"Workplaces around the world are changing. A new generation, the millennials, born in the 1980s and 1990s, increasingly dominate the workforce. In just a few years, they'll account for the majority of employees," maintained the study, which polled over 400 young professionals in big businesses across the UK and U.S.

The study revealed a generation with ambitions beyond finance and some reflecting disillusionment with the discipline. While 82% recognize the role of finance in bolstering trust, just 45% think public confidence in corporates has grown in the last 12 months. A third (34%) think it has declined. Seventy-one percent feel confident that shareholders and executives appreciate finance's role in driving performance, a substantial minority say they don't (16%) or don't know (13%).

The report acknowledged a more encouraging lesson drawn from millennials' diverse career goals, however: They see the function changing, becoming more strategic and varied – in large part due to technology. Almost eight out of 10 (79%) said adoption of technology within finance would affect their career choices. The generation of digital natives firmly believe that new tools and techniques will transform their discipline: More than half (52%) say advanced analytics offer a transformational opportunity for the finance function. More than half (51%) also said there's an immediate need to learn data science skills and a third also believe AI and machine learning will have a big bearing.

On the one hand, there are no illusions that technology will make some tasks carried out by finance redundant: 61% say automation of core processes and strategic decision support in the finance function could threaten their role. On the other, even more (78%) see automation as an enabler, allowing finance to add more strategic value to the business.

This generation sees a bright future for finance reflected in a range of career options. Unfettered from labor intensive bookkeeping and reporting through automation, young professionals expect to use other technology tools, such as analytics and AI, to provide the insights they need to add real strategic value to the business.

"When looking at millennials' role in shaping the future of finance, we first needed to examine whether they'll be around long enough to make a difference," the study suggested. It added, unfairly or not, millennials are part of a generation of job-hoppers. In one survey, 44% of this generation said they intended to leave their current employer in under two years, while only 16% cent saw themselves staying put for a decade.  In addition, a fifth of younger U.S. workers in 2016 reported switching jobs in the previous 12 months. According to the country's Bureau of Labor & Statistics, the average tenure for employees aged 55 and over is 10.1 years; for those 25 to 34 it's 2.8 years; and for 20 to 24-year olds, just 1.3 years.

Some previous surveys showed retention as an issue in finance particularly – More than four out of 10 finance respondents in a 2018 AccountancyAge survey said they left a job within the first year – the findings in the Metapraxis poll found some are in it for the long haul. They are gaining the skills and expertise to contribute and lead more effectively, in finance, and beyond. Twenty-nine percent aim to become chief financial officer; and about a quarter (24%) want a leadership position outside finance or plan to start their own business (23%).