Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

qualifications no longer always necessary for well paid accountancy roles

New report from Nigel Lynn and Cass Business School highlights new flexibility among employers

A new report from specialist finance recruiter Nigel Lynn, in conjunction with Cass Business School has found that in the wake of continuing skill shortages in the accountancy and finance market, employers are becoming much more flexible. And in some cases the right experience is becoming more important than the level of qualification. Consequently, there has been a big upturn in the percentage of very well paid unqualified and “qualified by experience” candidates.

“One of the weaknesses of the traditional salary survey is that they try and give a picture of the whole market in terms of people’s worth”, says MD of Nigel Lynn, Steve Carter. “By definition that’s often based on averages and guesstimates and gives little indication as to what is really going on in the market. In this report, we have looked at the percentage of vacancies available in the market at a given time broken down by salary and by qualification across all regions of the UK. This we believe gives a better indication of where the movement is – the dynamic that creates particular shortages of skills and therefore pushes up or depresses reward packages.”

“What this has shown us is a narrowing of the gap between the part qualified and ‘qualified by experience’ salaries. Across the UK, the percentage of vacancies across the unqualified and part qualified markets were almost mirrored in terms of salary. Around 70% of vacancies requiring no formal qualification and 60% needing a part qualification were in the £15-25k bracket, 8% of unqualified and 23% of part qualified vacancies were in the £25-35k bracket. 2% of unqualified vacancies and 1% of part qualified vacancies were paying up to £45k. This bears out the trend that the lack of traditionally part and newly qualified accountants is driving commercial and industrial employers to be much more flexible about the level of experience qualifications and skills required.”

However, Carter urges those who may be struggling to qualify, not to give up. “One of the reasons for the major skill shortages of today is the lack of investment at trainee level after the dot com bubble burst and the events of 9/11 – with the result that there just weren’t enough people coming out of the system at the right time. Getting your qualification is crucial if you want to ensure that you recession proof your career.”

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Tracey dunn
BlueSky PR
Tel: 0845 3700125
Email: tracey@bluesky-pr.net