Financial acumen crucial for HR consultants

Financial acumen is a must-have for staffing consultants during an economic downturn as staffing costs and productivity move to the forefront. HR practitioners must play three key roles — a business driver, strategic partner and trusted advisor — and they also must be able to help identify a company’s ROI, according to a recent SHRM article.
“HR consultants do not need to have a financial background to work closely with the CFO, but they must have an understanding of how the finances of a company work,” Pamela Wasley, CEO of Cerius Interim Executive Solutions, says in the article. “They need to know how to speak the language of the CFO as it all comes down to metric, numbers, goals and ROI.”
Wasley suggests every HR consultant take a course in finance for non-financial people.