By Elizabeth Nordby-Graves, Associate Consultant - Finance Transformation at Stanton House

Spend enough time speaking to finance transformation professionals and one trend quickly becomes clear: many of today's strongest transformation leaders didn't begin their careers in dedicated project roles.

Instead, they built their experience leading shared service centres, improving finance operations, standardising processes, implementing technology and solving operational challenges long before "Finance Transformation" appeared in their job title.

It's a conversation I'm having more and more with both candidates and hiring managers.

Candidates often ask whether they have enough transformation experience to make the move. Hiring managers question whether they should insist on a traditional transformation background or broaden their search to include operational finance leaders who have spent years delivering meaningful change.

The answer isn't always straightforward, but the market is evolving.

As organisations continue to invest in ERP programmes, automation, operating model redesign and process improvement, they're placing greater value on people who understand how finance actually operates. Leaders who can challenge established ways of working, influence stakeholders and deliver lasting commercial improvements are increasingly in demand.

The title on a CV matters far less than the capability behind it.

Finance transformation is about more than technology

Finance transformation means different things in different organisations.

For one business, it may centre around an ERP implementation. For another, it could involve redesigning a finance operating model, standardising processes across multiple regions, integrating acquisitions, introducing automation or improving the effectiveness of a shared service centre.

Technology often enables that change, but it is rarely the end goal.

Ultimately, organisations invest in finance transformation to build finance functions that are more scalable, more efficient and better equipped to support the wider business.

That means improving service delivery, strengthening controls, reducing manual effort, increasing automation and giving finance leaders better information to make faster, more informed commercial decisions.

The strongest transformation professionals understand that every process improvement should contribute to a wider business objective. They're not simply redesigning workflows or implementing software; they're creating finance functions capable of supporting growth, improving resilience and enabling better decision-making across the organisation.

Why operational finance experience is becoming increasingly valuable

One misconception I still encounter is that transformation experience only comes from dedicated project environments.

In reality, many of today's strongest transformation professionals have spent years leading finance operations.

Shared Service Centre Managers, Global Business Services leaders, Finance Operations Managers and Operational Excellence professionals often possess exactly the capabilities organisations are looking for.

They've standardised processes across business units, improved service levels against SLAs, introduced automation, embedded new systems, redesigned operating models, strengthened governance and led large teams through change.

Those achievements may not always have sat within a formal transformation programme, but they demonstrate something arguably more valuable: the ability to identify operational problems, implement practical solutions and embed lasting improvement within business as usual.

Transformation doesn't begin when a project starts. More often, it begins when someone asks, "Why do we still do it this way?"

Candidates: focus on the outcomes you've delivered

One of the biggest mistakes experienced professionals make is describing responsibilities instead of outcomes.

Listing the ERP systems you've used or explaining that you managed a finance operations team tells an employer very little about the value you created.

Instead, explain what changed because of your leadership.

Did you standardise processes across multiple entities?

Reduce manual intervention through automation?

Improve service performance and customer satisfaction?

Support the successful rollout of a new ERP?

Improve month-end reporting?

Increase controls without slowing the business down?

Enable growth without significantly increasing finance headcount?

Transformation recruitment is increasingly centred on commercial impact rather than project terminology.

The strongest CVs demonstrate how operational improvements supported wider business objectives, whether that's improving cash flow, reducing operational risk, increasing efficiency or creating a finance function capable of scaling alongside the organisation.

Hiring managers: recruit for capability, not career history

This is where I believe many organisations are unintentionally narrowing their talent pool.

It's common to see job specifications requesting extensive finance transformation experience, a specific ERP platform and a professional accounting qualification.

Sometimes those requirements are entirely justified.

However, in many cases, the organisation is actually looking for someone who can lead people through change, improve finance operations and build sustainable processes.

Those capabilities don't always come from a traditional transformation career path.

Some of the strongest candidates I've spoken with have built exceptional careers leading shared service centres, finance operations or continuous improvement functions. They understand where processes break down, how people respond to change and what it takes to embed improvements into day-to-day operations because they've been doing exactly that for years.

By focusing too heavily on job titles or historic specifications, organisations can unintentionally overlook highly capable leaders who have already been delivering transformation, just under a different name.

The best hiring decisions start by defining the business outcomes you want to achieve, then identifying the person most capable of delivering them.

Does every finance transformation leader need to be qualified?

Professional qualifications remain important for many finance transformation roles, particularly where responsibilities extend into financial control, reporting or broader finance leadership.

However, qualification alone doesn't determine whether someone can successfully deliver transformation.

For operationally focused roles, leadership capability, commercial awareness and a proven track record of improving finance performance can be equally valuable.

For hiring managers, it's worth considering whether a qualification is genuinely essential for the outcomes the role is expected to deliver.

If the objective is redesigning a shared service operation, embedding new technology or improving operational performance across finance, practical leadership experience may ultimately prove more valuable than following a traditional accounting career path.

The strongest recruitment processes define the capability required first, then assess candidates against that, rather than relying solely on historic job specifications.

ERP experience still matters, but context matters more

ERP experience remains one of the most common topics raised by both candidates and employers.

Of course, there are roles where deep knowledge of a particular platform is essential.

However, many finance transformation appointments are less about the software itself and more about improving how finance operates around it.

Hiring managers are increasingly looking for professionals who can map processes, engage stakeholders, challenge existing ways of working and successfully embed change across the organisation.

Likewise, candidates shouldn't underestimate the value of their involvement simply because they weren't the programme lead.

Supporting process design, testing, user adoption, documentation, governance or post-go-live optimisation all demonstrate valuable transformation capability when they're clearly linked to the business improvements they enabled.

The future of finance transformation is commercial

Perhaps the biggest shift I'm seeing is that finance transformation is becoming less about delivering projects in isolation and more about enabling business performance.

The most successful transformation leaders don't measure success by whether an ERP system went live on time. They measure it by what the business can do afterwards.

Can finance support ambitious growth without significantly increasing headcount?

Can newly acquired businesses be integrated more quickly?

Can leaders access better data to make faster commercial decisions?

Has automation released skilled finance professionals to focus on higher-value activity?

Has the customer or supplier experience improved because finance now operates more effectively?

These are the outcomes boards and CFOs increasingly care about.

That's why operational finance leadership is becoming such a valuable foundation for transformation. Leaders who have spent years improving service delivery, redesigning processes, leading large teams and embedding change understand that transformation doesn't end at go-live. Success is achieved when new ways of working become part of business as usual and continue to deliver value long after the project team has moved on.

For candidates, that means positioning your experience around the commercial outcomes you've helped achieve, not simply the projects you've supported. Employers are increasingly looking for professionals who can demonstrate how they improved efficiency, increased scalability, reduced operational risk or enabled the business to grow.

For hiring managers, it may also be time to challenge traditional assumptions about where transformation talent comes from. Some of the strongest transformation leaders won't have followed a conventional project career. They'll have built their expertise leading finance operations, shared services or global business services, consistently improving performance and delivering measurable business outcomes.

Ultimately, finance transformation isn't about implementing technology. It's about building finance functions that create competitive advantage.

The organisations that recognise this — and recruit people who combine operational credibility with commercial thinking — will be best placed to build finance functions that are not only more efficient, but more agile, scalable and better equipped to support the next phase of growth.

If you wish to discuss the shape and future of your Finance Transformation team, please feel free to contact me.