Earlier this year I was approached by headhunters who were seeking the first head of Accountancy services for a new division within the Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC).

I was  curious about the role in question as it seemed to be almost tailor made for me. It seemed to require someone with precisely my skills, experience, background and interests.  However I quickly ruled myself out of the running due to my unavailability to take on a full time salaried position.  As regular readers of this blog will know I am committed to building the Tax Advice Network so am not therefore able to take a full time position anywhere.

I was also concerned that the role as specified was totally misconceived;  the headhunters were unable to disabuse me of this view.   And of course it would not have been in their interest to pass on my concerns to the FSSC.

I was reminded of this recently when I chanced upon reference to the FSSC’s large-scale programme of research on the skills needed and demand for training, labour and skills in the accountancy and finance sector.  Having looked through the survey that they are conducting let’s just say that it has confirmed the concerns I had earlier in the year.

I have also seen no reference to the survey in the professional press, the finance or business press or on relevant websites so I’m not sure how ‘large-scale’ it really is – or maybe it’s only just been launched.  Still, in an effort to assist I thought I would share the relevant links on this blog – given my focus on advising ambitious accountants and those who train them.

…. findings of this survey could help influence Government policy and public funding decisions in the areas of skills and training. This is your chance to help shape your industry’s [sic] agenda for skills.

If you are involved in recruiting, training, or managing accounting staff and other finance practitioners then your insights are valuable to us. In responding to this survey, we would like you to focus only on staff that you yourself have managed, supported, worked with or been responsible for in your current role.

This survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete and all responses will be treated in strict confidence. No data or comments will be attributed to individuals or businesses, or passed to any third parties.

FSSC Accountancy and Finance Skills Survey

In my view the implicit assumptions and lack of insights evident from many of the questions, the limited options available for replies and the absence of any facility to amplify or explain replies in the survey itself means that the results can only be of limited significance even from a statistical perspective. They will not be of any real value in determining appropriate change and developments in the accountancy or finance sector.

I would welcome contrary, or indeed supportive, views from any readers of this blog if you have time to look at the survey (and to complete it – if you consider it would be worthwhile to do so.  I’m afraid I don’t).