FRED BAYR: Finance change management vacancies are a nightmare

10 February 2011

2 minute read

FRED BAYR: Finance change management vacancies are a nightmare

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.

AUTHORFred Bayr

Insider Comment

le
leaneu
27 March 2012
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.
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Bu
Buddy
23 June 2011
Wheoevr wrote this, you know how to make a good article.
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SA
SAP FICO
6 June 2011
Uh huh. So how do I become a finance change manager?
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a.
a.hinge
14 March 2011
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
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Wi
Wizard of EC1
11 February 2011
.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.
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