IMA

November 2014

Salary Guide Reveals 2015 Accounting and Finance Hiring Trends

As a manager, it’s challenging enough to ensure you’ve covered all your current staffing needs, but knowing what those requirements might be down the road is even more complex. The 2015 Salary Guide from Robert Half, a long-time annual authority on accounting and finance hiring and compensation trends, can help you prepare for the future. Here are some key insights you need to know:

Hiring for specialized skills becomes even more challenging

With the unemployment rate for many accounting and finance positions well below the national average, it’s little wonder that 63 percent of executives polled for a Robert Half survey said it was difficult to find skilled candidates for open positions. There just isn’t enough specialized talent to go around at a time when companies need more and more of it.

There are a number of factors driving the need for increased hiring of these individuals, which is in turn responsible for the short supply of them. For one, the growing number of regulatory compliance mandates means companies need more experts to head up fund accounting, regulatory reporting, financial control, anti-money laundering initiatives, risk and other areas. Another factor fueling the tight hiring environment is the wave of baby boomers who had previously postponed retirement but are now deciding it’s time to take the plunge: Not only does this create more job vacancies, but the skills and experience boomers possess requires their replacements to have a great degree of specialized expertise.

Candidates for certain positions are in high demand

The accounting and finance market is robust, especially in fast-growing sectors like healthcare, energy and financial services. According to the latest Salary Guide, these are some of the hottest — and hardest to fill — positions now and in the near future:

• Staff accountants
• Cost accountants
• Senior accountants
• Compliance officers
• Controllers
• Payroll professionals
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable professionals
• Financial analysts
• Business and business systems analysts
• Auditors

Salaries increase as demand intensifies

As a result of the tight hiring environment, accounting and finance managers need to offer competitive compensation and benefits if they expect to attract and land top talent. Starting salaries across the board are moving upward, especially for key positions. In-demand candidates are receiving multiple offers, and they will choose the one with the best combination of wages, benefits, bonuses, incentives and perks.

To make job offers more attractive, consult the Salary Guide to learn about the average ranges for hard-to-fill positions. Then adjust them for your market. Here are some projected base salaries for positions experiencing big pay hikes:

• Senior compliance analysts at midsize companies made between $73,750 and $99,000 in 2014. Their salary range is expected to increase by 4.1 percent to $76,000–$103,750.
• Controllers at firms that make between $100 million and $250 million made between $103,250 and $142,750 in 2014. Their salary range is expected to increase by 4.3 percent to $108,250–$148,250.
• Senior financial analysts at large companies made between $74,000 and $97,000 in 2014. Their salary range is expected to increase by 4.4 percent to $77,750–$100,750.

Organizations rely more on interim solutions

The recent downturn led more companies to incorporate temporary staffing into their business models. But even with a growing economy now, organizations have found that they like the staffing flexibility and cost efficiency they get with interim employees. In fact, this approach has become the “new normal” because it allows companies to staff according to demand, as well as to “audition” employees before bringing them onboard full time, which reduces the chance of a bad hire.

The good news for 2015 is that the future for accounting and finance is bright. The not-so-good news for employers is that hiring for in-demand positions will get tougher and cost more. To stay on top of hiring and compensation trends, hiring managers can consult the Salary Guide and subscribe to the Accountemps blog.

Accountemps, a Robert Half company, is the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. Accountemps has more than 340 locations worldwide. More resources, including online job search services and the Accountemps blog, can be found at accountemps.com.

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