With accounting talent in high demand among practices and businesses, leaders should be asking themselves how they can prevent the inevitable employee jump to a new job.

A tried-and-true method for leaders who are worried about employee attrition is to outline a game plan that centres on developing an employee's professional skills.

Learning linked to employee satisfaction

Investing in learning can increase the morale and confidence of employees as well as ensure your workforce is set up with the right skills for the future.

Our recent member remuneration survey found that 68% of members under 29 years valued learning and development as an important factor beyond remuneration.

As a team leader and Senior Financial Accountant at QIC, Christie Skillington CA says this trend shows the importance of prioritising learning as part of your strategy.

“Current talent management trends have reaffirmed QIC’s ongoing prioritisation of learning and development not only within the lens of our people and culture strategy, but also throughout our wider organisational strategy,” said Skillington.

The bottom line grows

As well as addressing your talent dilemma, focusing on learning is also just plain good business. A report from Deakin University and Deloitte showed every $1 invested in learning and development translates to an additional $4.70 in business revenue per employee on average.

"An ongoing commitment to learning and development provides a tangible demonstration of how a company values the engagement and growth of its people."

Businesses also expected that the amount of training they will deliver to employees will increase by 19% on average in 2022 this year compared to pre-COVID levels.

The financial benefits of investing in your team are being realised as a necessary step to ensure your business is not falling behind with the future state of work. Australia’s Digital Economy Strategy 2030 notes the country vaulted five years forward in both consumer and business digital adoption in just two months of the pandemic. This begs the question as to whether employees’ learning has kept pace.

“An ongoing commitment to learning and development provides a tangible demonstration of how a company values the engagement and growth of its people, seeks to continually improve itself as an enterprise, and invests in both the organisation and people’s short term needs and long term strategy,” said Skillington.

Where to find learning opportunities

The key is to ensure you’re equipping your finance team with skills that are future-proof and can’t be easily automated.

“As the diversity and scope of challenges and opportunities our finance teams manage continues to grow, adaptability, collaboration, data analysis, and critical thinking will continue to be priority skills for the team,” said Skillington.

Designed with accounting and finance professionals in mind, education experts at CA ANZ have specially curated courses that focus on these in-demand skills including communication, leadership, advisory and data analytics.