Finance and accounting skills set for boost

According to research released by Robert Half Australia, close to half (45 per cent) of businesses expect to expand two key areas of their operations – finance and accounting.

These areas remain the most tricky to get right and the easiest to get wrong, which means when it comes to recruitment, you must hire the best talent.

The recruitment company surveyed 160 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) across Australia and found 86 per cent were confident about the country's growth potential and are planning to meet this with more staff on the books.

The CFOs report that the most in-demand positions are financial analysts (33 per cent), accountants (29 per cent) and auditors (20 per cent).

Robert Half also polled the CFOs on what skills are the most desirable moving forward. Their responses included financial reporting (47 per cent), planning and analysis (37 per cent) and knowledge of integrated software programs (29 per cent).

It is fair to say then that businesses with sufficient ROI software and efficiency software will be in the box seat to hire the best talent. This becomes even more important when 93 per cent of the CFOs are struggling to find the right people to fill their roles.

Director at Robert Half, Kevin Jarvis, said it was up to employers to put themselves in the best position and have an understanding what will attract quality candidates to the role.

"Companies need to be aware of current remuneration trends, and in particular, other non-monetary related initiatives," he said.

"Such benefits include a positive work culture, training and development, mentoring programs, health and well-being benefits, flexibility around hours or telecommuting."

With Australia's economy ever-growing and more businesses opening roles for their development, it is vital that companies have the tools in place to attract the best candidate.