CIMA where business + finance meet
CIMA-trained Deloitte consultants improve win rates & retention ‘Our people are able to understand the [client] business, baseline its financial performance, fully understand its cost base and then architect and direct our teams to deliver transformation. That is exactly what we are trying to build with our finance team. And the baseline qualification and the technical expertise that they derive from their CIMA qualification allows them to do everything we need them to do.’
Justin Watson Head of Finance Talent Deloitte The market for financial consultancy services has proved resilient over the past year, bucking recessionary trends. However strong demand within a people-led sector brings its own pressures. Consultancies must be able to find, deploy – and retain - suitably qualified individuals if they are to maintain credibility among their client base and perform to the high standards demanded by clients. Justin Watson, Head of Finance Talent at Deloitte, says CIMA-qualified individuals have a strong understanding of finance issues and financial modelling, which means they can provide the crucial analytical skills required to understand opportunities in finance, and assess the cost base of client companies. That analysis, in turn, helps Deloitte transform businesses by reducing costs and enhancing profitability. Over the past 18 months, for instance, Deloitte consultants have worked with a FMCG company, with large teams of consultants working across the global business. ‘At the core of that has been a finance team from our practice, who have been modelling the cost base
of the business and facilitating all our transformation teams to understand where the best value is to transform performance and financial value of the business is.’ The work is estimated to have added $1bn to the client’s bottom line over the 18-month period. Consultancies use ‘win-rates’ as a key measure of how well they are performing. The CIMA qualification gives a measure of reassurance to prospective clients, says Watson. ‘If we are in a sales situation, people introduce themselves as being CIMA-qualified and that helps establish credibility, especially when we are meeting CFOs and controllers,’ he says. Offering support for CIMA training at Deloitte has also helped him retain key individuals. ‘Attrition is a major issue. If you look across the industry as a whole, you would say on average it is somewhere around 15-20% a year in consulting. No one who has been on our CIMA programme has left us in the last two years.’
CIMA value: Deloitte $1bn added to the bottom line of a global FMCG client over an 18-month period. Attrition rate among Deloitte Finance consultants lowered from an industry average of 15-20% to less than 5% by offering support for CIMA training. T. +44 (0)20 8849 2251 E. cima.contact@cimaglobal.com www.cimaglobal.com