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Accountants in no position to bargain salaries

Jenha White,  Monday, 08 February 2010 22:20

During 2009 accounting and finance professionals became more willing to sacrifice their base salary expectations to secure a role.

The Hudson Recruitment 2010 Salary Guide for Accounting and Finance roles says salaries for accounting and finance professionals have remained fairly static during the past 12-months and the strong upward pressure it would usually expect in mid-level salaries was not apparent in 2009.

It anticipates the current willingness to sacrifice base salary expectations will change as the labour market gains more strength this year.

Only 1.28% of employers anticipated that salaries would decrease this year.

Hudson says it expects any upward changes to salaries to be modest ranging between 1% and 3%.

"As the export markets recover, demand for accounting and finance professionals is expected to increase gradually, adding further upward pressure on salaries."

It reports that the increase in redundancies last year resulted in a high level of available talent in the market which softened the skills shortage at the mid to senior management levels of the profession.

"We are seeing a higher number of candidates vying for senior level roles including senior finance managers, financial controllers and chief financial officers."

Hudson says the demand for accounting and finance support roles has eased as many organisations absorb this function into existing roles rather than replacing employees as they leave.