of accounts and finance. After this, our team will carry out the talent search activities following established protocols. Depending on the job and position, following certain standards and strategies is important to attract the right candidates. For example, in executive search, we engage senior HR consultants to speak to the candidates. This is primarily because for executive positions the candidates involved are senior and experienced professionals.