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| Author | Hayward, Cathy |
You've got qualifications, ambition and huge amounts of experience -- what else do you need to take the fast-track to the boardroom? Cathy Hayward finds out that there's much more for accountants abroad than sun, sea and cheap lager
So you want to be the FD of a top 100 company. You were head of your CIMA class, your CV is impeccable, you regularly put in a 70-hour week and you take every opportunity to network, whether it be at the latest industry event or after work in the pub.
But if you've never worked abroad, forget the mahogany desk and top-floor views. Instead, grab your passport and head for the airport, because without global experience you'll never get the key to the executive washroom.
More and more finance staff are employed overseas every year. The Big Five top the list with thousands of employees stationed abroad on long- and short-term contracts. PricewaterhouseCoopers has staff in over 70 countries so the opportunities in that company alone are almost endless.
You could find yourself driving to work alongside the Great Barrier Reef, staring out of your office window at a Dubai beach or popping out to lunch in downtown Manhattan. But few employees view working abroad just as an opportunity to indulge in sightseeing. For the serious career climbers, international experience is an essential rung on the ladder to the boardroom.
"International experience is deeply important," says Douglas Flint, group finance director of HSBC, who travels regularly to North and South America, Europe and the Far East. "As global trade increases, it is important to understand how things are done differently around the world. It's also a great way of experiencing different economic environments."
Bridget Allen, director of resourcing at KPMG, agrees. "The global perspective is becoming a requirement," she says. "But there are no hard and fast rules about how to acquire it. You can spend long periods overseas, but you could also deal with global clients from a UK base and take quick trips abroad."
Many firms encourage staff to get international experience through short-term assignments, rather than on long-term postings. This allows people to get all the benefits of working abroad, without having to uproot themselves completely, explains Jackie Alexander, PwC's recruitment partner.
And as firms become increasingly global, international experience is becoming a prerequisite for success. "Like many of our clients, PwC is a global firm and expects people to have the ability and experience to operate on an international stage," she adds.
CIMA president and independent management consultant Mike Jeans; who has worked in 13 countries from Hong Kong to Italy, agrees. "If you work for a global firm, then it's very...
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