Hays Accountancy & Finance -
Professional Practice
JANUARY - MARCH 2012
Hotspots
Within New Zealand’s professional practice market high demand remains for senior and manager level candidates across all disciplines of Audit, Business Advisory Services and Tax. In Wellington, there is a deep shortage of BAS candidates, particularly those with top firm experience or specialist skills in Tax, Audit and Corporate Recovery.
There is a shortage of these candidates since many are looking to move to commercial roles or specialist areas due to a perceived lack of career progression opportunities. The majority of those trained outside big four or mid-tier companies are usually specialised but lack good overall knowledge of systems. This in turn affects their ability to move to other firms with different software and systems.
External Auditors are sought as more entry-level and intermediate candidates with top firm training look to make the switch across to the commercial sector. This movement into commerce is due to a number of factors, including the reluctance of those at senior levels to move, which causes those below to see a barrier towards reaching an Associate or Partner role. Another factor is job dissatisfaction from intermediate candidates, who expect more variety in their work and would like to be more involved in consultation. Finally, due to the limited number of firms involved in Audit, there are fewer options available to candidates to progress their careers if they chose to stay in this field.
Experienced Tax professionals with a law degree and strong corporate exposure through tax advisory roles are looking to move in-house. Thus demand will be high for good technical candidates.
There is an ongoing need for Office Managers and Bookkeepers driven by the demands in Christchurch as employees move out of the area and as a result of the rebuild.
Overcoming skills shortages
Chartered accounting firms are looking at alternative areas where they can source skilled accountants, most notably overseas. These candidates have excellent transferrable skills and those from European countries are able to adapt to the local culture reasonably well in a short period of time. Firms are also addressing why a large number of intermediate level accountants are looking to move away from professional practice and into the commercial sector. This is leading to improved training and development, mentoring, employee engagement and career progression planning to encourage trained Chartered Accountants to pursue long-term careers in this sector as well as ensuring they are fulfilled in their roles.
We have also seen an increase in the use of temporary staff while other employers are bringing on more staff at the graduate level and increasing salaries.
The coming quarter
We expect to see an increase in hiring activity this quarter as new employees are brought on to boost staff levels and fill gaps before financial year end. The outlook is still quite positive and workflows remained steady right up to the end of 2011. Over the next few months, we anticipate an increase in the number of staff hired on a temporary-to-permanent basis while employers and candidates assess their futures.
To overcome the challenge of finding staff, firms of Chartered Accountants have become open to considering contractors which is a relatively new trend. As rebuild work commences, firms will gradually get busier and thus we will see further demand for skills, especially within business advisory.
Executive recruitment
There was a slowdown in executive recruitment at the end of 2011 given the holiday period, but we anticipate a pickup in senior vacancy activity once the busy period from March to June begins. In another interesting trend, some employers have promoted internally for executive roles if they have been vacated as a result of the earthquake.
Employer trends
While most employers are always willing to take on skilled Accountants when they become available, some are very particular about the type of candidate they are looking for. Larger firms for example will usually only consider those with previous top firm experience who have had exposure to comparable systems, clients and productivity levels. This means exceptional candidates who do not have this experience are not even being considered. The ongoing candidate shortage means that firms may need to alter this approach in the near future. We have noted some employers are willing to hire based on potential if a candidate meets most of their criteria.
In addition, salaries are increasing and recruitment timeframes are being reduced, while interviews and decision making is happening at a much speedier pace. Those with different backgrounds are also being taken into consideration, with a number of international firms now considering candidates from one partner firms. This has not regularly happened in the past.
Candidate trends
The continued effect of recent earthquakes is the movement of candidates out of Christchurch, which is leading to a shortage of skilled Senior Accountants across all areas of Chartered Accounting. This provides other regions the opportunity to hire great talent from the area as many candidates have indicated that they are considering a move in 2012. There is a healthy flow of candidates at the entry-level and intermediate level, however many are lacking in key areas such as software experience, client exposure and strong communication skills.
