Ensuring financial leadership: one way to ensure a good pipeline of finance talent is to grow it internally. Here's what some large companies are doing to keep their finance staffs up do date--on much more than just accounting.

• Author: Karr, Susan Schott
• Position: Financial education

Getting and keeping good finance talent is a key management issue that is not going to get easier as the workforce shrinks. Indeed, trends predict it is likely to get more challenging. One way to ensure a talent pipeline is to offer employees structured career-planning programs. There are some excellent models of companies that have such programs in place to capitalize on their own finance talent.

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Increasingly, the largest source of an organization's future leaders is its own high-potential employees, and more frequently, companies are taking charge of developing these fast-trackers. A Robert Half International survey found that 60 percent of companies are promoting from within more often now than they were just three years ago.

Check out the financial leadership career tracks at companies such as AT & T Inc., The Boeing Co., Cigna Corp., General Electric Co., General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin Corp., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and you'll find each company offers a varying type of financial leadership development program.

In an attempt to drive sales growth and return on investment, Wal-Mart--with stores in 16 countries around the globe--perceives "a need to better develop our finance people," said Thomas M. Schoewe, executive vice president and CFO, in his presentation at Financial Executives International's (FEI) Summit 2006. To this end, each year Wal-Mart holds a five-day Business Leadership Series (BLS) in Fayetteville, Ark. The 40 to 50 people who attend are under the tutelage of President and CEO Lee Scott, his direct reports and former Wal-Mart CEO David Glass.

"In developing the business leadership series, we've dedicated two out of the five days to finance," says Schoewe. One is quantitative in nature, the other qualitative; the latter addresses issues of judgment.

Schoewe says Wal-Mart's Financial Development Program includes identifying high-potential associates, creating development plans, assigning special assignments, holding development events and building competencies. An individual finance development plan may include concentration in general accounting and financial reporting; internal controls; business planning and analysis; treasury and cash management; tax; corporate development; or process management. If participants require more on a particular subject, such as the M & A process, Wal-Mart will follow through on that, since development is based on the individual participant's needs.

Sprint Nextel's Approach

Sprint Nextel's 10-year-old Finance Management Development Program (FMDP) entails a three-year rotation of job assignments, classroom training, on-the-job training and continuous performance feedback from managers and mentors. Job rotations may include: corporate audit, financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, office of the controller, decision support or operations analysis. All assignments involve various aspects of Sprint Nextel's business.

Lynn Badaracco, Sprint Nextel's director of Talent Management, says a strength that sets the program apart from others is its extensive length...