SALARY SURVEY – OUTLOOK FOR 2022/23

Sharp Consultancy's Salary Survey 2025/26: Resetting the Landscape: Strategic Shifts in Finance Recruitment

It would be remiss not to start by addressing the elephant in the room — 2024 was a challenging year.While there were many reasons for this and numerous industries were affected, recruitment likely bore the brunt of it, particularly in the 6 months post-election(s).Whilst key roles and critical hires remained unaffected, certain head counts and processes were scrutinised and investment paused with internal restructures and automation utilised to reduce costs, in some instances, at the expense of employees. We subsequently saw an increase in candidate activity, with the talent pool strengthening. As those pressures eased in Quarter 4, recruitment processes saw improvement and green shoots have emerged. Optimism is on the rise in key hiring processes, albeit with a caveat. The cloud of additional cost increases in April, which is still dissipating. The senior finance and C-Suite market remains relatively unaffected, both regarding opportunities and candidates, it is the levels below that we have seen more change. In the evolving landscape of working dynamics, the volume of hybrid working is gradually waning despite sustained interest from candidates, presenting fewer job opportunities. While the blend of office and remote work remains desirable, it is no longer the predominant factor, indicating a notable shift in priorities for clients and candidates’ acceptance alike. Conversations with candidates underscore a growing desire around the importance of having a supportive mentor or manager and many professionals are increasingly open to a full-time return to the office if it guarantees enhanced guidance and avenues for professional advancement. "The salaries throughout transactional finance have stabilised across the region."Throughout the professional practice market, some similar trends have been observed but there have been noticeable differences in the past year. Salaries across the range of candidates in professional practice, from AAT to fully Qualified (ACA/ACCA) individuals are still rising and those firm’s able to offer competitive salaries alongside stronger training contracts are beating out the competition in a candidate market with a growing focus on study support packages and career advancement opportunities for Part-Qualified candidates, indicating an increase in demand from employers and the volume of available job seekers. The salaries throughout transactional finance have stabilised across the region, in what feels like the longest period of stability seen since Q4 2020 and we expect transactional finance salaries to remain stable throughout 2025/26, with anticipated salary increments to be moderate compared to the significant increases observed throughout the last 2 years. AI & Systems (process automation) continues to impact accountancy and finance, in particular, across larger functions but this has increased the need for wider interim support to assist with the transition and implementation especially with large, automated processes. Whilst 2025-26 will not be the same marketplace for recruitment as seen in previous years, there is certainly a growing level of optimism and whilst a more settled market may be seen as a negative in some areas, for those that have weathered the peaks and troughs over a longer period of time, it will feel very normal and a strong setting for both employees and employers to take advantage and thrive, with an increasing emphasis on growth and development.Download the full Salary Survey here!

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After what for many has been a turbulent couple of years, we are again witnessing a period of immense change for businesses and organisations as they grapple with a return to ‘normal’.

The recruitment market is more competitive now than it has been at any time for a generation; and whilst demand for candidates is at an all-time high, supply has been artificially depressed. As a result of the vast number of injections of flexibility into working practices and increased staff retention efforts, there is a far lower desire amongst employees to make a move than we would normally expect to see.

And for companies, it simply hasn’t been a case of a return to life pre-pandemic; sensible employers will have had to adjust their outlooks and consider hard what the potential impact will be long term of the decisions they are taking now to appease their employees.

Demand for top talent is high and with a scarcity of candidates, many employees may feel that they are in a stronger position to work the situation to their advantage in order to secure, not only the salary and benefits package and career progression routes that they desire but also, the working hours and flexibility that they feel they are entitled to insist upon so that work does not become an ‘inconvenience’ on other areas of their lives.

Expectations are changing; where previously it may have been viewed that leadership roles and accompanying salaries came with certain ‘sacrifices’, there is a huge pendulum shift as the drivers for flexibility move beyond adjustments for say, childcare or caring responsibilities, into lifestyle and personal interest choices which, pre-pandemic, would have been fitted in and around the demands of the job.

Employers need to balance the fine line between the consequences of any decisions that they make to accommodate employee demands and ensure staff retention alongside the impact that these may have upon other team members and business productivity.

Businesses that have been afforded with good retention records in recent years and have not had to go out into the market on a regular basis, may find that in the current market - where salary levels are moving rapidly and are extremely fluid - their own salary and benefits packages are a little out of line. They must weigh up the impact of a couple of resignations and – assuming that your top talent is likely to be approached – decide if pre-emptive measures are needed to address any shortfalls.

Reviews will need to be conducted more frequently – half yearly or in some cases quarterly – and whilst benefits themselves haven’t seen much change, employers should be mindful of the current market situation and consider, in scenarios where bonus levels could be increasing, introducing a claw back option into contracts.

The fluidity of the market makes it imperative to seek out specialist advice and assess situations from both employer and employee perspectives – if as a business you are hearing there is a lot of demand for candidates, you can be sure that the same advice is also being given to your employees if they are on the look out for a new opportunity.

Will we see much change? With a swirl of events both home and abroad possibly having a significant impact on consumer spending and potentially slowing down predicted growth, the coming 12 months look to be anything but predictable.

Lee Sweeney is Executive Director at Sharp Consultancy and advises major accounting practices, venture capitalists and banks in the North of England on the appointment of senior finance professionals; contact Lee on 0113 236 6300 or lee@sharpconsultancy.com