“If you don’t understand finances well, financial discussions and
financial language just float by,” said Dimnik. “Imagine how much
better it would be to work in an organization where financial in-formation
makes sense to you.”
For many, a dislike of numbers can make the task seem daunt-ing,
but the math component of finance is actually fairly basic.
“Quite frankly, if you can add, multiply, subtract and divide, you
can understand strategic accounting and finance,” said Dimnik.
“You don’t need to become an expert,” added Causton. “You just
have to become conversational in the topic.”
If you can sling the lingo with colleagues – while understanding
everything you’re saying, of course – there’s potential to become
much more effective and influential.
“You can then pick up the phone and talk to a person in finance
and talk to a person in operations about nearly anything and you
can build a level of trust and respect between you,” said Nick
Shepherd, founder of Eduvision, a company offering management
consulting and professional development. “At the end of the day,
business is all about building relationships.”
FINANCE 101
“Many HR pros have some knowledge of finances,” said Causton,
“but in today’s business, it’s not enough.”
cover feature
Financial Fitness Training
The Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) has
several upcoming professional development courses to help you
brush up on your finance and accounting skills:
Finance and Accounting Essentials for HR Professionals
This upcoming course teaches the basic accounting terminology
and an understanding of the financial statements used to provide
information about the organization’s financial position and
performance: income statements, cash financial statements, P&L
statement, balance sheet, cash flow and productivity metrics.
When: June 26 & 27, 2014 + October 20 & 21, 2014
Accounting and Financial Management Course Evening/
Online Academic Program
HRPA’s Evening Academic Program Accounting and Financial
Management Course — one of nine academic course
requirements for the Certified Human Resources Professional
(CHRP) designation — provides a general understanding of
the nature of financial and managerial accounting, and their
relationship to business decisions generally and the work of HR
professionals in particular. Courses offered in the fall (September
to December), winter (January to April) and spring (May to
August). Learn more: bit.ly/1dgSBke
Payroll Essentials for
HR Professionals
March 6, 2014 +
October 2, 2014. Learn
more: bit.ly/1fD6Dwx
Year-end and New
Year Requirements
for Payroll
November 25,
2014. Learn more:
bit.ly/1fD6IAs
The Accredited Executive Compensation Program
May 7, 8 & 9, 2014. Learn more: bit.ly/aecp2014
Mentoring with a financial or accounting expert within your
own organization is another ideal way to accumulate hands-on
experience immediately applicable to your organization and relevant
to your role. You might meet for an hour or two each week to study
a particular topic, and then move on to another once you reach a
comfort level. You might even want to establish two-way learning,
offering some HR basics to your financial mentor in return.
What’s more, a lack of conversational financial knowledge can
mean missing the chance to claim funding for HR initiatives.
“Because people don’t have comfort with the numbers, they ab-dicate
the opportunity to speak up,” said Dimnik. “If there are 10
places for a company to put its money, for example, and the HR
people are abdicating from the process, they can’t promote and
support their projects and claim one of those places.”
HR initiatives can seem vague and fuzzy to numbers-minded
members of the organization.
“Instinctually we understand that happy employees and well-trained
employees are good for business, but at some point you
have to make the effort to quantify things to help clarify the case
for the rest of the executive team,” said Causton. “If you devise
some metrics to support your argument, then everyone at the ta-ble
can see there’s something behind it.”
NO ACCOUNTING DEGREE NECESSARY
Getting a handle on basic finances doesn’t mean HR pros need
to engage in seven-year accounting programs. Instead, a little tar-geted
financial knowledge, the kind that can be picked up in an
intensive weekend or by studying for an hour or two each week,
can make all the difference. (See sidebar for options.)
Think of it in terms of your own engagement.
Tanawat Pontchour / Shutterstock
22 ❚ MAY/JUNE 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL