Other FD News - March

A survey by Pricewaterhouse­Coopers of more than 100 of the top 200 FTSE companies found that 63% regard the finance function as playing a lead role in the strategic planning process, yet 80% said they were dissatisfied by the quality of the information they receive from finance.

“Findings from the study clearly show that both CEOs and finance professionals have some significant hurdles to overcome before the finance function truly becomes the effective strategic partner the business requires,” says Nick Jarman, partner in the finance effectiveness consulting practice at the big four auditor.

Meanwhile, headhunter Robert Half has flagged up the five accounting roles it believes will prove the most needed and important in 2010 – and FDs don’t feature.

Financial accountants, cost accountants, financial analysts, financial planning and analysis managers, assistant accountants, compliance managers and risk managers come up as the best roles for accountants over the next year.

Clive Davis, director at Robert Half UK, says that as we move into a recovery period, “the need for expert accounting and finance professionals to help companies navigate this economic climate is critical.”

Kevin Reed is deputy editor of Accountancy Age

In brief: Other people news
Marks & Spencer’s FD Ian Dyson (pictured) has joined Betfair’s board as a non-executive director. Dyson has experience in the gambling arena from his time as FD at Rank Group.

Meanwhile, Morrisons’ FD Richard Pennycook will surely be announcing his next move soon as the supermarket giant chose its new CEO in Dalton Philips, COO of Canada’s food distributor Loblaw, to take over Marc Bolland’s role. Bookies had Pennycook as the favourite but, as Financial Director said recently, the expert corporate finance turnaround man is likely to want to move on to pastures new rather than retrench at Morrisons for another couple of years.