Spring 2008 issue of Horizons

GENERAL TOPICS

Got Talent? If you are struggling to find top finance and accounting talent, you are in good company. Attracting and retaining talent continues to be a leading management issue facing all forms of entities – from banks to accounting firms, from small private to large public enterprises, from not- for-profits to government organizations. The competition for talent is fiercer than ever before, and there is no end in sight. The question is: How do you position your organization to win this battle? Uncovering strategies to forge this war on talent must begin by understanding the underlying issues, and there are a number of them. Demand is at an all-time high due to a perfect storm of economic conditions, demographics and increased regulation.

Although the subprime mortgage crisis is calling into question the current economic stability, the unemployment rates are still relatively low and have been for a number of years. In other words, there is an overall shortage of talent in the marketplace, and the shortage of finance and accounting professionals is much more extreme given some additional complicating factors. The supply of available talent is scarce at all levels of experience. It is the most experienced talent that is most troublesome. More finance and accounting professionals will retire in the next 10 years than in the last three decades combined. We will lose a generation of the workforce that not only has a wealth of knowledge, but also represents a generation of career-minded, loyal employees. This shift occurs at the same time a new generation, generation Y, is entering the workforce. This new generation’s free agent mentality will indubitably complicate the talent issue, as they are much more prone to change employers multiple times over the course of their careers.

9 u spring 2008 issue