Hays Accountancy & Finance - July 2009

Professional Practice

Hotspots

Insolvency seniors are needed in direct response to the economic climate. Many firms have recently appointed candidates at the managerial and associate director levels through internal referrals and partner networks and now require experienced seniors who can hit the ground running and work on the appointments without too much initial training.

Meanwhile the focus on revenue generation continues, with supervisors, managers and senior managers sought in all service lines with business development capabilities to increase income and proactively market to new clients. Business development skills are considered critical to ensuring the on-going development and growth of a practice. There is business to be won. Many suburban firms are increasing their recruitment to take advantage of hiring freezes in larger firms and secure the best business development talent. Candidates at the executive level who can offer a client base to their new employer are also held in high regard.

Intermediate and senior candidates with two to five years experience and CA/CPA qualifications (or part qualifications) are also in demand. In particular, candidates with stable work histories and good academics within business services are sought, especially among boutique and medium-sized firms in suburban areas.

Candidates with experience in corporate recovery and corporate advisory remain in high demand, in light of the current economic climate.

With fraud and financial crime on the rise, candidates with specific forensic accounting experience are also in demand among mid-tier firms who are either establishing or growing their existing forensic teams.

Finally, external auditors are required for temporary end of financial year audit assignments.

The coming quarter

Some new positions are expected to be created this quarter. While recruitment activity is still far lower than this time last year, confidence is starting to return. Companies will however emerge from recent months with a far more cautious approach to hiring, so the lengthened interview process is likely to remain.

Many insolvency firms are utilising internal resources to cover their workload peaks and avoid redundancies in other service lines. These candidates typically come from audit and corporate finance divisions, and can easily transfer back into their original roles when the market improves. Insolvency firms are cautious of 'over recruiting' and are also focusing on securing the right candidates with a genuine interest in insolvency.

Executive recruitment

With the exception of ACT, the executive recruitment market is beginning to improve across the country.

Salaries

The economic climate and the swing from a candidate-short market to a good balance between supply and demand will ensure most firms keep salary increases to an absolute minimum, if they will occur at all. Increases are likely to be restricted solely to those receiving a promotion.

Given the current economic climate, candidates favour job stability over a salary increase and are happy to move into a new role that offers them security and the opportunity for career development, as opposed to changing roles solely for a salary increase. The exception occurs in insolvency where salaries continue to remain competitive and candidates can expect a pay increase when changing roles.

Candidate trends

Candidates from big 4 and mid tier environments are securing roles in medium-sized and boutique firms that historically found it difficult to attract staff of this calibre. This is due to candidates' preference for job stability and security. Given market uncertainty they are considering their reasons for looking for a new role far more realistically than in recent years.

Many candidates who have been made redundant and are actively looking for work are willing to be flexible with their job and salary expectations and are prepared to take significant pay cuts to secure an opportunity.

Meanwhile those candidates who were previously considering a move into the commercial sector now see the benefits of staying within professional practice.

Finally, despite an influx of international candidates seeking work in Australia, there are limited 457 working visa sponsorship packages available in response to the abundance of local talent looking for work. Yet the strongest and most desirable candidates remain passive job seekers, who are currently employed and favour job stability.