October 5th, 2018
By Emmarelda Maswesi Ahmad C.A.(M), Associate Professor Dr Erlane K Ghani C.A.(M), CPA (Aust.), and Nurul Ezhawati Abdul Latif C.A.(M), FCCA
Introduction
As accounting or finance graduates, there is an abundance of work opportunities available for them. The graduates can venture into various sectors such as the audit firms, in-house finance and accounting departments, financial institutions or venture into non-accounting related sectors. One of the non-accounting sectors that is seen to remain in the business landscape for the foreseeable future is the Financial Shared Services Centre (FSSC). Of consequence, this sector provides a platform for the graduates to venture and design their career path. Unfortunately, many graduates are doubtful on their future with FSSC. Why does this doubt exist? One possible reason could be attributed to the graduates’ perception that they should kick-off their accounting career in the public accounting firms rather than venturing into other sectors. Another reason could be the graduates’ scepticism that their career path may remain stagnant. However, this may not be entirely true. Hence, it is important for the graduates to understand what is an FSSC, the possible opportunities available and the skills required in this sector.
What is FSSC?
Several definitions of an FSSC have been provided in the literature. Bergeron (2003) in his book ‘Essentials of Shared Services’ defines shared services as a strategy to transform business functions into the semi-autonomous business unit in order to facilitate efficiency, value generation, cost savings, and improved service for customers. On the other hand, Amiruddin, Aman, Auzair, Hamzah, and Maelah (2013) refer to shared services as an arrangement that provides services to the clients who are other independent business units within the same company group.
Today’s organizations have been persistently pressured to increase organizational value and reduce cost whilst maintaining service quality and improve efficiency. Shared services integrate business operations, processes, and services to internal customers at a lower cost but at a higher quality in meeting their goal to improve customers’ satisfaction and enhancing organizational value (Ma, 2015). Shared services also avoid duplication of costly processes and redundant tasks, thereby increasing organizational efficiency entirely (Wang & Wang, 2007).
The FSSCs are a crucial part of the shared services sector as they offer specialized shared services to their customers (ACCA, 2017). The FSSCs rely heavily on the highly integrated software system and electronic communication technology in providing their services (Ma, 2015). It can be said that the FSSCs have changed the traditional financial accounting landscape by providing more refined specialization, uniformed processes, and advanced information technology. FSSCs integrate business activities by creating economies of scale whilst decreasing transaction costs. The departments that exist in the FSSCs include accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, fixed assets, and financial reporting among others.
FSSCs are commonly found in many multinational companies (MNCs) such as Dell, Shell, and British American Tobacco. At present, Malaysia is ranked the third best location for shared services after India and China (Kearney, 2011), focusing on high-value finance and accounting services to enhance its presence in the global shared services market (Aman, Aminuddin, & Tahir, 2015).
Opportunities In The Fssc Sector
Similar to other shared services, FSSCs create strategic value via two ways (ACCA, 2017). Firstly, new ideas for services and products are made possible as information is captured through internal customer-supplier relationship. The second way is the flexibility in creating new business units, embrace acquisitions and grow geographically rapidly. This can be achieved since FSSCs solely are a support function and therefore, enable business units to focus entirely on their primary business and at the same time pursue new opportunities.
There are reasons as to why working in an FSSC is interesting. Although the tasks performed in each department of an FSSC are routine, most FSSCs allow their employees to do job rotation (Aman, Aminuddin, & Tahir, 2015). This creates a working environment that is interesting and challenging for the accounting and finance graduates since job rotation promotes flexible. Furthermore, FSSCs encourage empowerment whereby their employees are encouraged to make decisions and improve work processes when located to a different department. FSSCs also allow their employees to have flexible working hours or flexible working arrangement (part-time). Occasionally, the FSSCs allow their employees to work from home.
The employees’ confidence is built as they believe that the FSSCs can develop their career as professional accountants. Graduates who join an FSSC would often start at the operational level and hold positions such as an account specialist, financial or senior analyst. As they progress which is often approximately 4 to 6 years, attaching with the FSSCs, they would excel to become team leaders or hold managerial positions. With good performance, their careers would progress to the top management level as a director or regional treasurers (MDeC, 2012).
The FSSCs consistently perform benchmarking of remuneration packages for their employees against other shared services companies in order for them to maintain their competitive edge and to guarantee employee satisfaction (Aman, Aminuddin, & Tahir, 2015). Appropriate and fair salary scheme is indeed very crucial in attracting and retaining accounting professionals. As a start, fresh graduates may expect an initial salary of RM3,000 monthly (Cooper, 2018).
Talent Skills In The FSSC Sector
Through FSSCs’ practices, the finance and account functions have evolved from basic transaction and control, reporting and analysis to strategic business partnering that demands proactive, ambidextrous and decision-making participation (Herbert & Seal, 2012). Thus, to be relevant in the FSSC sector, the accounting and finance graduates must possess the necessary soft skills.
Having good communication skills is important because it exhibits one’s ability to speak confidently with people. FSSCs are intrigued with graduates who not only can communicate well verbally but also non-verbally through emails and business reports (Aman, Aminuddin & Tahir, 2015). Other communication skills such as having a vast command of vocabulary, the ability to listen effectively, and to convince the audience would also be much appreciated by this sector. Communication is the key to build up the image and reputation of an organization. Moreover, it is a bonus if the graduates have strong language proficiency, both oral and written in English and other widely spoken languages in the world such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Indian, and Spanish since most FSSC’s have global clients. To boost this motivation, professionals with verbal and written fluency could expect an additional remuneration incentive of RM1,500 per month (Cooper, 2018).
The graduates must also be able to portray good problem-solving skill. With this skill, the graduates are expected to have the ability to analyse the problems at hand critically and employ their technical knowledge within an applied context to solve the problem. In fact, the ability to solve a complex problem is a general criteria of competency for most domains (Scherer & Tiemann, 2014). However, it is unlikely that all fresh graduates would have this ability because problem–solving skill is suggested to be positively related to a person’s age and work experience (Zimmerman, 2007).
Another important skill is being a team player and being able to work well with others. As to achieve a common goal, the graduates must also have teamwork skills in order to have the ability to work and collaborate with people from various cultural and social backgrounds. They should be respectful toward others’ behaviour, belief and attitude in order to build a good working relationship with their peers. Most importantly, graduates who aim to be future team leaders should have the ability to effectively manage and coordinate the work performance of their colleagues (ACCA, 2017).
Finally yet importantly, the graduates must be technology savvy. The operational works done at FSSCs depend on the level of information system, which integrates the business’ systems and processes (Ma, 2015). Thus, apart from mastering the knowledge of using Microsoft office tools, the graduates who possess accounting software certificates would be at an advantage.
Conclusion
The FSSCs form an established part of the business landscape and are seen as a sector that will remain in the foreseeable future. Therefore, this sector provides huge opportunities for the accounting and finance graduates in designing their career path. This article provides graduates with a better picture on the opportunities in working in the FSSCs. It provides understanding of the opportunities available in this sector and consequently, become more confident if they have decided to be in the FSSC sector.
