60 per cent surge in accountancy jobs in Brazil

• IFRS drives demand for qualified accountants
• Accountants in Brazil second highest paid in the world

There has been a 60% surge in the number of accountancy jobs in Brazil over the past two years, according to accountancy recruiter Marks Sattin.

Sustained economic growth and business expansion, as well as the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the business world, is causing the increase.

The standards will require the majority of Brazil’s 5.9m small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to have an IFRS-trained accountant by the end of 2010. The government hopes the greater financial transparency that the standards encourage will boost Brazil’s competitiveness and influence on the world stage.

On an international comparison measured by purchasing power parity (PPP) , accountants in Brazil are now the second highest paid in the world, with an average £3,671 monthly income.

Top 5 countries for net monthly income of accountants

Daniel Santiago Faria, Country Manager-Brazil, Marks Sattin said:
“Brazil has the world's eighth largest economy by nominal GDP and was one of the first emerging markets to recover from the global recession. GDP returned to positive growth in the second quarter of 2009 - the Central Bank expects growth of 5% for 2010 - and consumer and investor confidence has revived.

“If annual growth continues at the current rate, and inflation remains under control, Brazil will be the fifth largest economy in the world within just a few years.

“The country has a stable democratic system, a wealth of natural resources, and its major companies are already expanding across the world. At the same time overseas companies are establishing themselves in Brazil. Between 1994 and 2009 Brazil received around $330bn in foreign direct investment. The implementation of IFRS is a message to the world that Brazil is committed to trade and that it intends its businesses to be active internationally.

“Accountants trained in IFRS will be in high demand as Brazilian companies seek to establish themselves internationally. Already we are seeing growth – in July 2010 there were 439,051 registered accountants in Brazil, up from 410,596 in July 2009 – a 7% increase. At the current rate, there will be half a million accountants in the country by mid-2012, and there’s a high chance of this milestone being reached earlier, as economic growth accelerates and appetite from SMEs particularly, for sound management information to steer their businesses increases. Hitherto, for many SMEs, fiscals were largely tax-driven and not used for management purposes in the same way as in more advanced economies. This change of perception of the finance function has been the game changer for the discipline since IFRS adoption was set in motion in 2006.”

Marks Sattin Sao Paulo

Marks Sattin is launching an office in Sao Paulo which will cater for the burgeoning demand for financial services professionals. It follows in the footsteps of legal recruiter Laurence Simons (also part of parent FiveTen Group), which opened up a Brazilian operation six months ago.

Marks Sattin Sao Paulo will be led by Daniel Santiago Faria. Faria has five years’ financial recruitment and executive search experience, an MBA from the South American business school, IBMEC, and has previously worked in finance roles himself for Alstom and Coca Cola.

John Rose, Group CEO, FiveTen, added:
“As well as accountancy, Brazil is also proving to be a burgeoning market for other professional services and it’s comforting to know that we are ahead of most of the competition there with Laurence Simons Sao Paulo already proving successful. Marks Sattin Sao Paulo is set to follow in its footsteps with a strong team already hitting the ground running.”

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