A World of Opportunity FWT Final

7/30/2019 A World of Opportunity FWT Final

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A World of Opportunity: DrivingHigh Performance through Finance

Workforce Mastery


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Globalization, a force that hasbeen shaping the political andcommercial world for decades,

has entered a new and morecomplex phase.


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Accentures High Performance

Finance StudyHow should companies respond to

this challenge? The Accenture High

Performance Finance Study offers

some guidance. Through this

comprehensive study, Accenture

explores the most pressing challengesfacing finance executives around

the world, how they are faring in

addressing these challenges, and

the strategies and practices that

leading organizations are employing

to contribute to high performance

in the finance organization and

the enterprise at large.

In the most recent research effort

our thirdwe surveyed more than

350 finance executives in companies

representing 30 countries across

a range of more than 20 industry

sectors. To augment our survey

findings, we conducted in-depth

interviews with several finance

executives at other organizations

to explore how they were dealing

with the challenges facing todays

finance organizations. We also tapped

specialists within Accenture for their

insights on high performance fromroundtable discussions with hundreds

of finance executives and from their

work with finance organizations at

businesses and government entities

around the globe. An important part

of this study focuses on the finance

workforce, and the research has

revealed several people-related

challenges and opportunities on

the road to high performance.

Since the time we conducted themost recent installment of our

research, much has changed in the

fundamentals of the global economy.

However, what has not changed is the

fact that talent management is more

relevant than everespecially those

talent management capabilities that

enable companies to adapt to varying

market conditions.

to ensure their people continue

to pursue the right and ethical

corporate governance activities. If

they are making workforce reductions

or engaging in merger and acquisition

activities, they now are forced more

than ever to make sure they have

the right talent with the right skillsto achieve their future strategic

objectives. And while in times of

growth they may have been worried

about their aging workforce retiring,

now they must adjust to keeping an

aging workforce productive even

longer as employees stay on the job

to make up for the steep losses they

have incurred in their retirement

savings due to the global market

meltdown.

The preceding, of course, applies

to all workforces but is especially

relevant to the finance function.

As it strives to fulfill its increasingly

important role in supporting and

guiding the enterprise through

turbulent economic conditions,

the finance organization must

rethink how it attracts, retains,

develops and manages its people.

Indeed, the speed with which theglobal market changes, the volatility

imposed by multiple currencies and

electronic exchanges, and the sheer

complexity of operating on a global

scale in countries or regions of

varying degrees of development

place extraordinary demands on

an enterprises finance organization

and even more so during difficult

economic conditions. It is the finance

organization that must take the lead

in driving the enterprise toward

continuing value creation, ensuring

that the enterprise possesses the

strategies, capabilities and information

to succeed in a hypercompetitive

global market even as it continues

to control and contain costs.

Perhaps the most important factor

in accomplishing this critical goal

is the finance workforce.

It is no longer a concept exported

to the emerging world by the

traditionally dominant economies of

the West. Now, emerging economies

have fully embraced globalization and

packaged it up, sending new versions

back to the West. In this new phase

of globalization there are multiplecenters of economic power and

activitya concept Accenture

calls the multi-polar world.

Evenand especiallyduring todays

challenging times, the impact of the

multi-polar world is being felt by

companies as they struggle to navigate

the choppy waters caused by the

global economic downturn. In this

environment, companies are

positioning themselves in one of threeways, based on the degree to which

their business has been impacted by

the economy:

Survive: Some enterprises are forced

to focus primarily on short-term

actions to manage costs, cash flow

and revenues, and to ensure survival.

Reposition: Armed with a

strong balance sheet and healthy,

if reduced, revenues, other

organizations are exploring ways

to use the downturn to strengthen

competitive advantage.

Grow: The strongest companies

are actively building market share

through mergers, acquisitions and

international expansion, by adding

customers and by strengthening

their brand.

As part of their response to the

economic downturn, companiesare readjusting their workforce

priorities. With the need to reduce

organizational costs, companies are

pursuing such actions as taking a more

global approach to sourcing talent and

fundamentally redesigning processes

to separate lower-cost transactional

activities from value-added analytical

activities. They also are revisiting their

compliance and ethics activities


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actually do. For example, 56 percent

of executives believed in making

coaching and mentoring an integral

part of everyones responsibilities,

but only 37 percent enforce the

practice. Fifty-five percent of

respondents believed that leaders

should be proactive in buildingrelationships at all levels of the

organization, but only 36 percent

did so. Furthermore, encouraging

innovation and providing employees

with opportunities to share their ideas

was viewed as an important part

of the finance leadership role by

52 percent of executives, but only

38 percent said that such a culture

existed within their organization.

These are significant gaps, especiallywhen one considers that these

practices were self-defined as

important by survey respondents.

Further, when we examine a second

tier of criticality, the gaps grow even

larger. For example, while nearly half

of the respondents (49 percent)

For instance, respondents

viewed regular and meaningful

communication between employees

and their supervisors and other

finance leaders as most critical to

maintaining a workforce capable

of delivering high performance.

But such communication occurredin only 48 percent of the participating

companies. Similarly, having key

finance business processes

documented and understood by

employees was deemed critical by

58 percent of respondents, but only

44 percent said they had put it into

practice. Put simply, this means that

in over half of the companies we

surveyed, employees didnt thoroughly

understand their own businesss

processes, and in many cases a lack

of documentation would thwart any

efforts to learn about them.

Our survey revealed even larger

gaps in other areas between what

executives know to be important

and what they and their enterprises

Significant gaps in

a critical workforceOur study indicates that finance

executives are not especially

enthusiastic about the state of their

finance workforce. Only 9 percent

of finance executives surveyed were

very satisfied with the effectivenessof their organizations finance

workforce and just one-fourth said

their finance workforce possessed

deep and specialized skills.

Despite these statistics, only one-

third of finance executives said

they planned to implement new

workforce programs such as leadership

development, retention, rewards/

compensation, career development

or performance measurement in thenext two years. In fact, our survey

showed that many companies were

lagging in implementing practices

they themselves consider critical to

building and sustaining a superior

finance workforce (Figure 1).

Regular and meaningful communication occurs

A formal performance management program is in place

Key processes are documented and understood

Industry benchmarked/competitive salaries and benefitsare offered

Coaching and mentoring activities are an integral partof everyones responsibilities

Leaders proactively build relationships at all levels

Performance rewards tie to both individual successand enterprise profitability

Finance leadership encourages innovation and providesemployees with the opportunities to share ideasTraining and training materials are readily availableto employees when needed

Well-defined talent sourcing strategy is in place

Financial Planning and Analysis division reports intothe finance function

Formal finance competency model is in place definingrequired skills

Critical feedback is provided in real time and is anembedded part of the finance function culture

Well-defined talent selection process is in place

Career advancement includes rotations through variousroles within finance

Figure 1: Finance Workforce Practices: Top Tier in Importance versus Extent Employed

49%

60%48%

59%60%

58%44%

56%45%

37%56%

55%36%

44%53%

38%52%

52%43%

16%

49%55%

48%30%

33%48%

27%47%

33%47%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Employed by CompaniesSeen as Critical


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believed having a well-defined talent

sourcing strategy is critical to the

finance functions success, such a

strategy is in place in only 16 percent

of the companies surveyed. Similarly,

47 percent believed a well-defined

talent selection process is equally

important, but only 27 percent hadsuch a process in place. Companies

also said they struggle to build

competency models for the finance

function, which may explain why

so many lacked defined sourcing

or selection practices. In fact,

almost half (48 percent) of executives

surveyed thought having a formal

finance competency model that

defines required skills is important,

but just 30 percent had such a

model in place. Further, among the

42 percent who believed having a

formal finance model for different

career levels is critical, only 26

percent actually employed one.

Just as troubling are the things that

most finance executives do not view

as critical to high performance in the

global arena (Figure 2). For example,

at a time when the pressure to keep

overhead costs low is intense, we

would expect finance executives to

be more interested in using sharedservices or centers of excellence.

After all, both of these tactics enable

companies to more effectively leverage

their existing resources. In addition,

by centralizing employees via shared

services or centers of excellence,

a company reduces redundancy

and duplicate roles, thereby directly

reducing overhead costs. However,

shared services and centers of

excellence were viewed as critical

to effective finance workforce

management by just 35 percent

of respondents.

What these figures suggest is that

many companies are not only ill-

prepared to compete for talent in the

global market, they are also at risk of

making bad hiresengaging people

who may not have the skills the

finance function needs to support the

strategy and operations of the largerenterprise. In addition, the lack of

rigor and process around talent

sourcing and selection may prevent

organizations from fully surveying the

pool of available talent. Indeed, our

research shows that companies are

more likely to fill finance management

positions from within the finance

function (47 percent) than from

outside the enterprise (38 percent),

perhaps missing the best available

talent (something thats especially

critical during down times, when good

talent may be more plentiful due to

downsizing efforts by other

companies).

Employee satisfaction surveys are regularly conductedand results are shared

Finance management positions are often sourced fromwithin finance

Formal finance competency model is in place for differentcareer levels

Finance leadership provides employees the time necessaryto complete training

Individuals are encouraged to proactively seek trainingon new topics and technologies

Formal finance training program is in place witha curriculum linked to developing required skills

Role descriptions are clearly aligned with key processes

Creative benefits are offered based on strategic surveysof employees needs/desiresGlobal and local communities of practices have beenestablished and are effective at sharing knowledge

Centers of Excellence are employed for scarce skills suchas M&A work, complex deal pricing or tax strategy

Finance shared services are utilized

Organizational charts are kept up to date and areeasily accessible

A knowledge management tool has been provided (suchas a database for capturing and sharing intellectual assets)

Finance function focuses on re-training the existingfinance workforce rather than the hire/fire approach

Finance management positions are often sourced fromthe external market with experienced professionals

Finance management positions are often sourcedfrom line management

Figure 2: Finance Workforce Practices: Bottom Tier in Importance versus Extent Employed

46%49%

43%47%

42%26%

40%37%

33%40%

40%25%

28%38%

35%38%

37%34%

40%35%

35%46%

34%42%

20%32%

31%31%

38%22%

16%15%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Employed by CompaniesSeen as Critical


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Using the Accenture Talent

Management Framework to guide

discussions, the Accenture team

met with finance leaders globally

to understand the specific talent

challenges they faced in defining,

discovering, developing and deploying

talent. Issues uncovered ranged froman aging workforce and lack of

mobility in some locations to a

skills shortage and high competition

for talent in others.

To create a common platform for

discussing talent at a global level, a

finance competency model and talent

review toolkit was developed to gather

key data on the finance workforce,

analyze workforce trends and begin

to close the gap between theorganizations existing capabilities

and those of finance masters. The

competency model mapped key

skills and competencies to roles

in corporate, transactional and

business unit finance.

A resulting talent management road

map provided the strategic direction

for the CFO to begin to create a

finance workforce that could take the

organization toward high performance.Among the elements the road map

included were the following:

Leadership development plan.

Plan to embed the competency

model in all talent management

practices from recruitment to

training and performance

management.

Link between talent management

and enterprise performancemanagement and key performance

indicators.

Employee value proposition.

Guidance for evaluating and

improving employee engagement.

Career management, including

career path mapping.

Coaching and mentoring.

organization runs. Without an

adequate supply of those skills, or

without a sufficiently high-octane

level of skills, the finance engine

sputters, misfires, and struggles to

perform at a high level. To build the

type of finance workforce necessary

for the enterprise to excel in todayschallenging global environment,

companies must have a highly

effective approach to talent

management, built around four

key areas (Figure 4): defining talent

needs, discovering talent sources,

developing talents potential, and

deploying talent strategically.

Defining talent needs

A truly effective finance

workforce begins with a companyfirst understanding the business

strategy and the finance

organizations strategy, and

subsequently defining the talent

necessary to deliver on those

strategies (beginning with a clear

understanding of the talent currently

on hand). To get the greatest return

from human capital investments,

a company must know where it

has leveragewhich workforcesand areas of the business have the

greatest strategic impact and are

critical to maintaining the companys

distinctive capabilities. For most

companies todayespecially global

organizations grappling with the

challenges of the multi-polar world

the finance organization has become

a strategically important workforce

and a valuable contributor to a

companys growth and profitability.

One example of a company that

recognized the importance of the

finance function and its talent is

the enterprise created by the merger

of two large companies. The CFO

of the newly formed entity faced a

major challenge in improving both

the efficiency and effectiveness of

the new finance organization. Working

with Accenture, the CFO embarked

on an ambitious effort to define a

new strategy for finance, whichincluded developing a new global

finance talent strategy.

Achieving mastery over

finance workforce challengesIndeed, most companies in our

survey indicated they had critical

shortcomings in key finance

capabilitiesnot only in the finance

workforce as mentioned earlier,

but also more broadly acrossfinance organization management,

enterprise performance management,

finance and accounting operations,

corporate finance, and enterprise risk

management. This situation could be

preventing finance organizations from

operating at an optimal level.

However, a subset of the companies

in our survey reported having more

advanced capabilities, on average,

across the five major capabilityareas mentioned above. We call

these organizations finance masters,

and the differences between masters

and non-masters are striking. For

example, masters were much more

likely than non-masters to employ

all but one of the leading workforce

practices identified as critical by

Accenture, especially (Figure 3):

A formal finance competency

model that defines requiredfinance workforce skills.

Finance leadership that encourages

innovation and offers employees

opportunities to express and share

ideas.

A formal finance competency model

designed for different career levels.

The ready availability to employees

of training and training materials

when needed.

A knowledge management tool that

supports the capturing and sharing

of intellectual assets.

Regular conducting of employee

satisfaction surveys in which

the results are broadly shared.

Documentation and explanation

of key business processes.

In particular, masters are strongly and

tightly focused on talent management.

These organizations know that finance

skills are the fuel on which the finance

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Figure 3: Finance Workforce Practices Extent Employed: Masters versus Non-Masters

Practices Employed by Participating Companies Masters Non-Masters

Workforce performance

Global and local communities of practices (i.e., informal networks of people with shared interests) have been

established and are effective at sharing knowledge

46% 34%

A knowledge management tool has been provided (e.g. , a database for capturing and sharing intellectual assets) 42% 17%

Training and training materials are readily available to employees when needed 67% 41%

Coaching and mentoring activities are an integral part of everyones responsibilities 54% 37%

A formal performance management program is in place 62% 60%

Critical feedback is provided in real time and is an embedded part of the finance organization culture 54% 33%

Career advancement includes rotations through various roles within finance 42% 32%

Finance competencies

Formal finance competency model is in place to define required skills 62% 28%

Formal finance competency model is in place to define different career levels 58% 24%

Formal finance training program is in place with a curriculum linked to developing required skills 33% 25%

Finance organization structure

Finance shared services are utilized 67% 45%

Financial Planning and Analysis division reports to the finance organization 67% 55%

Centers of Excellence are employed for scarce skills such as merger and acquisition work, complex deal pricing

or tax strategy

37% 40%

Employee engagement

Industry benchmarked/competitive salaries and benefits are offered 71% 46%

Creative benefits are offered based on strategic surveys of employees needs/desires (flex-time, floating

holidays, tuition, childcare, etc.)

58% 33%

Employee satisfaction surveys are regularly conducted and results are shared 71% 48%

Regular and meaningful communication occurs 58% 47%

Organizational charts are kept up to date and are easily accessible 62% 40%

Leaders proactively build relationships at all levels 58% 35%

Key processes are documented and understood 67% 42%

Role descriptions are clearly aligned with key processes 50% 26%

Performance rewards tied to both individual success and enterprise profitability 58% 45%

Workforce adaptability

Individuals are encouraged to proactively seek training on new topics and technologies 62% 33%

Finance leadership encourages innovation and provides employees with the opportunities to share ideas 71% 37%

Finance organization focuses on retraining the existing finance workforce rather than the hire/fire approach 42% 29%

Finance leadership provides employees the time necessary to complete training 50% 36%

Talent management

Well-defined talent sourcing strategy is in place 42% 14%

Well-defined talent selection process is in place 54% 24%

Finance management positions are often sourced from within finance 62% 48%

Finance management positions are often sourced from line management 29% 14%

Finance management posit ions are often sourced from the external market with experienced professionals 50% 37%


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projections allow the company

to make strategic decisions about

whether to hire new employees, enlist

contractors or outsource the work. Dan

Hilbert, the Valero executive in charge

of the project feels, For the first time,

talent pipelines can now be developed

years in advance to meet specificfuture talent needs. Its pretty

revolutionary stuff.

This capability has become essential in

a multi-polar world, as organizations

everywhere need to understand global

talent markets, how to access new

talent and where they should consider

alternative talent sourcing strategies.

To maintain a future flow of talent

and to inculcate the adaptability

necessary to respond to changingmarket conditions, this understanding

must become second nature for

organizations in pursuit of high

performance.

What attrition rate am I incurring

(loss and shrinkage)?

Do I understand future demand for

skills (supply/demand balancing)?

For example, the Texas-based

oil-refining giant Valero Energy

Corporation won WorkforceManagement magazines award for

innovation in 2006 for developing

one of the first talent supply chains.1

Beginning in 2002, Valero used the

chain to reduce the time required to

fill an open position from 120 days

to 40 days, and to reduce the cost

per hire from $12,000 to $2,300.

This improvement came while the

company was growing phenomenally,

from 2,000 employees in 2000 to

about 22,000 by 2006, with annual

revenues of $75 billion.

The most significant results, however,

were strategic. The talent supply

chain now enables Valero to forecast

demand for talent three years out, at

the division and job-title level. These

Discovering talent sources

Once a company has identified

its critical talent needs, the next

challenge is to consider where that

talent could come from. Indeed,

participants in our survey indicated

one of the biggest opportunities

presented by globalization is accessto a broader base of skilled workers

at competitive costs. In Accentures

experience, leading companies

typically use a supply chain approach

to talent sourcing, asking questions

such as:

What talent do we have (inventory)?

What sources of talent supply are

available?

Should I push inventory on mysuppliers (contingent sources of

talent)?

Where should my people be located

(warehousing)?

Can I source from lower-cost

locations?

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Figure 4: A Strategic Approach to Finance Talent Management

Talent Mindset

Talent Culture

Define yourtalent needs

Discoveryour sourcesof talent

Develop yourtalent potential

Deploy yourtalentrightplace, righttime

Measure

and align


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expanded to cover employees in 84

countries; and more than 100,000

certificates have been awarded to

more than 62,000 active users.

Deploying talent strategically

Companies with leading capabilities

create the best possible match

between their employees talents

and aspirations and the needs of the

businessboth in terms of day-to-day

activities and in the longer term. Such

enterprises show imagination in giving

their people opportunities to move

within the organization, discovering

new capabilities within themselves

and gaining insights from previously

unfamiliar parts of the business.

Leaders also are adept at enabling

the sharing of knowledge and bestpractices, and in making their people

aware of how they can use their

talents to best improve the

organizations performance.

For example, a global healthcare

company has 1,200 finance people

around the world, all of whom report

to the finance organization but are

assigned to support different business

units or functions. This approach

enables finance to more effectivelysupport the business while also

allowing its finance professionals

a chance to develop their skills and

expertise along a well-defined career

path. If somebody is sitting out in

Chile, for example, explains a finance

executive at this company, hes the

finance manager there, making sure

the business in Chile is very successful.

This is his primary measure of success.

However, hes [also] part of the finance

organizationhis career, his future, his

home is in financeand the standards

and processes he works with are set

by me and the finance leadership

team. This, according to the finance

executive, addresses one of his

greatest challengesgetting everyone

in a highly decentralized organization

moving in the same direction without

tampering with well-established and

effective reporting relationshipswhile

giving the employee the ability tomove laterally or vertically within the

organization in pursuit of career

development.

comprehension to mastery) that

each employee should strive for

in relevant competency areas

and aligned each role to training

opportunities. Ultimately, the finance

organization believes the new career

development support solution may

drive higher employee satisfaction,as well as encourage greater use of

other existing career development

assets (such as training courses),

improve performance of employees

by clearly articulating and aligning

expectations, and lead to higher

retention, because employees will

have access to information that

provides greater clarity on career

opportunities and development

within the finance organization.

Siemens also has developed mastery

in developing the potential of its

talent. Working with Accenture,

the company created a sustainable

training solution that allows it

to embed, retain and increase

the competencies of its finance

workforce in a rapidly changing

business environment. The new

training approach, supported by

Web-based training technology,

covers six main training areas:

organization compliance and

management; accounting; reporting;

controlling; taxes; and treasury.

It is targeted to be used by more

than 100,000 Siemens employees

worldwide, and has helped Siemens

keep finance employees continually up

to date in the face of constant change.

The program has also allowed Siemens

to consolidate finance knowledge from

around the organization into one setof training programs, as well as to

define specific curricula appropriate

for each group in the finance

organization. Employees benefit by

gaining access to Web-based training

and a consistent knowledge base with

content updated quarterlya vast

improvement over the earlier time-

consuming classroom training with

inconsistent and partly outdated

content. The new training programhas been in place for 33 months (as

of February 2009). During that time,

the course catalog has grown to 261

hours of training in 150 courses for

73 training units; the program has

Developing talents potential

A capability for developing talent

involves ensuring that finance

employees continually acquire new

skills and capabilities and prepare

to take on new responsibilities. It

establishes a central link between

the development of employeestalents and the accomplishment

of the organizations purpose and

strategy. In that way, employee

development is both ongoing and

strategic. Although an employee

development capability embraces

specific educational or training

initiatives, leading companies achieve

much of their finance employees

essential development simply as part

of their daily work, through work roles

and special assignments, and through

relationships with others.

For example, a US-based financial

institution set out to create a

comprehensive career development

support program that would address

employee demands for greater

transparency and clarification

of role expectations and career

development opportunities. As a first

step, the banks talent management

group and Accenture conducted a

series of focus groups with senior

leaders and key finance professionals.

These focus groups enabled the team

to identify the knowledge, abilities

and backgrounds of those employees

who were successfully performing

each finance role. With Accentures

help, the bank then used these

characteristics to establish a

robust competency model and

career development architecturefor finance employees.

With the new finance competency

model in place, Accenture helped

the bank to translate key elements

of the model into a front-end career

development support tool. This tool

served as an online reference source

for finance employees, allowing them

to research information pertaining

to their role or any other role in the

organization. For example, the newmodel identified the work experiences,

education and certifications that are

prerequisites for success in particular

roles. Similarly, the model defined

levels of proficiency (from basic


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Encouragingly, a group of leading

companies have already demonstrated

mastery of the most significant

finance workforce challenges and

opportunities. These masters have

deeper skills in several key aspects

of workforce management and in

particular lead the way when it comesto talent management. Our research

study and the insights gained from

Accentures extensive consulting

experience reveal a simple yet

compelling pattern: Masters identify

the talent they need to pursue their

strategies, innovate in the sourcing

of that talent, and then develop and

deploy talent in alignment with their

most important business goals. This

proven approach enables finance

masters to avoid jettisoning the

wrong staff in the name of cost

cutting (thus compromising their

competitive position), get the best

out of every resource they have

access to, and create the kind of

workforce necessary to accelerate

the achievement of high performance

when economic conditions ultimately

improve.

Driving high performance with

a superior finance workforceMastery of finance workforce

management issues is much more

than a nice-to-have. Our survey

results, combined with Accentures

experience with leading companies

around the world, indicate that thequality, productivity, and structure

of the finance workforce play a vital

role in the finance functions ability

to achieve its objectives and create

value for the larger enterprise.

Achieving objectives and creating

value are among the most important

cornerstones of high performance.

However, many finance organizations

in pursuit of high performance

are encountering an increasinglychallenging environment. In particular,

the forces of globalization have given

rise to aggressive new competitors,

have added complexity to the

successful management of global

organizations, and have opened

up new talent markets and sourcing

models to navigate. Add to that the

challenges associated with a global

economic downturn, and it is

not surprising that many financeexecutives struggle to make the

most of this new world.

Indeed, our research shows that

finance executives are aware they

face several important workforce-

related challenges and opportunities,

yet in many cases they are not taking

the actions they should to lead their

people to the highest possible levels

of performance. For example, when

it comes to improving communication,documenting and teaching key

business processes, mentoring

and building relationships, and

encouraging innovation, executives

participating in our research were

much more likely to recognize the

need than to be doing anything about

the problem. The same was true of

having well defined talent sourcing

and selection strategies, considered

by many to be basic capabilities for

building a superior finance workforce.

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Copyright 2009 Accenture

All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and

High Performance Delivered

are trademarks of Accenture.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management

consulting, technology services

and outsourcing company.

Combining unparalleled experience,

comprehensive capabilities across

all industries and business functions,

and extensive research on the worlds

most successful companies, Accenture

collaborates with clients to help them

become high-performance businesses

and governments. With approximately

177,000 people serving clients

in more than 120 countries, the

company generated net revenues

of US$23.39 billion for the fiscal

year ended Aug. 31, 2008. Its

home page is www.accenture.com.

About Finance &Performance ManagementThe Accenture Finance & Performance

Management service line helps clients

on their journey to high performance

by identifying critical issues relative to

the office of the CFO, setting strategic

direction and successfully delivering

innovative solutions to transform their

finance management capabilities. We

offer a range of financial consulting

services, focusing on the areas

of corporate finance, enterprise

performance management, finance

operations and risk management.

We have the breadth of experience,

global resources, superior assets

and deep knowledge and insights

to help the CFO create new forms

of value. Our extensive research,

insight and innovation, global

reach and delivery experience

have made us a worldwide leader,

serving thousands of clients everyyear, including many of the Fortune

500 companies across virtually all

industries. For more information, visit

www.accenture.com/fm or contact:

[email protected].

1Cheese, Peter; Thomas, Robert

J.; Craig, Elizabeth, The Talent

Powered Organization: Strategies

for Globalization, Talent Management

and High Performance, Kogan

Page (2007)

http://www.accenture.com/

talentpowered

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