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With new Basel 3 regulations, an increasing need for lean processes and the implementation of general ledgers, every investment bank is rolling out a Finance Transformation programme. Whilst they have planned their budgets and technology requirements relatively well, they have abjectly failed to plan effectively for their permanent human capital requirements.
Surprise, surprise, therefore: most finance change vacancies are unfilled several months after opening. With demand for candidates totally eclipsing supply, the chance of hiring a finance change manager is approximate to that of the Queen poking someone on Facebook.
Banks are not necessarily accepting of this however. It therefore falls to recruiters to point out why finance change professionals are so elusive. Here’s what we’re saying:
1) Lack of foresight:
Many banks require candidates that simply don’t exist. The typical ask is for an ACA with 3 years of accounting experience and 3 years of experience as a business analyst/ project manager in finance change. If banks planned for their programmes efficiently they would have hired more graduates or newly qualified accountants in previous years to have a ready supply of internal candidates for these jobs.
2) Accountancy bias:
Whilst there’s a shortage of qualified accountants, there’s no shortage of high calibre management consultants wanting to leave practice for the banking industry. These candidates are highly experienced and intelligent, but as they don’t have the letters ACA on their CV, few banks will look at them- to their own detriment.
3) Contract led market :
Given the nature of project work, talented candidates prefer to contract. This provides more flexibility, variety and money. A permanent candidate with the requisite experience could earn 80K base; a contractor could earn 120-140K. Why would anyone accept a 40-60K salary reduction to go permanent?
The pressure is on for banks to find the right talent in time. It’s not going to happen. Investment banks’ finance functions could be heading for a catastrophic crash.
Fred Bayer is the pseudonym of a financial services recruiter working in the City of London.
They are only a nightmare because you recruiters can’t do your jobs properly. Why do you guys always blame all your problems on “the market”? You make Ed Balls look like an example of competency. I don’t know why we pay you so much. I’m going to use my lunch break to surf LinkedIn and find my own employees so I don’t have to listen to your lies anymore. Useless- NO MORE COLD CALLS!
good luck mate!
Angry hiring manager – good luck. your lack of foresight demonstrates to me no one would want to work for you or recruiter work on your behalf… idiot. No wonder they are not helping you. To tar a whole industry the way u just have is the same as ‘joe public’ tarring us bankers with the same brush…
This article is 100% correct, seriously – I am surrounded by change / project people in treasury and it sums it up perfectly.
Angry Hiring Manager – your ignorance is highly amusing. Recruiters can’t ‘create’ people to match your requirements – they are not Gods (although some like myself are pretty close.) If there is a high demand for a particular skill set, it is difficult to get good candidates – end of story. P.s The last time I made a cold call was when I headhunted your best team member – he couldn’t wait to leave, said it was something to do with his ‘out of touch’ manager………
Fred Bayr is a legend!
Hiring an accountant to do a Change role is like hiring a Dentist to perform open heart surgery.
In some circumstances an accounting qualification might come in handy. but the analysts are the ones that need a qualification, cos they are doing the donkey work. The Change manager is a leader and needs to take an overview and should really never be in the position where any technical accounting skills are needed.
A reason not mentioned is that the City treated change folks appallingly a few years ago as the crisis hit and fizzed thousands of them. They had to work, so many have left the industry to find that the grass is greener working for British Aerospace in Bristol – pay is the same or marginally less, the lifestyle is much better – so the talent pool shrunk, and other industries caught up in pay terms whilst the City was licking it’s wounds.
You can guarantee the situation will be exacerbated by whatever replaces the FSA – the new regulator will have to push out a load of compliance to justify itself and existing regulators aren’t sitting still. The only certainly is more and more change demands with recruiters trying to get a bite in a smaller talent pool.
The numb
The numbers look a bit light Fred – more like 500 per day for an analyst and 700 minimum for a change manager with most somewhere between 700 – 1,000 per day. These numbers are being paid outside banking, so a good change manager with IB experience should push over the 1,000 a day.
With a rising market, of course they will only consider contract work and with banking compensation under attack and the tax advantages ( e.g. contractors claim back from HRMC for their season ticket, permies have to pay, contractors get a daily subsistence allowance of just under 20, permies pay) – contracting is the only way to go. Also, most contractors are on the same notice period as perms – so there is no reason whatsoever to accept a perm role, in fact it would be really dumb.
.The numbers look a bit light Fred – more like 500 per day for an analyst and 700 minimum for a change manager with most somewhere between 700 – 1,000 per day. These numbers are being paid outside banking, so a good change manager with IB experience should push over the 1,000 a day.
With a rising market, of course they will only consider contract work and with banking compensation under attack and the tax advantages ( e.g. contractors claim back from HRMC for their season ticket, permies have to pay, contractors get a daily subsistence allowance of just under 20, permies pay) – contracting is the only way to go. Also, most contractors are on the same notice period as perms – so there is no reason whatsoever to accept a perm role, in fact it would be really dumb.
Fred…. Perfect …….
The trouble is that clients are seeking candidates with too much emphases on having loads of experience between 5 -10 years with between 3-5 full term implimentations as well as being Qualified Accountants, Qualified Project Managers with loads of Banking /Financial Institutions Experience.
I have been a contractor for the last 20 years and have Systems, Accounting and Reporting solutions/Change Management experience, and am intelligent enough to pick up the slight variances between systems in a matter of hours. I always provide more than the Client requires and can say that they have always been satisfied with what ever I have produced.
That saying I still have trouble getting Contracts because :
They require years of specific experience,
Guys who are younger,
Cheaper and with less experience, (which in the long run is a false economy as when it all falls down , they reqalise their mistake and come running back to those with the nowse to produce what thay really should have had in the beginning).
r
Posh
Uh huh. So how do I become a finance change manager?
Wheoevr wrote this, you know how to make a good article.
Fred, thank you for an inspirative article! It makes me react after lots of reading:-).
I suppose I can call my self financial change manager. At the moment, I’m leading lean transformation in a relatively small bank in Eastern Europe (for western standards) quite succesfully.
However, I’m not a financial expert and I don’t have strong finacial background. But, I suppose, there are some other strong points that counts, such as: business acumen, open mind, fearlessness, insatiable curiosity and strive for optimum. Finally, I believe that change managers who are excellent comunicators and motivators are best in class, no matter industry or business sector.
I hope you’ll find what you and your partners are looking for.