A career as a Financial consultant offers great opportunity, and an abundance of work.
Organisations from a wide scope of industries are contracting working out to a range of financial consultants to help them make the right business decisions, set a strong strategy and help direct their companies toward more profitable results.
Whether you already offer consulting services to your clients, or considering moving away from traditional employment, you have a scope of great opportunities that are waiting for your consideration.
In a poll done by multi-national HR firm Robert Half, more than 900 CFOs were interviewed about their plans to use Financial Consultants. Approximately half of all CFOs were looking to outsource some component of work to a financial consultant.
Here are the top niches within Financial Consulting:
1. Finance and accounting
57 percent of the CFOs said they were interested in hiring Financial consultants who could help optimize their finance and accounting projects.
As a financial consultant in this area, you’ll be hired to work on forecasting, analysis, budgets and reporting. If you like variety in your role, can articulate your advice and suggestions and have a proven ability to adapt easily into new environments, consulting in this area may be a good option worth considering.
2. Business Systems and Performance Improvement
48 percent of the CFOs were looking to a financial consultant to guide them in implementing business systems and handling conversion and integration. Many businesses are looking for an external set of eyes to provide a fresh perspective to improve their processes and performance. They’ll be relying on you to help with strategy in resolving issues, and averting risk to ensure the business meets it growth objectives.
Speed and problem-solving skills are the name of this game. If you enjoy challenges and innovation, you could find this area quite satisfying. You’ll need to have proven experience with resolving complex issues in an effective manner, while building relationships with key stakeholders.
3. Taxation
Keeping up with the constantly changing Taxation Laws is a key challenge for many Australian CFOs. 42 percent of CFOs polled were interested in hiring a financial consultant that could guide them through the ever-changing landscape. They were also interested in new approaches to legally minimising tax, saving the company money and creating a strategy for more efficient procedures.
4. Governance, risk and compliance
Similar to Taxation Law, Industry Regulations are constantly evolving and business owners as well as senior managers are interested to hire consultants who have a proven track record in providing interim management to help update their systems to ensure compliance. If you can help lead and manage the changes while reducing compliance costs, you’re consulting services will be in great demand. Get ready to show your prospective clients how they can optimise risk-return outcomes, improve business performance and help reduce personnel time and costs.
5. Finance optimization
Working effectively is a key focus for many CFOs and senior managers, and 36% of CFOs surveyed were interested to hire a consultant to help with workflow management and streamline their financial cycle. Your expertise in this area will help reduce costs and improve accuracy rates. As a financial consultant, you could be asked to set the strategy and implement standards that result in a better more productive work flow. Depending on your experience and area of expertise, the organization may also want your feedback and advice on mergers and acquisitions, and even the CFO’s role.
Interested in Financial Consulting roles?
We recommend you have a high quality professional resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile prepared, and then upload it to 2 or 3 of your favourite executive search firms.
As this survey was conducted by Robert Half, we’ll provide a link to their page where you can submit your resume and be considered for Financial Consulting roles.