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AIA

Public sector fuels demand for accounting professionals

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2nd Jul 2009
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Cost efficiency initiatives in the public sector are creating more jobs for accountancy contractors.

The public sector is now the largest single user of accountancy and finance contractors in the UK, increasing its share of the contractor market from 33.8% to 39.8% over the last year, due in part to the government’s target to save £30bn in costs by 2010, according to research from Giant Group plc.

Public sector bodies have found themselves in desperate need of accounting professionals thanks to unplanned demands placed on them by the financial crisis. The Treasury, Financial Services Authority and Bank of England have all upped their accounting skill levels with interim staff in recent months, and elsewhere across the public sector accountants are being hired to help plans for efficiency savings.

This sudden surge in demand means accountancy contractors are set to pocket extra cash in the coming months. A survey commissioned by Giant revealed that 61.5% of accountancy contractors expect their earnings to rise over the next year.

Despite the recent hike in national unemployment figures, the majority of accountancy contractors are not too worried about job security – 54.3% said they would prefer a higher rate of hourly pay than a longer term contract.

“Demand for accountancy contractors is less likely to be adversely affected by the current economic uncertainty than temporary workers in other sectors of the economy. The long term underproduction of accountancy skills in the UK means there is still very little spare capacity in the jobs market and quality candidates are still in demand”, said Matthew Brown, managing director of Giant.
 

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