Hays Accountancy & Finance - October 2007

New Zealand

Hotspots

Across New Zealand's accountancy market demand remains strong for NZCA qualified and experienced financial controllers and finance managers, particularly within local SME's or subsidiaries of international corporates which are currently experiencing growth.

Tax specialists are a major hotspot for both CA firms and the commercial sector, yet there is a severe shortage of candidates with two to three years New Zealand tax experience. CA practices also require BAS intermediates and seniors and corporate finance analysts.

Also in demand are management accountants with manufacturing, distribution or financial services experience, business and financial analysts to focus on performance reporting and customer behaviour analysis, fund and investment accountants, assistant accountants and credit controllers.

Finally, constant demand exists for experienced payrollers with specific New Zealand payroll experience. Demand exists across all levels, from clerk to team leader or payroll manager.

The coming quarter

Despite the impending Christmas holiday period, the market looks set to remain buoyant. High demand for staff exists at both the financial executive and accounting support levels, and indications suggest banking and financial services will be particularly active since a number of larger institutions have expanded their accounting functions or have expansion plans in place.

Within the profession the candidate shortage shows no sign of abating. Many firms are now focusing on candidate attraction and retention and have come to redefine their Employer Value Proposition and rethink how they communicate it. Firms are now not only competing with each other locally to attract top talent, but are also competing with each other at an international level in addition to competing with the commercial sector for their attraction of staff.

Executive recruitment

The requirement for executive candidates is generally steady, although a number of restructures within growing medium to large sized businesses have generated demand for experienced $100,000 and above candidates at the finance manager and commercial manager level.

Salaries

Salary increases are expected, particularly for management accountants and financial analysts where high demand is driving employers to be more flexible.

The 2007 Hays Salary Survey has been released and it is a comprehensive guide to salary movements and trends. It can be viewed at www.hays-hps.co.nz/salary

Candidate trends

Employers are focusing on retention far more than attraction, and when recruiting rely on specialist recruitment agencies rather than direct advertising. They are also far more open to employing candidates from overseas who lack previous New Zealand experience, particularly at the part-qualified and newly qualified levels.