Alain Mulder is the Regional Director Europe, Central Asia & Sr. Director of Global Projects at IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants), an association focused exclusively on advancing the Management Accounting profession.

Alain discusses his international role at IMA, sharing insights into the key drivers of success and challenges ahead. Alain also references membership/service offerings, revealing the recently launched IMA corporate membership.

Since 2020, EMEA Recruitment has been the European recruitment partner of IMA. Through this partnership, we are pleased to offer a free, three-month IMA membership trial. To find out more/redeem, please visit: emearecruitment.com/pages/institute-of-management-accountants

What excites you about working for IMA?

How entrepreneurial we are. That may be surprising, because IMA is a non-profit organization, but we are very entrepreneurial. Not in the sense that we need to make as much money as possible, but how can we ensure that we have the best offerings for our members?

We are really focused on our mission to empower and connect business professionals. In every meeting, when we discuss ideas or challenges, we always think about how we can deliver value for our members or increase our membership numbers in a specific country to scale our impact. That whole entrepreneurial mindset is something I really like within IMA.

I imagine no two days are the same when you get that insight from different cultures and global exposure.

Indeed. That’s probably the same for many people who work in an international company.

My morning always starts with a little bit of Europe, and maybe I’ll help colleagues in China or work with clients in Kazakhstan. Then, as the day evolves, I end up in the Americas. I just finished a meeting in the US before this interview. Every day, I cover the whole world, as our members are everywhere, so it’s really nice.

What I also like is meeting our members and seeing so many industries come together. For example, we have people who work in the airline industry, others in the food and beverage industry, etc. When you visit their company, they tell you everything and you get a lot of insights from many businesses.

As a non-profit organization, what are the three to five key drivers to success that you monitor?

Number one is engagement. Are our volunteers engaged with IMA? Are our members engaged with our product learning offerings? Are they going to events? Engagement comes first.

Then, of course, we look at growth figures. As a non-profit, we want to make a larger impact in certain countries and globally. I focus on growth, because I strongly believe that when we promote, for example, the CMA^® (Certified Management Accountant) program it delivers more value to our members.

It makes me happy if a member meets with a recruiter or a hiring manager and they recognize or recommend IMA. This is what I want to achieve, so this is an indicator that I look at.

I also assess our corporate member growth, which is another area where we can make a lot of impact. When a corporate becomes an IMA member, it can include 30 or more individuals at once, and they get an individual customized, branded micro site to access all online learning and become part of the global IMA community of Finance and Accounting professionals.

We recently launched IMA corporate membership. We had our first large companies, including Novartis, Körber, and others sign up, so I’m really excited about it. I think it is a great opportunity for companies to engage learning within their teams.

Additionally, what I like about IMA as a global association is it can really help you develop your profession. If a company decides to purchase a course on AI, for instance, you can develop those people as well, creating an impact.

To summarize, number one is engagement, and then growth from both the individual and corporate angles.

It's interesting to see the different approaches and the added values that differ slightly. The reach from a corporate perspective can be massive, especially for some of the international businesses you've been working with.

Yes, and you see the macro developments, too. If one company in Europe says they want to sign their team up for the CMA in another country, then I realize that the economic growth or the opportunity for that company is in that region. That is really interesting to see, as well.

Is that something that companies have been quite selective about - it's not been a widespread approach for all levels or specialisms in a company, it's been quite geographically focused?

Yes, sometimes they suddenly move their shared service center to another region or country. In Central Europe, we now see teams signing up. But I also had a company who suddenly said, “Okay, we will do it in Latin America as we have a big team there.” Those shifts and insights are really key.

How do you ensure that your strategic decisions align with IMA’s values and your customer company, client industry, and market demands?

In every meeting, we always have those customer personas and think about what is in it for them.

As an association, you get false leadership, as well; we can get caught up in new ideas, for example. We should do a course on that or write an article on this topic.

Sometimes, we realize a certain topic isn’t that interesting to our members, so we need to align with our mission and strategic priorities. IMA stands out from that perspective; we are very member-focused in all our activities.

What would you say are the three challenges for you at IMA?

There’s one that encompasses everything: staying relevant. We don’t have an issue with it, but in each meeting with a company or member, I always ask them what they think of IMA, what they like and dislike, what skills do you need, and their future perspective. That is continually happening. If we have outdated courses, we lose our relevance.

With the CMA program, we need to ensure that the skills and everything they learn are something they can implement in their role the following day. We must also stay relevant for those at each career stage; someone who just graduated from university or college has completely different needs than a senior executive. Ensuring we have something for all those segments is a challenge and that's something we always work on.

Do you feel that Finance professionals generally have a large interest in staying relevant, training, and developing themselves for their roles?

Yes, Finance professionals are very interested in developing themselves and that stands out. They are very much focused on earning certificates.

They are always looking for other skills, too. When I go to chapter events, there’s always a handful of members approaching me asking if IMA has a course in a specific topic, as it’s something they need within the next year. I like that a lot, as I can text my colleagues about their interests, which is very useful for us. It amazes me how development-focused Finance professionals are.  

Has there been a topic where you've not been able to pre-empt a relevant course, or has somebody asked and it's allowed you to create one?

Sustainability and AI are currently very hot topics, and those topics develop quite fast. People used to ask us for an introductory course - the basics of AI or sustainability - and now people want advanced courses.

For example, with sustainability, we did an in-person conference after the pandemic in 2022. We had presentations about sustainability and people were asking what's in it for our company or how should we handle it within our company – basic level.

But, when we had our conference in 2024, people were up to speed with everything; companies are using and implementing it. I see the same now with AI and we are working on more advanced courses in those fields. The next one will launch soon, because people and companies were outspoken about wanting those courses.

How does IMA address corporate social responsibility?

We do it within our organization, for the staff or volunteers. However, where we make the biggest impact is our outreach to the global community.

Corporate social responsibility touches on sustainability and other topics, so by embedding it in our courses, we impact many companies around the world.

We are very much focused on ethics, too, so all our members have to sign up to our ethics framework, which ensures they are ethical at work. We also have an ethics hotline, so if people have an issue, or have second thoughts, they can always reach out to the hotline and ask for advice. Those things allow us to make an impact in the field.

What is the biggest myth about your profession you would like to debunk?

People say Corporate Accounting is boring, and that is not true. I think Corporate Accounting is one of the most exciting careers to have, because you're at the heart of decision-making within companies.

Everything starts with the Finance team; you give input to management, and you are involved in that input. I had a very nice meeting with one of our members, who works for a big pharma company. Some of her family members had health issues, and now as a Finance professional, she is involved in investment decisions to tackle those health issues. That is very impactful. So, Finance professionals can deliver advice for the development of those new things and projects to make a difference.

I'm a big fan of the Shark Tank series. That is basically what Finance professionals are doing; they are looking at business cases and investment decisions at the highest level. So, it’s a really exciting career, especially for those who just graduated.

People should realize there's a big difference between Public Accounting (auditing) and Corporate Accounting, too. Corporate Accountants who look forward are involved in investment decisions, give advice to management, and even become managers within their company. It's an exciting career.

When I graduated, I worked for a very large multi-national. If I wanted to know if something was going to happen within the company, the Finance team was busy. When I saw our CEO constantly going to the Finance and FP&A teams, I knew that something was going to happen, like an investment or a merger acquisition. That really shows how important those teams are and how exciting that career is.

From a study perspective, is there any advice you would have for those looking to choose a study area or enter a Finance career?

I did a presentation recently for the students at Istanbul University. It focused on how to enter the field. Networking was my number one piece of advice. Many students focus on their studies and obtaining high grades - which is completely understandable, and they should continue - but you should also start networking.

Ensure you have a LinkedIn profile to show a recruiter or hiring manager that you are interested in Finance. Go to network events, those can be IMA or other partners or associations, because you get to meet Finance professionals. Besides studies, focus on networking, too.

Do you have any advice or strategies for those who would like to pivot industries?

I meet a lot of talented Finance professionals and see some are only focused on their jobs. They're really talented, but they don’t focus on the big picture. It's also important to understand the whole business and to network.

80% of your work should be doing it well, but spend time understanding the rest of the business - that's where you can really make an impact. What are the priorities of your leadership? What is the company’s strategy? Then think about what you can do in your job to deliver on those priorities. If you start doing that, you really become useful to the leadership team, and then you can eventually step up and join the team.

I also always advise people, students, and young professionals to take the opportunity to sit in meetings with your executive leadership team. Observe them as much as possible, because it's a mini-MBA moment. You can figure out their priorities, and how they handle challenges and negotiations. Those people are senior for a reason.

What would you say is the most rewarding part of your role?

When members tell me that they have grown in their careers. Recently, I met a member in London, and she told me she landed a job within a great company because of IMA’s network. That's why we are here as an association. I like seeing people get promoted and seeing that impact.

Who’s the most inspiring person in business for you?

I read a book, Amp it Up by Frank Slootman. He’s Dutch and the CEO of Snowflake, a cloud-based data storage company, headquartered in the USA.

First, I read it on my Kindle, but it was so good that I purchased a hard copy. It detailed how to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to big corporates. That founder mindset is about creating urgency to deliver growth and maximize returns - not only financial returns.

I still read that book when I have a project to check if there are things I can implement. I advise people to read it if they want to deliver more growth within their company. It was also a Wall Street Journal best seller. He grew up in my neighboring city, which is a coincidence, but it’s a really good book.

Outside of networking and IMA, what are your passions or things that you love to do?

From a personal perspective, I really like Formula One. I’ve been a big fan since 1993. What I really like about it is things obviously go fast, but also the competition level - sometimes it’s not nice, sometimes it is. I love the strategy behind it, too. Are they going to do extra pit stops or are they going to overtake? There's also a lot of data mining behind it, which I really like.

Also, I used to have my own company focused on the Amsterdam region, but I missed the international environment. I get a lot of that within IMA. An international environment is very important to me. What I always tell people is, if you want to understand other cultures, you can go on a tourist trip and sightsee, but when you work somewhere, you delve into it and understand everything much better.

Thank you to Alain for speaking to Georgia Wright, Director in our Finance & Accountancy recruitment division in the Netherlands.

Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment.