Most financial staff believe that more frequent and relevant training would transform the way their department operates, a new study claims.

The study, commissioned by secure payments provider Voca, found that 80% of financial staff believed that better training would benefit their work.

There was also complaint about the overall lack of training offered by firms. Less than half (46%) of all organisations were said to give frequent training to their finance staff, while 6% of respondents never receive any training at all.

Even finance department heads admitted that their organisation didn't invest enough time or money in training, with 56% stating this to be the case.

The training that is given often does not reach its objectives, according to the survey, with just 53% deemed to be 'completely effective'.

The main reasons cited for the general ineffectiveness of training are a lack of follow-up, meaning that lessons are soon forgotten (experienced by 48%), and training courses with insufficiently relevant content (experienced by 47%).

Fifty-two per cent felt that their organisation doesn't relate its training closely enough to business objectives and requirements.

The top three types of training that finance and accounting employees would most like to receive more of were stated as; accounting and finance software training (51%), anti-money laundering training (28%) and BACS / Direct Debit training (22%).

Liz Cooper, Head of Training and Consultancy at Voca, said: "There is no doubt that finance and accounting professionals receive some of the best and highest quality academic training when joining the profession. However, as our research shows, many feel that they - and indeed their employers - would benefit significantly from further in-job training, giving them the skills and knowledge required to deal with specific business issues and opportunities."