As we come to the end of the holiday period, and the on-going re-adjustment in certain parts of the economy, the demand for recently qualified Accountants remains steady. This is partly due to a severe shortage of accountants over the past number of years, which in many cases is only being back-filled now, as well as movement and growth in certain sectors of the market. While, we don’t have the candidate driven market of 2005 to mid 2007, there is still competition for the recently qualified accountants, especially from practice and industry.

However, the flow of recently qualified candidates has still not improved. This is partly due to a remaining shortage of qualified candidates in this area, candidates being more cautious about the moves they make and also due to the mid summer recess. As a result, strong candidates are still receiving multiple offers. However, several employers are of the frame of mind that the flow of candidates, due to a slowing economy, should have dramatically improved but in several sectors this is not the case and it is causing unrealistic expectations. In the current market, candidates have become cautious about their next move and overall this increases the need for expert recruitment services for job seekers and employers.

Going forward

Going forward towards the end of 2008, we expect a greater flow of candidates, but this will be matched by ongoing requirements within the market, primarily within industry and practice. Sectors such as FMCG, Pharma, Telco’s and Utility are still actively recruiting, mainly at the € 40,000-85,000 mark. Overall, within Industry there is still a strong requirement for candidates with a commercial and operational skill-set and candidates that can work across the business, adding value outside a strict finance remit.

Although the downturn in the property and construction sectors has been well recorded in the past year, there are still some opportunities for enterprising accountants in that area. There is the continuing trend to diversify assets under investment, as a number of property companies are searching for new opportunities to broaden their portfolios in Ireland and abroad. In addition, the area of restructuring distressed assets, through better management and/or the introduction of private equity is ongoing.

The growth in jobs within the hedge funds sector continues, particularly within the accounting, administration and custody areas. In addition, candidates with experience in credit and treasury are still in demand.

In addition, demand for internal and external audit staff, has remained constant, whilst the demands of implementing the ongoing management requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley, Basil II and IFRS has led to a high demand, both within practice and in companies obliged with this requirement, for candidates with suitable compliance experience. Although there is evidence that regulators and national authorities are now becoming much more aware of the impact of regulatory policy and practice on the competitiveness of their financial services and other sectors, we foresee a continued demand in this area.

Also, within Practice there is an increased demand for Corporate Recovery specialists as well as within certain tax disciplines.

Costs management

This operational mind-set impacts on several areas, including the management of cost which is a key risk to the business climate as well as the broader Irish economy. A majority of companies are reporting rising costs over the past two quarters, with no evidence of any easing across the main sectors. While many accountants may not have been faced with these issues over the past number of years, those who have experience managing this risk are valuable to businesses in the current climate. This is likely to be a key feature going forward this year and into 2009. Recent research has showed that in the past, as profits and revenues rose, companies lost some control of costs, without a clear knowledge of what drives costs at a business unit level.

Although not a major facet of the market over the past number of years, several accountancy practices are continuing to ramp up their corporate recovery divisions. The firms that maintained an active presence in this market have a head start. However, as this market grows there is a strong requirement again in this area. The roles available have a focus on the recovery of both the business model and the business operations to include financial restructuring and reorganisation, corporate investigations and business reviews. This includes interaction with all stakeholders including banks, creditors, and potential investors and purchasers. For recently qualified candidates these roles can give a real taste for the commercial world and equip them with skills they can use throughout their career.

As normal during the summer period, there has been an increase in the demand for temporary and interim staff. However, we expect this demand to increase over the coming months as uncertainity in some sectors, in relation to head-count, makes it more difficult to make permanent hires.

In addition, many senior candidates have become cautious in the current market and organisations requiring an experienced professional on short notice may find an interim solution more suitable. Apart from one-off requirements that arise in business ranging from high level corporate activity, such as IPO’s to routine holiday or maternity leave, a temporary / interim professional can be the best solution. It offers the organisation an easily managed solution that is quick, effective and reliable. Once seen as a secondary choice by many companies, temporary and interim staff are increasingly forming a larger part of many organisations. Staff numbers and demand will grow over the coming months and into 2009. This is a factor in every market, although there has been particular growth for contractors within the Fund administration sector. The key challenge will be in the provision of suitably qualified professionals to service these assignments.

Salary survey »

The market has been candidate driven for the past number of years and while there has been an adjustment to this trend there is still strong demand for junior and mid level staff, with an ongoing demand for newly qualified accountants across most sectors. For candidates who did move over the past number of years, they were generally considering a number of opportunities and generally moved for a good increase in their package. In the current environment, there is a greater focus on costs by organisations and this has started to affect remuneration levels, with the constant increases in remuneration starting to decline.

Clients are more hesitant in making hires in the current market and are looking for candidates to be able to match all their criteria as well as getting value for money. However, organisations must be aware that in the current market, candidates are also cautious and a slower market has not yet resulted in a greater flow of candidates. This has continued the demand for junior and mid level professionals, with some organisations looking for suitable candidates for over 6 months.

Overall, salaries in practice have increased slightly year to date, but this is dependent on the area of specialty with demand in corporate tax, corporate recovery and certain audit areas remaining strong.

We foresee remuneration remaining constant throughout the remainder of 2008.

During the boom years of the Celtic Tiger employers often faced the situation of having too few applicants for too many roles. To an extent that situation has now reversed so that employers once again have a larger selection of suitable candidates for vacancies. As a result of this there will be more disappointed applicants than in recent years. Those disappointed candidates may seek out an explanation for their failure to secure a particular role and, ultimately, if not satisfied may proceed to challenge the employer’s decision. Should this situation arise an employer must be in a position to demonstrate that the reasons for not accepting a particular candidate were in no way based discriminatory grounds.

In Ireland there are nine possible grounds of discrimination. These are discrimination based on age, gender, race, marital status, family status, disability, sexual orientation, religion or membership of the travelling community.

While obvious discrimination or apparent discrimination on any of these grounds can be avoided through considered interview questions many interviewers make the cardinal error of engaging in an ice-breaking chat before getting down to the interview proper. This is usually done with the aim of setting the candidate at their ease, but can often stray into dangerous territory. Within a few casual sentences an interviewer can find themselves discussing the candidate’s childcare arrangements, family circumstances or other areas which be linked either directly or indirectly to one or more of the nine discriminatory grounds.

While the interviewer may never have meant to raise or discuss such issues once they are referred to they are then "on the table" to be raised subsequently should a candidate not obtain a role.

Should events subsequently lead the employer before the Equality Tribunal or Labour Court it will be up to employer to demonstrate than no reliance was placed on this information and that the reason for not appointing the candidate was for other job related reasons. Even so the employer may face a potential award against them for having raised the issue.

Forewarned is forearmed. The best approach an employer can adopt is to simply avoid any reference to such matters. This can be achieved by entering the interview with a clear set of written non-discriminatory selection criteria. Focus on those criteria throughout the interview. Record and retain the relevant information which is obtained and subsequently rate each candidate based on the clear set of written non-discriminatory selection criteria.

Too often employers leave the Equality Tribunal or Labour Court following a hearing regretting not having been able to provide written justification for their decisions or regretting a casual comment and paying accordingly.

As the US Army posters used to proclaim "Loose talk costs lives!"...or in this case money.

Jim Waters is the principal of Waters & Associates, a legal firm which practices predominantly in the areas of employment law and industrial relations. www.waa.ie