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Accountants' salaries rise but benefits and training a problem

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8th Apr 2008
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Despite gloomy economic forecasts, recent surveys show that accounting professionals saw increased pay in 2007. A report from professional recruitment firm Badenoch and Clark shows the national average increase to be 3.6%, with the majority of managers and employees alike agreeing this was in line with the market rate. However, benefit packages and training and development remain areas of concern.

Reed Accountancy polled over 1000 qualifieds and part-qualifieds, and found that 52% were unhappy with the benefit packages their firm offered. At the same time, 83% of managers believed their employees were entirely satisfied with their benefits, the survey said. A further 56% of accountants claimed to be unhappy with the training schemes offered by their firm.

The number one benefit for accountants is 25 days holiday or more, followed by sick pay, and then more flexible working. Private healthcare and a proper training and development plan tied for fourth place. When asked about the incentives that were keeping them in the current jobs, the top three factors (in descending order) proved to be the work environment, job security, and reward and recognition.

“So far, we have seen no slow down in terms of recruitment levels within the sector,” said Brenda McManus, operation director at Reed Accountancy. Nevertheless, the perception gap between what employers and employees consider desirable benefits is substantial.

“If firms want to retain their staff and attract the best talent this year they must pay attention to all these factors,” she added.

While salaries have, at the very least, kept pace with national averages, this appears to have been at the expense of bonuses. Only 30% of those surveyed received a bonus, and then given they averaged 9.4% of base salary, a figure that is unlikely to improve in 2008’s expected climate.

“The study has also revealed that in-house finance staff are much more likely to earn high bonuses,” said Nick Eaves, director at Badenoch and Clark. “Those working in pure accountancy practices received an average bonus of 3.7% compared with 15% for those working in-house at consultancies.”

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