2023 Finance Insights

Understandably, the markets dipped during the pandemic with candidates staying-put and clients too nervous to hire. 2022 saw the post-covid boom with candidates wanting to explore new opportunities once things had stabilised. It was expected that 2023 would be a busy year but this was definitely overshadowed by 2022.

Practice

In 2023 there was a combination of accounting firms attempting to hire directly rather than recruiters. Large accounts such as the Big4 made redundancies in their consulting teams and clients became much more selective on the types of profiles that they wanted to review. With so many candidates wanting to move into industry, the practice firms pushed to increase their base salaries by 5K whilst trying to keep the offer of flexible/hybrid working. The top10 firms were once extremely aspirational for people to do a 'stepping stone' before moving into industry. With them capping recruitment, this encouraged more candidates to punt for a move into industry, who may not have had success before. This saw my team generating candidates who were later placed into both practice but and industry.

My team helped 28 people move into Practice roles in 2023. I am of the mindset that if you are coming from a small accounting firm, larger firm exposure to specialise in a sector of choice will definitely benefit an in-house move after a year or so. Some candidates are set on industry from qualifying but others also know that they see themselves progressing to partner via the practice route. With recruitment in practice being a little selective, I feel it is only a matter of time before clients let their guards down and actively start recruiting more agencies once again in the months to come.

Industry & Commerce

Covid shook Industry clients if in an unstable sector. I helped one candidate move to an events company which then 'went under' as soon as the pandemic hit which was really unfortunate - I helped her again in finding something new but still - who could have predicted!?

Clients in pharma, medical supplies and chemicals did instantly well when covid struck with tech progressively booming. Last year however, saw pharma and tech taking a dip - comparatively to 2022. The growth and pace wasn't sustainable with tech making cutbacks last year.

Last year I spoke many candidates not only wanting to move into Industry but also wanting commercial roles. This is possible however, we saw most success with candidates moving into reporting roles within large companies. The scope of a large company lends itself to having experience with different departments of finance and also to be able to progress internally. Industry clients definitely softened on hiring factors. In my opinion, first time passes in your ACA/ACCA is desirable but not a deal breaker anymore. Industry clients are very-much focused on of course your experience and skillset but also how well you will be able to integrate into the team as well as having a commercial 'feel'.

My team helped 30 people move into Industry in 2023. They went to leading drinks, manufacturing and tech companies. This year has started off with one or two in-house roles coming through in West London. I feel that the Central London team will soon need newly-qualified accountants for their clients.

Financial Services

In Q1 of 2023, I helped four newly-qualified ACA candidates move into the Financial Services team, placing into Asset Management companies and banks. The client's needs however tapered off slightly into H2 with my colleagues in FS mainly looking for experienced hires rather than newly-qualified candidates. The start of 2024 has seen a shift in this space as we have recently been given two newly-qualified opportunities to work on. This could be a sign of things shifting - hopefully for the better into the rest of Q1 and 2.

The Research Team

Last year, as well as advising candidates who we are soon to place (timeline-depending) my team helped 65 people find new roles - more than one a week! - this is with working part-time hours around creative careers. This has generated ￡623K revenue for Michael Page - which is nice - but I get the biggest buzz from helping candidates make sound decisions with their careers.

If you are newly-qualified through to Senior Manager and starting to think about what might be the right step for you, this is how my team and I can help you;

For an initial conversation - CV advice, market insights, career pathways and introductions to job specs, please contact me and we can book a call-in.

[email protected] OR 02072692598

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