How TriFinance's Academies accelerate its Consultants’careers

"All new graduates starting their career at TriFinance automatically join our Young Hub programme, a two-year trainee programme focusing on financial literacy and soft skills in consultancy," explains Sara Wouters. "On top of that, we now have two follow-on programmes: the Controlling Academy and the Finance Management Academy. It became clear from development conversations with our younger employees that, despite our extensive general training offering, there was real demand for more formally defined tracks toward these two career paths. The fact that places in both academies filled up so fast confirms that the programmes answer a genuine learning need."

For a consultant, that means the path is no longer implicit, it's mapped out. Two or three years in, guided by real projects and senior mentors, with a certification and a clear next step at the end of it: controller today, finance manager or CFO further down the road.

There is still a real gap between what college or university courses teach and the knowledge a corporate finance department actually expects. Recent graduates typically arrive with limited technical exposure, and even the most tech-savvy generation doesn't get hands-on training on the specific finance IT tools they'll need, that only starts once they're on the job. At the same time, young professionals are ambitious: they want to move quickly from operational roles into consultancy. The academies exist to give them a solid technical foundation in their chosen field while coaching the soft skills needed to step into those consultancy roles.

"The Controlling Academy is specifically designed to fill that training gap," says Sara. "There's no integrated training track anywhere in Belgium for people who want to become controllers, which is part of why controllers are in such short supply here. You can find courses, but they're rarely taught by controllers with current field experience. There's also plenty of IT training, but it isn't built around what actually matters to a controller day to day. The Controlling Academy was developed by experienced controllers, and it genuinely connects functional knowledge, IT knowledge, and soft skills. I'd go as far as saying it's unique in the Belgian market. By giving young TriFinance consultants access to it, we accelerate their growth into controller roles, and help address the shortage of controllers in the market at the same time."

The same practical logic drives the Finance Management Academy: training courses developed by experienced consultants around one simple test: can a participant apply what they learned to their project the very next day? Rather than an exhaustive walk through laws and regulations that change constantly anyway, the programme builds thorough, fundamental knowledge in areas like corporate tax, business law, closing processes, and financial reporting, always with the tools to act on that knowledge in a live business context. Alongside the technical side, soft skills carry equal weight: how do you get your topic onto management's agenda, build a convincing analysis, and turn it into advice that gets acted on?

"The community side matters just as much as the technical knowledge and soft skills," Sara adds. "The academies connect consultants with peers across other units who share similar interests and ambitions, and with senior consultants who bring real expertise in the field. Our in-class sessions lay the foundation, but we want participants to keep learning from each other well beyond the classroom, building a network that lasts throughout their TriFinance career. We can't underestimate that network. According to the 70-20-10 model, formal training is only the smallest part of how people actually learn. The network you learn and work in matters twice as much as the training itself, and 70% of learning happens in practical, on-the-job situations. That's why academy participation is inseparable from a consultant's growth path on real projects, at TriFinance, we make sure those projects match each consultant's ambitions. The academy format includes a mutual commitment: for the two or three years of the programme, projects will be controlling projects or finance management projects, so new knowledge and insight get put into practice immediately."

That same logic shapes how participants are assessed. Rather than being tested on theoretical knowledge, participants work through a real topic in the context of a client project, via a business case, assessed on their ability to put knowledge into practice in a specific context. Combined with positive feedback from ongoing projects, this translates into certification after completing the two-year Finance Management Academy or Controlling Academy programme.

"Participation does require real commitment, on both sides. We work with consultants to make sure their projects have the right focus, so they can apply new knowledge and insight at the client's company right away. That tight link to practice drives real growth and makes new skills stick, which ultimately benefits our clients too, since the consultant brings extra expertise and the motivation to use it. It all comes back to our philosophy: Furthering People for Better Performance in Do-How."

Two or three years from now, that could mean stepping into a Business Controller or Finance Controller role with a solid, practitioner-built foundation behind you. And it doesn't stop there: many TriFinance consultants use the academies as the first real step on a longer path toward Finance Manager or CFO positions,  with the network, project exposure, and mentorship to keep building toward it long after certification.