A new study reveals that 80% of accountants and other finance professionals are planning on leaving their employer within the next year due to a lack of development in their current post, while a similar percentage of employers believe their retention strategy is sound.

The research by Badenoch & Clark shows a disparity of opinion between employees and their bosses, which the recruitment consultants reflects a growing skills gap emerging in today's finance functions, as organisations fail to appreciate the importance of providing professionals with the opportunities to develop a broader set of skills.

When asked how long they planned to stay with their current organisation, 80% of the 500 polled said they were intending to leave within the next 12 months.

Peter Howarth, operational director for accounting and finance at Badenoch & Clark said: 'The finding that eight out of 10 finance professionals are planning to quit their role over the next 12 months is shocking and a cause for concern for organisation's retention policies.

Nearly half (47.8%) of those polled said more commercial experience in order to navigate the increasingly complex regulations they encounter in the job was behind their plan to switch employer.

Howarth explains staff demand for increased commercial skills has materialised, as a result of the recession, adding: 'In a race to keep up, many organisations are giving little thought to exposing their finance professionals now to scenarios that will give them the skills to succeed and are spending time and money on retention and attraction strategies that no longer work.

'Today's accounting and finance functions face a commercial skills gap and talent crisis if they do not adequately address on the job exposure to such experience. Shielding employees from this could be detrimental for organisations in the long run and it is important that organisations act now to address it.'