Practice Finance & Accounting Market Insights
Published on 16th January 2017
Q4 saw an increase in hiring within the Top 20. A slowdown of roles within the Big 4 gave the Top 20 the ability to attract more talent to their firms.
There has continued to be high job flow within Practice Finance & Accounting and candidate shortages. As a result, many talented candidates are getting numerous job offers which in turn is pushing up salary levels.
We have seen an increase in counter offers in an attempt for firms to retain their employees.
Skills in demand
Auditors remain in high demand, particularly with Financial Services experience. Commerce & Industry and Financial Services firms continue to focus on attracting candidates with the promise of higher salaries. We have also seen this cascade down to transactional, Accounts Payable and Credit Control Managers who are being actively sought by these firms and offered higher base salaries. This is inflating the market and pricing candidates out of some mid-tier firms.
Predictions for 2017
We expect to see a continuation of high job flow and low candidate availability over the coming months. There are a number of partners approaching retirement age within mid-tier firms and gaps at Director level will put increased pressure on the senior end of the market. This will impact the growth of firms moving forward and we may see an increase in M&A activity.