Over half (57%) of the top 100 accountancy firms say they are going to decrease or keep staff levels the same next year, according to recent research by web recruiter cvmail. Whilst only 5% of accountancy firms said they actually intended to cut headcount, this nevertheless represents the first pause in growth since since 9/11.

“The effect of the credit crunch on top accountancy firms has been felt in a slowdown in corporate finance work and may feed through into consultancy work,” said Andy Eddleston, commercial manager at cvmail. “However, their core audit & assurance and tax work should be largely unaffected. It is hoped that the vacuum created by the slowdown in areas like IPOs will be filled with rescue and recovery work.”

Despite this year’s slowdown in recruitment, accountancy firms say that one of the biggest issues they face in the year ahead is attracting a higher quality of candidates with 91% of respondents saying that it is a high priority in the year ahead.

Controlling recruitment agency costs was rated as a high priority by 47.6% of respondents. Agency fees can now be substantial. The average percentage of a hire’s salary going to a recruitment agency in fees is now 21%, with the highest percentage paid by the respondents was 30% and the lowest was 12%.

In the US, there have been reports of Big Four lay-offs amongst junior staff for the past six weeks. Some successful trainee applicants have been told there start date has been deferred by 12 months. In the UK, cvmail’s research shows the top accountancy firms still receive an average of 44 CVs for each vacancy. Each firm conducts an average of seven first stage interviews and three second stage interviews