Keeping up with trends in finance and accounting is necessary for both candidates and companies. This is because, with this information, professionals can direct their training to updates and qualification courses. In return, companies can enjoy more professionalism to meet the demands of the corporation, improving their recruitment and selection processes.

How important is it to keep up with trends in finance and accounting?

In difficult times, financial and accounting professionals are called upon to ensure the financial well-being of the company by protecting cash flows.

In addition, the areas of accounting and finance are paramount in the treatment of accounting information and revenue generation, through secondary businesses, such as tax incentives, tax recovery, among others.

Therefore, being aware of changes, both in technological and social terms, is what will guarantee the success of these areas within corporations.

What are the main trends in finance and accounting?

In the areas of finance and accounting, the tendency is for companies to start emphasizing the strategy to be adopted, leaving operational activities in the background.

In this scenario, the figure of the CFO, or chief financial officer, will gain much more prominence. This is because the market will demand from these professionals knowledge to solve complex issues. Soon, they will need a great capacity for information analysis.

In addition to the essential role in directing and mentoring the team, the ability to read the business more comprehensively and make the difficult decisions related to financial resources will be further evaluated and will make all the difference to the success of companies.

What are the prominent positions in the finance area?

Treasury

The treasury of a company takes care of the institution’s cash flow and the coordinators and managers are responsible for managing and optimizing the resources of the areas.

Accounting / Tax

The tax analyst and coordinator works within the accounting area and follows the tax legislation, calculating taxes such as ICMS, ICMS-ST, IPI and ISS, helps in the Tax classification of new products sold, among other functions.

Merger and acquisition

The merger and acquisition manager within the finance and accounting sector of a company acts in the study of the company’s economic market, ensuring the consistency of information about the company and its assets, identifying economic viability and closing deals.

Internal controls

The coordinator of internal controls acts in the mapping and verification of the flow of processes, following the implementation of policies and reviews and monitors administrative regulations.

The objective is to enable more operational efficiency by monitoring the processes and achieving the results expected by the companies.

Financial Planning / Controllership

The analyst and coordinator responsible for the company’s planning acts by carrying out the budgetary and administrative control of a company and is linked to the finance and accounting sector of organizations. The function is of paramount importance to identify bottlenecks, to foresee the company’s economic scenarios and to optimize the company’s resources, in order to keep it financially healthy.

What are the skills expected of finance and accounting professionals?

In the face of so many changes, the hiring of personnel for the area will also undergo changes. Companies will search for candidates with knowledge in data collection and analysis tools, which are highly demanded by the market. Thus, it is possible to understand that the professional must master digital transformations and agile methodologies, among other tools.

For some years now, the digitalization of the financial area has been seen as an important differential for companies. Today, as a consequence of the latest events, the adoption of these solutions is no longer a differentiator and becomes an obligation.

With a focus on reducing errors and agility in decision making, finance and accounting professionals should spend less time on operationalizing information and more on strategic analysis.

Therefore, the skills with tools such as online communication and ERPs In Cloud are part of the package of knowledge desired for the functions in this area.

Still stand out as technical skills expected from finance and accounting professionals:

• tech skills (knowledge needed to perform specific tasks related to technology);
• financial modeling / debt restructuring / cost management;
• risk control;
• tax planning.

Following a global trend of companies, soft skills, also called behavioral skills, will also be demanded.

• Flexibility;
• resilience;
• relationship;
• hands on (proactive);
• sense of ownership.

Technology x finance and accounting?

The incorporation of technology in the finance and accounting sector provides a significant change in the profile of professionals and even the way the sector operates in the company.

1. More analytical processes

Technology has arrived to facilitate processes, reduce costs and margins of errors. Therefore, Artificial Intelligence solutions will be very demanding in the areas of accounting and finance, in order to collaborate with the realization and more careful verification of information, which favors the creation of new ideas that contribute to improve the performance of the sectors.

2. Risk management

With the latest events in world history, major economic transformations are happening, which requires companies, through the financial and accounting sector, to monitor changes in numbers, to create actions that ensure the profitability and survival of organizations.

This risk assessment can be conducted with the help of Artificial Intelligence, which makes constant checks regarding changes in the financial market to point out possible threats.