Next stop...?

Sarah Perrin looks at the growing interest in international travel for accountants

Appetite for international work experience is strong among today's finance professionals, and is increasingly being seen as an important ingredient of career development. Individuals and their employers should both take note. Those wishing to make it to the top of the world's multinationals will increasingly find that time spent working in foreign cultures is a prerequisite for senior roles. At the same time, organisations wishing to retain their most talented personnel will need to try to accommodate their international aspirations - or lose them to their competitors.

The recent ACCA research report, A Changing Profession? The Evolution of Accounting Roles, Skills and Career Aspirations, sheds some insights into the value and importance currently placed on international career opportunities. Over 2,500 ACCA members from 50 countries were surveyed. Of these, 78% agreed that it would become more important for finance professionals to be able to work in different international environments and cultures in the future, while 70% said that international experience on their CVs was becoming increasingly important. Just under half (45%) said they would like to pursue a career in another country at some point.

'We live in a global economy, where international experience is regarded as a prerequisite for many senior roles,' says Phil Sheridan, UK managing director of recruitment consultancy Robert Half. 'Even SMEs have subsidiaries or parent companies overseas, or they have customers or suppliers overseas. As the global market gets smaller, individuals with international experience, who understand the cultural and behavioural differences from market to market, can be very valuable to employers.'

KPMG, for example, considers international experience essential for its future leaders. 'We are saying our future partners cannot have had experience of one country,' says Keith Dugdale, director of global recruitment at KPMG. 'We have to be like our clients, and our partners have to have had experience of another culture.'

Valuable experience can be gained in many different locations. Clearly, international financial centres such as London, New York, Dubai, Zurich and Hong Kong - to name a few - will have particular relevance to organisations working in the international financial services sector. 'Having experience in these centres on your CV may attract a bigger response [from employers],' says Sheridan. 'But some emerging markets - such as Brazil, India, Russia and China - will also ultimately add a certain something.' Employers in other sectors will likewise value people with first-hand knowledge of doing business in both established and emerging markets. 'Globalisation hits every aspect of our economy,' notes Sheridan.

Organisations running international businesses do appreciate the advantages of personnel having worked outside their home territory. 'It is valuable if finance team members have rounded experience of different companies, industries and geographies,' says John Nicholas, ACCA fellow and group finance director at Tate & Lyle. 'This helps them to deal with different cultures and new or unfamiliar situations as they arise.'

Daryl Scales, UK finance director of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, is himself enjoying working outside his native US. He opened up the car hire company's New York operations before crossing the Atlantic to help develop the business in the UK. 'When I came over we were involved in a couple of acquisitions,' he says. 'I was meeting customers and seeing the way our North American billing system wasn't meeting their needs here. Those are the kinds of things accountants like to get stuck into.'

Many finance personnel in Enterprise are keen to work abroad. 'We have a lot of individuals competing for opportunities in North America,' notes Scales. This is not surprising, given that Enterprise was founded in the US. 'Our business is much more mature, much larger there,' says Scales. 'And these individuals will probably want to come back as we start to build footprints in Europe. Having that experience in the US makes them a much stronger candidate coming back this way.' Making international opportunities available is important for the organisation's success, Scales believes. 'It's critical,' he says. 'We want to bring these individuals on and develop them to take on management responsibility.'

Positive impact

It isn't just the individuals going overseas who can gain from the experience. Bringing in people from other countries can benefit their new colleagues as well. 'If HR professionals are keen to develop individuals in their business, the impact of someone coming in from overseas cannot be underestimated,' says Sheridan. 'If I was to work with a colleague from Hong Kong for a while, I would learn a tremendous amount about how to do business with people in that part of the world.'

Desire for career mobility does create challenges for employers, however. 'There will be much more movement across national borders,' says Jamie Lyon, senior manager at ACCA and author of its recent research report. 'Consequently, the retention of finance professionals will be a critical challenge for organisations to get right, particularly in the context of an increasingly international marketplace.'

Given the opportunities that exist to work in other countries, employers who want to retain high-flying staff with international aspirations will need to try to accommodate these if possible. 'The reason many people register with us to change jobs is because they feel they are no longer challenged, no longer progressing and pushing forwards,' says Sheridan. 'Going to a new country, functioning in a new culture, maybe learning a new language - what bigger challenges can there be?'

KPMG recognises the importance of helping people gain the international experiences they seek. 'Organisations like KPMG have got to respond to that interest,' says Dugdale. 'It's an important part of our retention and development strategy.' The firm is even making international experience available to students before they begin their careers. 'We have developed a global internship programme,' says Dugdale. 'People can have four weeks in London, or four weeks in New York or Beijing - even before they join.' The firm is generally trying to give its people overseas experience earlier in their careers, but for shorter periods. Dugdale refers to KPMG's European audit programme as an example. 'People can join in one country, spend a year there and then a year in another European country,' he says.

Taking international experience earlier rather than later can be a wise move, for personal and practical reasons. 'If you want an international career, you have to be prepared to move your family around,' says Paul Goodman, founder of recruitment firm Goodman Masson. 'Having an international career in your twenties might be easier than in your forties.'

Whatever the age of the employee going abroad to work, the challenges for the employer remain significant. Dugdale admits that, traditionally, a practice in a particular location might have found it hard to let someone they see as a high-flyer go off to another part of the international firm. 'Now there's a mindset that sees this as business critical,' he says. 'We have to let our best people go and give them these opportunities. Then we have to make the whole process work. It's a real challenge to move someone from the US to India, for example. There's a whole raft of legislation to adhere to. There are expectations about lifestyle to address, such as where the kids will be educated. It's an expensive commitment from KPMG, and a big commitment from the individual. It's serious stuff.'

Sarah Perrin is an accountant and writer.