Sharp Consultancy's Salary Survey 2025/26:

FRS 102 Revised Seminar Brings South Yorkshire Finance Leaders Together

In collaboration with Shorts Chartered Accountants, we recently hosted a seminar for senior finance professionals from across the region.The event brought together a number of Finance Directors, Financial Controllers and senior leaders from across the region for a morning of insight, discussion and networking over breakfast. It was a pleasure to welcome so many familiar faces, alongside new contacts, reflecting the strength and depth of the Yorkshire finance community. The seminar was presented by Howard Freeman, Audit & Accounts Partner, and Andy Ryder, Corporate Finance Partner at Shorts. We are extremely grateful to both speakers for sharing their time and expertise, and for delivering a clear, practical overview of the forthcoming changes to FRS 102, which came into effect on 1 January 2026 and are expected to impact a significant number of UK businesses. The session explored what is changing and why, particularly in relation to lease accounting and revenue recognition, and considered what the updates mean in practice for finance teams and business leaders. The speakers also addressed the new reporting requirements under FRS 102, the potential impact on EBITDA and valuation methodologies, and the key considerations for organisations as they prepare for implementation. Rather than focusing purely on technical detail, the seminar encouraged broader discussion around readiness, communication with stakeholders and the commercial implications of the changes. This led to a highly engaged Q&A session, with attendees sharing perspectives and experiences from their own organisations. At Sharp Consultancy, we are committed to supporting the finance community beyond recruitment alone. Events such as this form part of our ongoing effort to create opportunities for connection, knowledge-sharing and professional development among senior finance professionals. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Shorts for partnering with us on this event, and in particular to Howard and Andy for delivering such an informative and thought-provoking session. We are also grateful to everyone who attended and contributed to the discussion. We look forward to hosting further events in the coming months and continuing to work closely with our network of finance leaders across the region.If you would like to discuss how these changes may impact your finance team, or if you are considering strengthening your leadership function, please contact us for a confidential conversation.

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In last year’s commentary I said that a ‘degree of normality’ had returned to the economy and solid GDP growth had finally ‘rid us of the word recession’.

Before I chastise myself horribly, I suspect I wasn’t the only one that couldn’t have forecast what a difference two changes in governments could make (UK first and US second).

The former immediately created a change in business sentiment which changes to the tax regime further dampened. The word recession reappeared. The latter led to worldwide economic flux for reasons we are all now very familiar with – tariffs anyone?

Lee Sweeney, Executive Director at Sharp Consultancy standing in the Sharp Consultancy office in Leeds in-front of our word wall.

What does this mean for employment? Employers don’t like uncertainty because it is errr, so uncertain. Some hiring is by necessity, but some is investment; the former continues and the latter reduces.

The market is however not ‘dead’. We’ve seen ‘dead’ before (think credit crunch and early Covid). We believe that the market has remained surprisingly resilient. I believe that is because businesses have suffered enough shocks over recent years to have become more resilient. Whether I’m right or wrong, the jobs market (for accountants at least) is somewhere between OK and reasonably good. If you have skills, experience and sensible expectations you are very likely to find what you are looking for in relatively short order.

"If you have skills, experience and sensible expectations you are very likely to find what you are looking for in relatively short order."

Looking through the employer’s lens, good accounting professionals can be found – but they’re not ‘ten-a-penny’. As I discussed in last year’s commentary, employers continue to try and force the issue on increased office-based working and generally (though our survey suggests this is beginning to soften), employees continue to resist. I think we’re still a year or two away from some kind of equilibrium. Salary increases have flattened but job seekers haven’t fully embraced that yet (though again one of our salary survey questions suggests it is softening) and so there is still a need for a degree of generosity to entice potential employees – there is enough choice for them to wait a little longer for the next opportunity if your package isn’t quite attractive enough.

It appears that private equity firms still have funds to invest and lenders still have appetite to lend and so, perhaps slightly counter intuitively, the deals market still seems to be moving at a reasonable pace with optimism for a better year ahead.

I like to conclude by turning to my crystal ball and predicting the future. Last year I utterly failed (though as mentioned above, I can perhaps be forgiven). The resilience of the economy (recession didn’t happen) and the employment market gives me hope – economic disaster aside caused by tariffs or some other huge shock, I suspect job seekers and employers will see a reasonably good jobs market. There is definitely some uncertainty in the year to come, but there is a very strong desire in the business community to find a way through or around whatever lies ahead (and experience from shocks gone by to steer a safe course), so the odds of a stable year outweigh the odds of a poor one.

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Sharp Consultancy's Salary Survey 2025/26: Resilience in the Face of Change: The Evolving Jobs Market by Lee Sweeney

In last year’s commentary I said that a ‘degree of normality’ had returned to the economy and solid GDP growth had finally ‘rid us of the word recession’.

"If you have skills, experience and sensible expectations you are very likely to find what you are looking for in relatively short order."

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​In last year’s commentary I said that a ‘degree of normality’ had returned to the economy and solid GDP growth had finally ‘rid us of the word recession’.

"If you have skills, experience and sensible expectations you are very likely to find what you are looking for in relatively short order."

In last year’s commentary I said that a ‘degree of normality’ had returned to the economy and solid GDP growth had finally ‘rid us of the word recession’.