BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

development for their employees in 2022 beyond what was mandatory. That is a thirteen-percentage-point increase since 2020, a period which covers the economic disruption caused by the pandemic. That shows genuine commitment to addressing the problem. However, despite their best efforts, they have been unable to plug the skills gaps in their organizations.

Barriers To Training

The sad fact is that 90% of the SME employers we recently polled told us that there are barriers preventing them from offering more training, including a lack of time and expertise. However, the biggest barrier — cited by 30% of employers — is a lack of financial resources as a reason they could not train staff further. This is a legitimate point. SMEs do not have the training budgets available to large corporations and will have many competing demands on tight resources. This is especially true in today’s tough economic circumstances.

From a macroeconomic perspective, it is highly undesirable for SME workers to miss out on upskilling due to barriers preventing their employers from offering it. According to the World Bank, SMEs account for around 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. If we want to bridge the global skills gap, it would be self-defeating to ignore half of the global workforce.

In the UK market, AICPA and CIMA are delighted that the UK government is looking at reforms to boost skills, and we are very much looking forward to hearing more policy details, particularly with regards to reforming the Apprenticeship Levy.

If the right policies are put in place, and access to upskilling is made as wide as possible to address the global skills gap, great economic opportunities and other benefits await.

The modern workplace is rapidly evolving — digitization and changes to working practices brought about by COVID-19 mean that all of us need to develop our skills. The potential economic boost that would come from a workforce equipped to take advantage of the changing workplace would be enormous. The time to tackle the skills gap is right now.

Read AICPA and CIMA’s Mind the Skills Gap 2023 research at bit.ly/MindTheSkillsGap.

Paul Turner is vice president, UK and Ireland at AICPA and CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.