Training Benchmarks for the Finance and Accounting Services Sector (Fasset) November 2017 Prepared by EE Research Focus

Transcription

1 Training Benchmarks for the Finance and Accounting Services Sector (Fasset) November 2017 Prepared by EE Research Focus

2 Training Benchmarks for the Finance and Accounting Services Sector CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION TRANSFORMATION OF THE SECTOR Employment of Black People in the Sector The Employment of Women in the Sector STAFF TURNOVER SCARCE SKILLS STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Percentage of the Workforce Trained Training Interventions per Employee NQF Levels of Training Interventions CONCLUDING REMARKS ANNEXURE LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Percentage black employees according to subsector... 4 Table 2: Percentage black employees according to organisation size... 6 Table 3: Percentage blacks employed in managerial positions according to subsector... 8 Table 4: Percentage blacks employed in managerial positions according to organisation size Table 5: Percentage blacks employed in professional positions according to subsector Table 6: Percentage blacks employed in professional positions according to organisation size. 14 Table 7: Percentage women employed according to subsector Table 8: Percentage women employed according to organisation size Table 9: Percentage women employed in managerial positions according to subsector Table 10: Percentage women employed in managerial positions according to organisation size 22 Table 11: Percentage women employed in professional positions according to subsector Table 12: Percentage women employed in professional positions according to organisation size Table 13: Percentage of employees who left their organisations Table 14: Scarce skills according to OFO major group Table 15: OFO occupations (unit group) in which shortages were experienced * Table 16: Percentage of employees trained according to subsector * Table 17: Percentage of employees trained according to organisation size Table 18:: Percentage employees trained according to occupational category: * Table 19: Average number of training interventions per employee according to subsector: * Table 20: Average number of training interventions per employee according to organisation size: * Table 21: Percentage of training interventions according to NQF levels* *... 33

3 1. INTRODUCTION Since its inception in 2000, Fasset has been collecting and analysing information on its sector. Most of the information is collected through the various grant applications submitted by employers to the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). In addition to its other functions, Fasset has committed itself to the provision of benchmarks of training and development that can be used by the sector. The term benchmarking refers to the process of comparing key performance indicators for one organisation with the indicators for others that are considered to represent the industry standard or best practice for that field. A distinction is made between performance benchmarking, which provides a comparison of key performance indicators, and best practice benchmarking, which focuses on action. It explains why others are getting the results they are getting and what can be done to improve the practices of one s own organisation. 1 At this stage the information available to Fasset does not allow for the identification of best practice in the sector. It only provides for performance benchmarking i.e. quantitative indicators of what is happening in the sector and in the respective components of the sector. This report includes a selection of indicators pertaining to the transformation of the sector, staff turnover, scarce skills, and the training offered in the sector. Where possible, the indicators are shown for the entire period over which Fasset has been collecting information. However, some indicators can t be given for the whole period because of changes in the grant system or because of changes in the grant application formats. In these instances only the most recent years are given. 2 1 Government of Alberta, Benchmarking Best Practices, accessed 22 December Government of Alberta, Benchmarking Best Practices, accessed 22 December 2011.

4 2. TRANSFORMATION OF THE SECTOR 2.1 Employment of Black 3 People in the Sector Training Benchmarks for the Finance The first measure of transformation of the sector is the total number of black employees. In 2001 only 36% of the employees in the Financial and Accounting Services Sector (Fasset s sector) were black. This percentage has improved gradually to 63% in 2017 as shown in Table 1. The subsectors that were lagging slightly behind the rest in 2017 are the Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing and Tax Services subsector (55%); and the Business & Management Consulting Services (55%), although all the subsectors display on-going improvement over the 17-year period. The transformation of the sector took place mainly through the organisations that employ 50 or more people. The organisations with fewer than 50 employees remained mostly white as indicated in Table 2. Table 1: Percentage black employees according to subsector4 Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services * 2014** Percentage black employees Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total The term black includes African, coloured and Indian people. 4 In 2015 updated data were drawn for years 2001 to To ensure consistency in the annual weighting of data to a sectoral total, each participating organisation received the same subsector code over the fourteen- year period. However, the 2001 to 2012 data in this report were still obtained from the WSP analysis reports where the subsector codes of organisations could differ from year to year. -4-

5 * From 2013 foreign employees were separately classified from the four main race groups without indicating whether they were African, white, coloured or Indian. In 2016 non- South African workers include people from countries all over the world, especially Europe. ** In 2014, the race of more than employees was not indicated. As many of these people may be black, the percentage black employees in the sector may be higher than the percentages reported in the tables. -5-

6 Table 2: Percentage black employees according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage black employees 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

7 The percentage of black (African, coloured and Indian) managers in the sector increased from 16% in 2001 to nearly 50% of management in 2017 (Table 3). In the subsector SARS (South African Revenue Service) and Government Departments 52% of management were black in 2001 and this percentage increased to 75% in The subsector Development Organisations (79%) had the highest percentage of black managers in However, transformation was noticeable in all the subsectors especially since Over the last four years the portion of black managers in most subsectors showed substantial increases. For example, black managers increased by 8% in the Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing and Tax Services subsector the subsector which represents 37% of the total sector s work force.

8 Table 3: Percentage blacks employed in managerial positions according to subsector Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Percentage black managers Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total

9 Different small organisations (those that employ fewer than 50 people) participate from year to year, which could be observed in the fluctuation of the percentages of black managers in these organisations from year to year as indicated in Table 4. Over the 17-year period medium (50 to 149 employees) and large (150 and more employees) organisations showed the highest increases in the employment of black managers. Black s portion of management increased by 30% in medium organisations and 38% in large organisations. -9-

10 Table 4: Percentage blacks employed in managerial positions according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage black managers 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

11 Due to the professional character of the Fasset sector, employment of black professionals is a key issue in terms of transformation. In addition, professionals form the pipeline from which managers are sourced, while they also create work for administrative support staff. Overall, the portion of blacks as part of the broad professional group, expanded from 25% in 2001 to 55% in 2017 as shown in Table 5. Above average representation of black professionals in the sector in 2017 are found in the subsectors Development Organisations (72%), SARS and Government Departments (72%) and Stockbroking and Financial Markets (58%). However, the subsector Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation represents a variety of organisations from year to year, which cause fluctuations in the subsector s data as seen in table

12 Table 5: Percentage blacks employed in professional positions according to subsector Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Percentage black professionals Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total

13 In 2017 most professionals (59%) in large organisations in the Fasset sector are black (Table 6). Over the 17-year period, black s share of management in these organisations increased from 26. Organisations that employ fewer than 50 people showed smaller increases over the same period. -13-

14 Table 6: Percentage blacks employed in professional positions according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage black professionals 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

15 2.2 The Employment of Women in the Sector While Fasset s sector always employed more women than men, women s share of the workforce increased from 55% in 2001 to 58% in 2016, before decreasing to 55% in 2017 ( Table 7). In 2017, the subsectors SARS and Government Departments (62%), Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation (67%), and Accounting Bookkeeping, Auditing and Tax Services (57%) share of women employees were the same or higher than the share of the total sector (55%). -15-

16 Table 7: Percentage women employed according to subsector Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Percentage Female Employees Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total

17 In 2017, women represent almost 55% of the workforce in small- medium- and large organisations in the sector (Table 8). However, the percentage of women employed in large (150 and more employees) organisations showed the highest growth over the past 16 years: from 48% of the workforce in 2001 to 55% in

18 Table 8: Percentage women employed according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage Female Employees 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

19 Despite the fact that most employees in the sector are women, they are still in the minority on management level (45% of managers). However, substantial growth in women managers occurred in the sector since In that year only 28% of managers were women, compared to 45% of current managers (Table 9). Over the 17-year period, Investment Entities and Trusts and Company Secretary Services remained the subsector with the smallest share of women employment, while Development Organisations showed the highest increase in women: from 14% in 2001 to 51% in

20 Updated: October 2016 Table 9: Percentage women employed in managerial positions according to subsector Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Percentage Female Managers Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total

21 In 2017, women occupy a larger share of managerial positions in medium and large organisations than in smaller organisations (50 or fewer employees). Furthermore, men and women occupied almost equal shares of managerial positions in medium and large organisations in 2017 (Table 10). The underrepresentation of female managers in especially very small organisations (employing fewer than 10 people) is mainly the result of fewer women than men opening their own professional practices or starting up their own small businesses. However, over the 17-year period, women s share of managerial positions showed the largest increase in organisations employing from 10 to 19 people and 50 to 149 people,. -21-

22 Table 10: Percentage women employed in managerial positions according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage Female Managers 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

23 Table 11 shows an increase of women s share of professional positions in all subsectors since 2001 except in the Business & Management Consulting Services subsector which showed a decrease of 5%. Over the 17-year period under discussion, women s share of professional positions in the sector grew from 39% to 52%. The subsectors Investment Entities and Trusts and Company Secretary Services; Development Organisations; and Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing and Tax Services showed the highest influx of women on professional level. -23-

24 Table 11: Percentage women employed in professional positions according to subsector Subsector Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Percentage Female Professionals Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total

25 In 2017, the majority (59%) of professional positions in small organisations (1 to 9 employees) is occupied by women (Table 12). Medium organisations showed the highest increase in women professional employment: from 32% of professionals in 2001 to 54% in Very small organisations (fewer than ten employees) share of women professionals remained relatively stable over the same period: 53% of all professionals in 2001 and 52% in

26 Updated: October 2016 Table 12: Percentage women employed in professional positions according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage Female Professionals 1 to 9 employees to 19 employees to 49 employees to 149 employees employees Total

27 3. STAFF TURNOVER The percentage of employees who left their organisations from the 2008/2009 grant scheme year to the 2012/2013 grant scheme year can be seen in Table 13. The overall staff turnover rate for the sector showed fluctuation in all subsectors from year to year due to varied and small participation of organisations. SARS and Government Departments did not provide staff turnover information since Table 13: Percentage of employees who left their organisations 2008/ / / / /2013 Subsector Percentage of total employment Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations ** ** Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation 23 *41 23 ** 17 Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments 11 7 ** ** ** Total *This high percentage is the result of a figure quoted by one large organisation in the subsector. ** Questions pertaining to staff turnover are not compulsory. Not enough responses received in these subsectors in these years. -27-

28 4. SCARCE SKILLS One of the goals of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) III is to establish a credible institutional mechanism for skills planning. Data on scarce skills is only reported from 2012 onwards due to the major updating of the OFO in 2010 to better reflect the structure of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). The financial sector s employment profile mainly consists of five major OFO occupational groups i.e. managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers and service and sales workers. The term scarce skills refers to those occupations in which a scarcity of qualified and experienced people was felt at the current time, either because such skilled people were not available or because they were available but did not meet employment criteria. From 2012 to 2017 the total number of scarce skills reported in the sector increased from to at an average annual rate of 13%. The highest number of scarce skills reported by employers in the financial sector was for professionals (Table 14). Table 14: Scarce skills according to OFO major group Year Managers Professionals Technicians & Associate Professionals Clerical support workers Service & Sales workers Total Since 2012, the need for the professional group5 Accountants (including trainees) was the most severe (Table 15). High numbers of finance managers, management and organisation analysts, financial analysts, software developers and accounting associate professionals were also required over the six-year period. 5 OFO Unit groups,

29 Table 15: OFO occupations (unit group) in which shortages were experienced * OFO Unit group Occupation Number of people needed Finance Managers Information and Communications Technology Service Managers Mathematicians, Actuaries and Statisticians Accountants Financial and Investment Advisors Financial Analysts Management and Organisation Analysts Policy Administration Professionals Information and Communications Technology Sales Professionals Systems Analysts Software Developers Database Designers and Administrators Systems Administrators Computer Network Professionals Economists Accounting Associate Professionals Trade Brokers Office Supervisors Debt-collectors and Related Workers Accounting and Bookkeeping Clerks *Unit groups with a total of 100 or more vacancies reported over the six-year period are included in this table. **Including trainee accountants & auditors. -29-

30 5. STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT The percentage of the workforce that receives training in a particular year is one of the indicators of the extent to which the sector is committed to the development of its workers, although it doesn t provide insight into the kind of training, its duration, or its quality and impact. Calculations in this section are based on organisations that submitted an Annual Training Report (ATR) and a Skills Development Plan (SDP); formerly known as the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) for a particular year i.e. employment profile 2016 and implemented training for the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December From 2014 various changes were implemented on the grant application forms: Online capturing and uploading of individual records/data commenced for organisations with 50 or more employees; the reporting period for the ATR has changed from a financial year to a calendar year (only a nine month period ATR was reported for 2013);. an individual may be reported more than once on implemented training; and additional compulsory fields to report on were added to the table that reported on training implemented. Small organisations with 50 or fewer employees submit aggregated training data. From 2015, the grant application forms allowed individuals to be counted more than once if they have been trained on different interventions. As a result it is no longer possible to determine the number of employees in small organisations who received training. To ensure comparability, only 2014 and 2016 training data are reported for large (50 or more employees) organisations in the Fasset sector. 5.1 Percentage of the Workforce Trained Table 16 shows that the majority of employees employed in large organisations received some form of training in 2014 to More than 70% of employees in the Development Organisations-; and in the Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation subsector received training in 2015 and Table 16: Percentage of employees trained according to subsector * Subsector Percentage of Employees Trained Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments Total ** * Small organisations with 50 and fewer employees not included. ** Total excluding SARS & Government Departments. -30-

31 From 2014 to 2016 a drop in the percentage of employees trained in organisations employing from 50 to 149 people is noted (Table 16). Table 17: Percentage of employees trained according to organisation size Organisation size Percentage of Employees Trained 1 to 9 employees * * * 10 to 19 employees * * * 20 to 49 employees * * * 50 to 149 employees employees Total ** * Small organisations (50 and fewer employees) not included in the table because of the way in which they report on training i.e. employees are double counted. ** Total excluding SARS & Government Departments. The majority of managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals and clerical workers received training in 2014 and 2015 (Table 17). These are the occupational groups in the Fasset sector with the largest employment. Table 18:: Percentage employees trained according to occupational category: * Occupational group Percentage of employees trained Managers Professionals Technicians & Associate Professionals Clerical Support Workers Service & Sales Workers Skilled Agricultural, Forestry, Fishery, Craft & Related Trades Workers Plant & Machine Operators & Assemblers 8 0 Elementary Workers Total * Small organisations with 50 and fewer employees not included. 5.2 Training Interventions per Employee The average number of training interventions offered per employee in 2014 and 2016 can be seen in Table 19 and 19. In the sector each employee attended on average 7 training interventions. The Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing and Tax Services subsector had the highest number of interventions recorded per employee over the two-year period. Table 19 shows that organisations employing 150 or more employees had the highest number of training interventions per employee in 2014 and

32 Table 19: Average number of training interventions per employee according to subsector: * Subsector Average number of training interventions per employee Investment Entities & Trusts & Company Secretary Services Stockbroking & Financial Markets Development Organisations Accounting, Bookkeeping, Auditing & Tax Services Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation Business & Management Consulting Services SARS & Government Departments 3 2 ** Total * Small organisations with 50 and fewer employees not included. ** Data no available. Table 20: Average number of training interventions per employee according to organisation size: * Organisation size 1-9 employees employees employees Average number of training interventions per employee employees employees Total 5 4 9** * Small organisations with 50 and fewer employees not included. ** Total excluding SARS & Government Departments. 5.3 NQF Levels of Training Interventions All training interventions (double counting) offered in government and in organisations with 50 or more employees are included in the calculations in Table 20. It shows that more than 50% of all training interventions in the sector were from NQF levels 5 to

33 Table 21: Percentage of training interventions according to NQF levels* * NQF level Percentage of employees Below level Total * Small organisations with 50 and fewer employees not included. -33-

34 6. CONCLUDING REMARKS In summary it is evident from the data that transformation in favour of the previously disadvantaged is happening within the Fasset sector. The only concern is the slow pace of transformation, which needs to increase. As a result of the different interventions by employers, Fasset, professional bodies in the sector and national organisations who implemented legislation related to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Employment Equity (EE), there has been a gradual increase in black people participating in the sector. In % of the total workforce was black. By 2017 this percentage had increased to 63%. In 2001 only 16% of the managers in the sector were black and by 2017 blacks share in managerial positions had increased to 47%. Similarly the percentage black professionals had increased from 25% in 2001 to 55% in The position of women has also improved over the 16-year period. Although women were always in the majority in the financial sector, only 28% of the managerial positions and 39% of professional positions were filled by women in These percentages increased to 45% and 52% respectively by From 2012 to 2017 the total number of scarce skills reported in the sector increased on average by 13% per year. Most of the scarce skills reported by employers in the financial sector were for professionals, especially blacks and female accountants. The majority of employees (managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals and clerical workers) in large organisations received some form of training in 2014 and On average each employee received seven training interventions per year most of them at NQF levels 5 to

35 7. ANNEXURE 1 Spikes in the data can be attributed to the following three reasons. a) Employer submission rates vary from year to year. That has an effect on the data. b) If the data is broken down according to subsector or organisation size, smaller sub-samples of the sample of organisations that submitted grant applications emerge. Generally speaking, the smaller the sample size, the more variability can be expected in time series data. The sampling errors become bigger and the confidence intervals wider. This effect is also present in large national datasets such as the Labour Force Survey (LFS) or the National Accounts data. The data runs smoothly at the aggregate level, but when it is broken down to subsector level or other smaller categories, the percentages may fluctuate from year to year. c) The subsector Activities auxiliary to Financial Intermediation is a Catch all subsector with all sorts of organisations grouped in it. The composition of this subsector changes often, as organisations move in or out of it. It is also relatively small so, an organisation that moves in or out of the subsector can easily cause spikes. -35-