Accountants still a business critical hire

TWO thirds of employers will keep the permanent hiring of finance professionals at the same level and 15% will increase their financial headcount during 2009, according to research.

A survey by financial recruitment specialists FSS predicts a potential rise in interim management assignments driven by the need for technical expertise for projects around cash management, cash flow forecasting and financial control.

More than 90% of employers said they were still planning a salary increase suggesting that companies are keen to retain talent while two thirds said that improving staff productivity and retention would be their biggest challenge.

Almost half (47%) said they had employed new staff from overseas and 13% were planning to increase recruitment outside domestic borders.

Other key findings from the report, which surveyed employers across the
commerce, industry, financial services and not-for-profit sectors revealed that regulatory reform across the financial services is likely to drive demand for risk, compliance and audit specialists.

According to Lucy Davison at FSS, employers had learned important lessons from the last major recession in the early nineties, when downsizing and recruitment
freezes were the order of the day.

“The resulting upward pressure on salaries, a scarcity of talent and the need to
make extensive use of temporary staff to cover skill deficits when the
upturn came, has led to many organisations taking a far longer term view
this time round,” she added.