By Daniel Hunter
As finance teams across the UK continue to experience skills shortages, new research from leading recruitment specialist Robert Half UK, shows that more than a third (35%) of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are concerned about the lack of time their teams have to complete work and projects.
The research, carried out among 200 finance directors across UK businesses, shows a quarter (24%) believe that skills shortages exist within their teams and that employees lack the commercial acumen necessary to carry out tasks effectively.
The findings show that many CFOs are turning towards temporary or interim staff to complete important tasks and offer new skills to the business. Indeed, more than one in five (21%) CFOs cite a lack of permanent employees to complete work and projects.
CFOs themselves are being placed under intense pressure to improve the perceived value and performance of the business, at a time when it is already difficult to attract and retain high quality finance staff. To help facilitate this ‘skills gap’, three in 10 (31%) CFOs report that they have either ‘somewhat’ or ‘significantly’ increased the number of interim and temporary staff in their department compared to three years ago.
“The role of the CFO is vitally important as they are increasingly required to provide strategic guidance and commercial leadership in addition to traditional financial management and accounting," Phil Sheridan, Managing Director, Robert Half UK said.
"The term ‘doing more with less’ seems to be quite a common phrase these days. However, when business critical tasks are being neglected due to a lack of time by finance teams, alternative measures need to be explored. Whether to provide support for daily tasks or leverage niche skill sets for technical projects, many CFOs are drafting in extra support from temporary and interim workers to help fill the skills gap.”
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