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Accountancy Recruitment January 2010
Accountancy News |
19/01/2010
People working in accountancy jobs and within the financial services sector are waiting with baited breath for January 26th to see if official data will show the UK left recession in the final three months of 2009. So far there have been a number of positive signs that the economic crisis has finally ended, with influential thinktank the National Institute for Economic and Social Research suggesting that the economy grew 0.2 per cent in the three months to the end of November.
Even Alistair Darling has predicted that the official data will show that 2009 ended with economic growth, telling the Daily Record that he is "confident" that the downturn is over.
However it seems that any potentially positive news comes coupled with a warning that any recovery is likely to be short lived, or murmurings about the risk of a double-dip recession.
With the finance sector being among the worst affected by the economic downturn, professionals within it could be forgiven for expecting the worst in 2010, however a recent survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and big four accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that financial services firms are increasingly buoyant about the future, with a growing number of professionals thinking that the upturn is at long last on its way.
In the three months to December, a balance of 31 per cent of financial services companies were more optimistic about their sector's overall situation, despite activity in the final quarter of 2009 growing by less than expected.
"The bounce back in UK financial services activity over the past six months is not expected to last as we enter 2010," said Ian McCafferty, chief economic adviser to the CBI. "On a more positive note, financial services firms' confidence in the general business situation has continued to increase, profitability improved and a much slower reduction in numbers employed was seen in this survey. Job losses are also expected to be minimal in the coming quarter."
But is this optimism likely to be rewarded with increased employment opportunities? The latest Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG indicated that this may well be the case, with its vacancy index for accountancy/financial staff reading 60.6 for December, highlighting an increase in demand for staff compared with the previous month.
While this was lower than a number of other sectors, such as IT and computing and executive/professional, it will still be welcome news for anyone within the industry.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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