Whilst there has been a significant media focus on the possible negative impacts of Brexit on the economy, there has been little said about its other, less public effects.
At Norman Broadbent, our Finance Officers Practice has seen unprecedented demand during the first half of 2019. Due to low interest rates, many clients have taken the opportunity to grow via acquisition, expanding their operations internationally. This hedges any risk of short term instability in the UK as these firms opt for global expansion in APAC, America, and the Nordics.
For SMEs with a UK focus, economic instability has seen many look inward to ascertain how they can become more agile and competitive to survive. This has resulted in greater cost control and cash management. In addition, the importance of real time information enabling better/more informed decisions via fast and effective data analytics is firmly at the fore. With many businesses plagued by years of under investment in back office or ERP systems, companies are now scrambling to put in place the necessary infrastructure to meet their increasingly complex needs.
Where is the demand?
A recent trend of note has been finance professionals moving from FP&A/Analytics roles to Commercial Finance Director positions. This has been down to a demand/supply imbalance. Clients have often commented that their finance teams are highly competent in back office controls and processes, however, feel the gap between the CFO and their direct reports has widened in terms of their capability to drive commercial value or insight.
Over the last two months we have seen a staggering 54% of the roles we have delivered are due to the need for strategic gap management. These have typically been in areas such as Divisional Financial Director and Group Financial Controller level. The prerequisite for these appointment has been a balance between commercial acumen and technical competency.
Clients are increasingly probing and asking how their recruitment partners - when supporting permanent hires - can validate and quantify a candidate’s ability to add value. “How do I know I am securing the best resource if the candidate has served significant tenure in only a couple of organisations … does the recruiter really know what ‘good looks like’? … What if it goes wrong – permanent hires can be difficult to unwind.” Interim Management is often the answer to meeting short term, business critical needs as it enables immediate value to be added to the Board. Upskilling the current workforce by using an Interim for mentoring, for example, has been well received in this context, reassuring the workplace that there is no threat to their positions.
Treasury and cash management assignments accounted for 33% of the positions we filled in the first half of this year. This has been a major focus for many organisations, in both the AIM and FTSE 250 PLC groupings. The need for Boards to see an improvement in the quality of their Board Reports (including dashboards) has never been more relevant. Objectives for engaging Interim Treasurers vary from:
- Reviewing a Client’s current financial position both UK and internationally
- Implementing a Treasury Management System enabling greater visibility
- Negotiating with banking providers and businesses within their portfolio of companies