Finance roles expanding beyond accounting to value creation
GCCs in India have evolved from back-office support hubs to global value creators – now leading innovation, technological advancements, and research and development for global corporations, said ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in its recent report.
These centres are boosting India’s economic growth by driving services exports and creating high-quality finance roles, and they play a key role in managing global operations and work closely with teams across the world.
A skilled workforce (especially tech-related), expansion into tier-II cities, favourable government policies and improving infrastructure are fuelling India’s rise as the world’s front office, the report highlighted.
In FY24, GCCs generated approximately $64.6 billion in export revenue, marking a significant 40 per cent increase from $46 billion in FY23.
20,000 global leadership roles are projected to be based in India by 2030, the report noted.
“India is the ideal environment for GCCs thanks to our young, educated workforce, politically stable business environment and digital transformation capabilities,” said Md Sajid Khan, Director-India at ACCA.
Opportunities for finance professionals, especially, are immense, with strong demand for those with a higher set of skills who understand the finance function, are comfortable with data and digital tools and can deploy commercial and critical thinking, he added.
As GCCs mature, finance roles are expanding far beyond traditional boundaries – from doing basic transaction-focused accounting to roles that create value for the organisation, through process improvement and cost transformation initiatives.
Areas of opportunity include business partnering, procurement, reporting, planning and analysis.
While entry-level roles focus on data analytics, financial planning and analysis, and compliance management, mid-level roles are shifting to process improvements and driving transformation, the report stated.
