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Shaping up for 2019

25th Feb 2019
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While employers continue to face a skills shortage, business levels and salaries are going up – and could lack of career progression cause higher employee mobility? Here is a look at what we can expect in the accounting and finance sector in 2019.

The skills gap continues

Employers across all industries have been facing skills shortages for some time now, and the accounting and finance sector is no exception. Results from our Salary Guide and Recruiting Trends 2019 report reveal that the shortage of skilled workers was felt by 89% of employers in the sector throughout the last year. The current investments in automation and technology combined with the political challenges served up by Brexit forecast uncertain times ahead and an unprecedented level of change throughout the sector.

The skills shortage will continue to impinge on the recruitment landscape for accountancy and finance employers, with 68% of organisations believing that a shortage of suitable applicants will be their biggest challenge when recruiting in the upcoming year. Professionals will be hard to track down, choosy about their employer and difficult to secure.

The good news for employees is that although some roles are in high demand, these roles will offer a variety of opportunities and possibly double digit pay rises. Additionally, despite the knock-on effects of the skills shortage, over half of accountancy and finance employers (56%) still plan on recruiting staff in the upcoming year.

Business levels and salaries are rising

The ongoing challenge of skills shortages certainly hasn’t slowed down activity levels and salaries however, which are on the rise. Over the next year, 94% of employers are expecting their organisation’s activity levels to increase or stay the same, consistent with figures from last year. This is creating an optimistic outlook about the wider economic climate within the industry among 41% of organisations who feel positive about the opportunities to come in the next 2 to 5 years.

Employers are also feeling optimistic about increasing salaries over the year ahead as over three quarters (77%) plan to do so.

Employees are increasingly mobile

Increasing salaries will provide competition for employers in the upcoming year, as 23% of employees across the sector said that they would consider changing jobs due to the salary and benefits package on offer. For small to medium organisations, this could mean that they risk losing staff in the coming year if they do not benchmark salaries in line with the wider market.

Regardless of motivation, employee mobility looks to be fairly high in 2019 as over half (52%) of accounting and finance professionals anticipate moving jobs. According to our report, those who work in support, ledger and bookkeeping roles are most likely to want to change jobs followed by credit controllers. The first half of the year may see a higher level of employee mobility, as just over a third (31%) of professionals anticipate moving jobs within six months, followed by 21% who anticipate moving in the second half of the year.

Career progression is a priority

Employee mobility could continue to rise this year if employers don’t promote clear career progression for their staff. A lack of career progression was the top reason professionals gave for wanting to move job in the next year (26%), as almost half (46%) feel that there is no scope for career progression at their current organisation.

Employers will want to promote clear career paths this year to avoid losing valuable existing employees. It may also be an effective strategy to attract potential jobseekers in the industry, 15% of whom consider career development to be the second most important factor when moving jobs.

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