Our latest insights

Technical knowledge, digital proficiency and human relations are essential skills in our professional services careers – they’re the pillars to the modern workforce, and to thriving in an agile, increasingly technological world. But beyond technical and behavioural skills, qualifications and being entrenched in your advisory service, it’s empathy and understanding your client’s issues that elevate you as a professional. In the pursuit of specialisation, why is it important to also consider developing your industry expertise, and how can you gain it?

We’re currently experiencing a veritable shopping list of headwinds – inflation, interest rates, labour costs, fuel prices, and supply chain challenges – applying pressure on businesses across all industries. The need to balance cost control with sustainable growth is a fine needle to thread, and not all businesses and costs are created equal. With so many cost control levers to pull, as a CFO, where do you begin?

Frances Carter has always been passionate about sustainability and the environment, and today she helps clients at Conservation Capital understand the importance of commercial conservation and why it is their responsibility to be corporate stewards.

Businesses rely heavily on the expertise and guidance of accountants in their start-up and early development phases. But some businesses could be costing themselves money – and stifling their potential – by staying with their current accountant. How do you know if you’ve outgrown your accountant? How do you know when there’s a mismatch between your needs and their capabilities? We’ve identified four telltale signs.

An agile, efficient and forward-looking finance function is central to business growth and success. It therefore needs to evolve faster than the business itself. This requires ongoing investment in new technologies, processes and skillsets in the finance function to ensure it’s well positioned to spearhead business efficiency and value creation

Whether you’re eyeing off the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role in your current organisation or elsewhere, the intel from CEO, CFO and industry surveys suggests the path from financial controller to CFO is more of a zigzag than a straight line. So what skillsets are organisations looking for in a modern CFO, and do you have them? We’ve put together some advice to take you from CFO-in-waiting to the top job.

Whether you’ve just secured the coveted role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or you’re on the cusp of becoming one, one thing’s for sure: you’re embarking on a high-stakes, high pressure role.