Big Four and Top Ten hungry for audit professionals

After a strong start to 2018, practice hiring has gone from strength to strength in all tiers of firms, and recruitment projections are looking good for the rest of the year, reports Morgan McKinley’s Josh Rufus.

August 2018

The audit practice market has remained buoyant throughout the second quarter of 2018. The Big Four and Top Ten firms have been hiring into their audit teams, certainly in London and also many of their regional offices too, with requirements across major UK cities.

The profession continues to encourage the movement of staff across different countries both from a sponsorship point of view, as well as internal secondees. The UK remains an attractive location for work and large firms in particular have benefited from the movement of talented staff from across the globe, and it is important that this continues.

Most exciting roles in Q2

As well as the more conventional audit/compliance roles within these firms, there are opportunities for candidates to move into both specialised teams if they have an interest in a particular industry, or move out of audit and into an advisory role. As we approach the newly qualified recruitment season, the number of roles across the sector and UK will increase accordingly. Many firms will be keeping a watchful eye on this group of employees as to whether this movement pushes up salaries.

Desirable skills sought after in audit in practice candidates

The larger UK accountancy firms have highly established and successful sector specific teams, so candidates with existing sector expertise often have an initial advantage at the interview stage. This is especially true within the financial service sector where it can be difficult to break in without prior exposure.

Predictions for the upcoming quarter

From a recruitment perspective, it’s expected that the number of roles on the market will continue to be strong and steady for the remainder of 2018 across accountancy firms. From an audit perspective, Q3 will be dominated by the movement created by training contracts coming to an end, and newly qualifieds exploring job opportunities both in and out of the profession.

Josh Rufus is Manager, Public Practice, at recruitment consultancy Morgan McKinley

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