Accountants take the gold

It’s been an interesting summer; Pokémon had the nation collectively bumping into lamp posts, Andy Murray reigned supreme, there was the small matter of the Referendum and Team GB finished the summer off by surpassing every expectation in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

It’s been no less heady in the world of accountancy jobs within professional services. The biggest accounting firms are continuing to grow and invest and the Top 50 firms increased their fees to £12.8bn, up nearly a billion pounds from £11.9bn in 2015, according to the 2016 Accountancy Age Top 50+50 Survey published in September 2016. 

Candidates are very much in the driving seat with competition for top talent unabated across all disciplines and seniority within accounting practices, most noticeably at manager/senior manager level in audit and tax – a situation exacerbated by lower than usual levels of candidate activity. 

The roots of this state of affairs can be traced back to the financial crisis of 2007/08; training contracts fell dramatically across the board. This has lead to a relative shortage of ACA/CTAs coming through the ranks fuelling the current skills gap. However, it’s a mistake to simply assume the talent isn’t there – you just have to work harder to attract and engage candidates. 

At Marks Sattin, we adopt a national approach to accounting jobs in practice. We have a presence in all major UK markets and we ensure that we talk to each other about what our candidates and clients want. So, if you’re thinking about relocating to London, Reading, Manchester, Birmingham or Leeds then we want to hear from you!

Firms are offering generous salary packages and attractive roles with increased variety for experienced accountants. For candidates in practice this means more opportunities to gain broader experience and a greater chance of promotion. On many occasions, bespoke roles have been created for the right individual so relocating can elevate your career quicker than staying at your current firm especially outside of London. 

There are also opportunities to gain exposure to other service lines. For example, newly qualified auditors who are interested in corporate finance but find internal barriers in London firms have found these disappear when exploring the other locations, some securing moves to other professional service firms and furthering their career.