CFOs face a growing talent crisis. Fewer people are choosing to pursue a career as an accountant, while a steady wave of retirements have resulted in a widening talent gap that means finance and tax teams are more stretched than ever and unable to have the impact that the business demands.
“There has been a shift in the perception of what a good career looks like,” says Stuart Lang, EY EMEIA tax managed services leader. “In the past, that might have been working in finance long enough to build a strong business foundation. Whereas today younger people are early on exploring new careers outside of accounting as technology transforms business.”
This is causing challenges for businesses. Seventy percent of respondents in the EY 2024 Tax and Finance Operations Survey said that fewer accountants entering the profession will either moderately or significantly hamper the performance of tax and finance functions. One solution is tapping into alternative hiring pools, where 62% of respondents said they are pursuing professionals without a college or university degree. Finance teams are also increasingly hiring data scientists and tax technology specialists.
“We’re finding that the tax function of yesterday is not the tax function of tomorrow,” says Jill Schwieterman, EY global compliance and reporting co-leader. “Companies should pursue professionals with new skills, such as data and technology, to augment tax technical skills.”
Finance functions are facing high staff turnover and a growing skills deficit. This knowledge gap continues to widen with the intense focus on automation and its impact on experiential learning. Even if companies could hire all the accounting staff they need, the amount of new regulations globally – such as BEPS 2.0, among others – makes it harder for finance leaders to ensure their teams are properly up to speed on rule changes and other technical matters.
“This means companies need to invest in better training and development to keep employees current on new regulations, as well as re-skill existing staff to adapt to the shifting job demands,” says Ben Smith, EY global compliance and reporting co-leader. “Tax and finance functions need to shape their future talent model to be sure they have the right people with the right skills, including the ability to work with Generative AI (GenAI),” says Dave Helmer, EY global tax and finance operate leader.
As companies continue to leverage data, technology and AI, it’s increasingly important for finance and tax professionals to develop new skills. Respondents said the most important skills they need to develop in their tax functions are process improvement (43%), data management (39%), problem-solving (34%) and critical thinking (33%).
Employees are being called on to do more with less, and businesses also want tax professionals to spend more time on strategic activities than they do on routine work
To help achieve these goals and improve staff development, finance teams say the training methods that have the greatest impact are training sessions from external accounting or law firms (49%), followed by internal company rotation programmes (47%) and the provision of online learning resources (45%).
An additional challenge that finance and tax functions face amid the current talent shortage and skills gap is better managing how teams spend their time. “Employees are being called on to do more with less, and businesses also want tax professionals to spend more time on strategic activities than they do on routine work,” says Helmer.
The challenge for tax and finance professionals is that the compliance work – often the most time-consuming – still needs to be done, which means there is less time to focus on matters, such as strategic planning.
To help address this problem, businesses need to consider AI adoption and co-sourcing arrangements to free-up their teams to focus on more strategic activities. “At the moment, companies say they only spend 20% of their time on strategic matters,” says Lang. “In the future, CFOs want their employees to spend twice as much time on high-value activities.“ Using AI for routine tasks will free up professionals to focus on the strategic work that can provide valuable insight and help improve business performance, he says.
“There are lots of opportunities for the application of AI in finance and tax, such as financial modelling, tax planning and strategic reporting and analytics that will really add value,” says Lang. Co-sourcing is another option businesses should consider to ease their resource pressures and help tax professionals focus on more strategic work. More than half of respondents (59%) are considering co-sourcing as a solution. “Having a strategic operating relationship with a service provider can really help optimise your strengths and deliver more value,” says Helmer.
While AI will inevitably replace certain activities, the demand for talent will not diminish. Organisations will still need experienced tax professionals and accountants to ensure their businesses are on the front foot to address any tax and financial issues. “A broad tax technical background, coupled with deep experience and sound judgement will always be valuable,” says Schwieterman. “Automation and technology won’t eliminate the need for seasoned tax professionals.”
Companies can redirect talent to focus on more strategic work through more effective learning and development, adopting AI and considering co-sourcing with a service provider. In this way, CFOs can better address the talent crunch and help improve the overall performance of the finance and tax functions.
For more information please visit ey.com/tfosurvey
