'The jewel in our crown'
F&PM Consultant Milestone Programme at Accenture
Financial consultants need a good basic conceptual framework to help them in their dealings with clients. With this aim in mind, service provider Accenture offers its new young financial consultants the F&PM Consultant Milestone Programme, courtesy of Vlerick.
The F&PM Consultant Milestone Programme was introduced four years ago as a training course within Accenture’s financial consultant department (F&PM). François Jaucot, one of the partners at Accenture, explains: “The young people recruited to F&PM come from very diverse backgrounds. They have various qualifications under their belt, they’ve been employed in different sectors and in their previous jobs they've not all dealt with subjects that relate to what we do here.”
Same financial footing
To ensure that every member of staff starts out on the same financial footing, F&PM decided to organise a course for all of its young employees with fewer than six years’ work experience. The aim was to brush up on the financial basics, and also broach a number of topics that the consultants come across in their dealings with clients. François Jaucot again: “We asked three business schools to put together a proposal and eventually decided to team up with Vlerick. The quality of the course they designed looked excellent, the training guaranteed ample variety in terms of both form and content, their proposal showed an innovative mindset and, on a personal note, we also hit it off with Vlerick professor Filip Roodhooft.”
Feedback welcome!
The programme was first launched in 2005 and has been organised twice a year ever since. It is an intensive week-long course, offering a mixture of lectures and practical workshops. François Jaucot: “The participants evaluate each session and we modify the programme based on their feedback. We try our best to respond to the needs of the market, to the work of our consultants and to the demands of the participants. For instance, the session on treasury management has now been superseded by a more relevant module on activity-based costing.”
Five stars
The F&PM Consultant Milestone Programme has an excellent reputation worldwide and gets a maximum five-star rating from Accenture. “It’s the jewel in our crown,” confirms Isabelle Caramazza, Training & Development Lead Belgium-Luxembourg. Each session brings together 25 Accenture employees. Initially, the trainees were all Belgian. “But as time went on we welcomed participants from other Benelux countries, from France and also from elsewhere around the globe,” says Isabelle Caramazza. “Looking ahead, the plan is therefore to make the programme even more accessible to other countries.”
Mieke Comeyne, former trainee: ‘Familiar and new topics juxtaposed’
“The advantage of doing the F&PM Consultant Milestone training is that you can brush up on all aspects of finance. Topics you're already familiar with are juxtaposed with others that were terra incognita to you before."
François Jaucot, Accenture partner:
“The Vlerick programme shows quality, innovation and ample variety in terms of both form and content”
Isabelle Caramazza, Training & Development Lead Belgium-Luxembourg Accenture:
“We're planning to make the F&PM Consultant Milestone Programme even more accessible to other countries”