Careers

Ann-Marie Costello became the first female partner on the Corporate Finance Team at Grant Thornton earlier this year. Her advice to other women? Back yourself and take opportunities I grew up in a family of medical professionals, so accountancy was not necessarily the expected path. I actually changed from veterinary to commerce and German the day before the CAO application process closed, so my career could have been very different.   Opting to do a degree in commerce and German gave me time to decide what I wanted to pursue as a career. I found I really enjoyed the economics and accountancy modules, so it felt like a natural progression to go on to do the Master of Accounting at UCD Smurfit School before taking up a training contract with KPMG Corporate Recovery.  At the time, the accountancy ‘milk round’ was more geared towards traditional audit and tax routes, so joining an advisory team was the path less taken, but I really wanted the commercial experience that came with it.  Hitting the ground running Having a solid background in accountancy meant I could hit the ground running in Corporate Recovery and I had great training working on trading insolvencies. After qualifying and becoming a manager with KPMG, I left Ireland for a year of ‘anti-reality’, travelling the world.  When I returned, I met with Grant Thornton’s Debt Restructuring Team, who were pivoting away from insolvency. I liked the team and the idea of working to bring businesses back onto a stable footing.  After a few years, I transitioned to Corporate Finance and I made Partner in January of this year, becoming the first female partner in the department.  These days, my work is focused on helping shareholders to position themselves for the sale of a business and to maximise value. Most of my work has an M&A or due diligence focus.  So, in my career so far, I have been able to work with businesses across the entire economic cycle. Fall-off in female talent It just so happens that the areas in which I have worked have been particularly male-dominated, especially at senior levels.  My intake and training contract had a healthy mix of female versus male trainees but, from the manager level onwards, I saw a fall-off in female talent.  The reasons for the fall-off vary, ranging from the lack of a clear path for career progression, lack of support or mentorship, and movement from practice to industry, to work-life balance considerations and family commitments.  The diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) agenda was not well-developed when I was training, and as that has begun to change in more recent years, I think that it has brought some significant benefits. I do believe we have seen a move towards greater equity at senior levels – although the pace of change is slower than we may like, I think we’re getting there. We do need more balanced representation to attract younger generations – the ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’ adage.  Greater supports are needed in the form of allyship and mentorship, as well as ensuring the wider conditions to support talent retention are met – these include issues such as childcare, paternity leave (both availability and take up) and flexible working.  There are wider societal shifts that need to become the norm to level the playing field further. Gender pay gap reporting Gender pay gap reporting has been a welcome development in terms of driving good behaviours within business and providing employees with greater transparency.  However, nothing can substitute the conversations on the ground that can provide you with clarity as to where you stand.  Conversations regarding remuneration, promotion and performance are often uncomfortable, so we sometimes tend to avoid broaching these subjects.  Time and time again, recruiters and HR teams tell me that, as women, we often undersell ourselves and have lower expectations for remuneration. We need to value our contributions more.  Do your research, back yourself and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone to take on opportunities as they present themselves. Learning the skills for success At some point in your career, you will need to do more than just to be ‘good at the job’. At that stage, developing your career becomes about your network, your profile and your leadership. It is important to learn to have confidence in yourself and to value your input. This often comes with surrounding yourself with the right people, so don’t be afraid to talk – to your peers, your friends and your network. You will only ever regret the things you didn’t do, or say, so speak up and say ‘yes’ to opportunities for development. In my own experience, navigating career development and parenthood is not without its challenges. You need all the support you can get and to always try to look after yourself.  We just had our second baby towards the end of last year, a year during which I was also going through the partnership process, as well as taking on the role of Chairperson of Chartered Accountants Ireland Leinster Society.  I took on a lot, but there were several opportunities that presented themselves around the same time and, weighing it all up, I chose to go for them. I am lucky in that I have huge support from my family and, in particular, my husband, who had to pick up some of the slack. The role of mentoring and networking I sincerely believe that mentoring and sponsorship are key to development, and I’m glad to see so many businesses providing necessary resources and supports in these areas.  It’s important to have someone who can mentor you – someone who will tell it how it is, act as your sounding board and provide constructive criticism.  It is equally important to have a sponsor within your organisation – someone who will support you and guide you in your career development. I would encourage these relationships to be with both male and female mentors and sponsors.  It can often be helpful to have a mentor outside of your work environment to speak to about your work and personal development. Chartered Accountants Ireland provides a mentorship programme for members, which is a helpful resource. Networking can seem like a daunting task, particularly with the reopening of society post-pandemic. However, it really is never as bad as it seems.   The network of people Chartered Accountants will have from their time at university and training will be huge, and the Irish accountancy profession is particularly well-connected at home and abroad.  Try to keep this network active. You never know when you might be able to help someone, or when they might be able to help you.

Fiona Hickey has hit a mid-career milestone as the founder of an award-winning practice. Her career advice to other women? Forge your own path in your own time My career started with a really fantastic experience under a training contract with Deloitte and I got what I considered my first ‘real’ job with Oracle in 2008.  I got stuck in, learned the ropes and got to grips with a new type of office politics. Soon, at age 26, I was forging ahead and happy with my progress.  At that stage, I had no idea that the path I saw laid out before me was not the one I was going to take. Shifting priorities It was around this time that my sister was diagnosed with cancer. It was tough, and made me realise that I shouldn’t waste any precious time.  So, at 29, some years ahead of my college friends and peers—and only a few short years since starting my first real job with Oracle—I had Danny, my son. I’m not sure I would have chosen to start a family at that stage if my sister hadn’t fallen ill.  I had so much ambition and a career plan mapped out, but I had also realised that there are no guarantees in life. Starting our family became the direction my husband and I really wanted to go in.  I started a Diploma in Insolvency when I was on maternity leave and Danny had reached the nine-month milestone. Despite the heavy demands of motherhood, I never stopped wanting to learn.  At around the same time, my brother took the brave step of setting up his own company, and I supported him in those early days, spending evenings doing payroll, VAT and book-keeping for his start-up–all tasks I had never done in audit or industry.  This was learning from the ground up, all while wading through the minefield of Revenue tax and CRO filings.  An unexpected career path When I returned to my role with Oracle after 13 months’ maternity leave, it was with this new experience in practice work and self-employment.  Looking back, I had stumbled onto a new and unexpected career path. I found it hugely fulfilling but it wasn’t always easy.  Throughout my first pregnancy and maternity leave, and my son’s early years, I felt like my career was stagnating while my friends were making progress and building on exciting opportunities.  I wondered if the time I’d taken to start my family would leave my career forever one step behind my peers. On the other hand, I found I had such a different drive after my son was born. I still didn’t mind hard work, but I didn’t want to be committed to working like in the same way I had been before his arrival.  My priorities changed. My outlook was different. I decided that if I had fallen behind my peers because I had prioritised my family, it was worth it overall. Timing isn’t everything It was after I had my daughter Hannah aged 31, that I knew I was ready to take the next step in my career: setting up a practice myself in Ashbourne, Co. Meath—my hometown. At the time, there were no part-time accounting roles for women, including with the Big Four. I needed to create my own position. Entrepreneurship is in my genes. My father had run his own business, also in Ashbourne, and I wanted to be in practice so I could connect with people at a grassroots level. To this day, I care so much about each client, their business, and how best to advise and assist them.  I also have profound gratitude towards each client who has come through the door at FAH Chartered Accountants, allowing me to realise my dream of being self-employed.  There was a time when I thought my career would stagnate because I had decided to start a family young. When I was working hard to build my practice, however, my college peers and friends started taking time out to start their own families.  By the time they were ready to return to their jobs, my own career had kicked off again and my practice was growing.  The time I took for my family was when they built their careers, and the time they took for their families was when I built mine. We were never in competition.  These women are all friends and peers whom I greatly admire, but it just goes to show that there is no such thing as “the right time”. It’s the work and passion you put in, and I was right to start my family when I wanted to.  Career ebbs and flows  Everyone has ebbs and flows in their career journey. Whether you want to take time out for family, personal or health reasons, your career can always be kickstarted again.  I hired my first employee six years ago and my practice has continued to grow since. In 2021, we moved to a bigger bespoke office and we topped the Small Practice category at the 2022 Irish Accountancy Awards as well as being named overall Practice of the Year.  It was a phenomenal achievement for the entire team at FAH Chartered Accountants. On a personal level, however, the practice has become much busier than I had anticipated starting out.  Initially, I expected to work part-time while rearing my family, but my work now is a full-time job, and sometimes more.  The great benefit for me is the flexibility I have, which allows me to plan my week, and each day, around my family’s needs.  Maintaining a work-life balance requires constant effort. There are times when I need to work extra hours in the office, but I can then take extra home time in the days afterwards.  When I am home with my children, I don’t take work calls or answer emails. I remain present and enjoy my time with Danny and Hannah, focusing exclusively on our time together. Do I have to constantly juggle home and work life? Yes. Extra demands in either one can create an imbalance, but with focus and commitment, I can find equilibrium again. Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant can bring many benefits in terms of your career route and flexibility.  As a qualification, it gives you plenty of opportunity to change path and step back, if and when you need to for personal reasons, before restarting your career again. No matter what your priorities may be, my advice is to forge your own path. Remember that everyone’s career will ebb and flow differently. Stay open to new opportunities and never be afraid to pivot to get to where you want to be.  Fiona Hickey is the owner and principal of FAH Chartered Accountants

 As more women become Chartered Accountants, a growing number are leaving mid-career, citing various factors ranging from work-life balance to lack of career progression, writes Liz Riley  In mid-2022, Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW) surveyed Chartered Accountants around the globe to gauge how they view the opportunities for women in the profession. What they found about training and early careers is positive. There are no obvious gender-related barriers to entry into the profession. In recent years, Chartered Accountants Ireland has had a nearly equal intake of men (52%) and women (48%) into training.  And although the women surveyed by CAW acknowledge that there are few women in senior positions within accountancy, this has not deterred them from entering the profession. As the world of accountancy continues to evolve, however, a growing number of women are making the difficult decision to leave or pivot within the profession mid-career.  For years, accountancy has been viewed as a stable career path. Still, despite the profession focusing more on diversity, equity and inclusion, some women are finding that the barriers in their way are too great for them to want to press on.  Moving on from accountancy Even though just one-in-five mid-career women believe their careers have progressed ahead of their expectations, 81 percent still believe they have much to offer the profession.  The CAW survey shows, however, that the willingness to make career sacrifices is at its highest at the mid-career stage when a person’s children are often younger.  The findings also reveal that mid-career women in Ireland and the UK are more likely to be interested in roles that offer work-life balance (39%), flexibility in working location (21%), and access to additional benefits (33%). However, women at a mid-career stage are also significantly more likely to feel stressed (59%), exhausted (40%), and/or disappointed (25%).  In order to effectively address the issue of hiring and retaining women in their mid-careers, Sinead Donovan, Deputy President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, emphasises the importance of organisational leadership taking proactive measures. “Having been in that position earlier in my career, I recognise the barriers, and I also recognise that putting the head down and living with the status quo, like I did in many ways, isn’t an option,” says Donovan.  “Our profession is in the middle of a recruitment and retention challenge and if partners like me and others across the industry don’t step up to harness this talent pool of ambitious mid-career women, we are missing out.” Mid-career choices and challenges According to Dawn Leane, founder and CEO of Leane Empower, a female-focused coaching, mentoring and training organisation, a number of factors tend to influence women’s mid-career choices and priorities. “They have family or parent caring commitments, or both. Society has moved on a bit, but not enough, and women are still the primary caregivers for family members. So, at that point, there’s a lot of demand on their time.”  Patricia Monahan, Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council, remembers a profession that did not cater to women with families.  “Gender became a noticeable issue when I went to work in a Big Five firm in the ‘90s. That was a high-pressure, high-stakes job with very big clients,” she says. “There were few, if any, women with children working in my division of the firm while many of the senior men had families.  “That was the first time I noticed a difference between men and women in the profession. Because it was a very pressured environment, I just think it wasn’t very family friendly.” But the disparity that continues today isn’t just about family commitments. “Very often, women around the mid-career age come to the perimenopausal stage,” says Leane. “At this point in their careers, women sometimes either leave the workforce if possible or look for a change because they find some symptoms difficult to manage, such as brain fog and poor sleep.  “They ask if they are getting back from their organisations what they put in, and they find that no, they’re not.” Limited career options Laura Maloney, now an executive and wellbeing coach offering a programme called Returnity, aimed at women returning to work post-leave, left the profession in 2016 after finding that her career options were limited after her role changed. “In 2008, my role [in practice] moved sideways to risk management. The following year, there were swathes of redundancies, and I was lucky enough to be in a very secure role, even though it may not have been the right role for me,” she says.  “As the years went on, nobody at the firm was moving, and I felt that my options were limited. When it came to assessing where we were as a family and what came next in my career, my choice was not to return [to accountancy] after my third maternity leave.  “I wanted to be valuable. I wanted to contribute. I wanted to be useful, but I was in this role, and I was not happy. It wasn’t a great fit. How did I know that? Because I never felt like the role or the organisation was getting the best from me.” Career pivots Patricia Monahan qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1987 and, after working in tax in Dublin, and despite having a positive working experience, decided to relocate to County Monaghan ten years later for family reasons. Monahan continued to take roles that had an accountancy element after relocating until a role for an assistant principal officer became available at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board (ETB).  “All of my roles outside of Dublin were probably atypical for a Chartered Accountant, especially the ones in the public service. When I transferred from the ETB, I became an accountant with the council,” she says. “Shortly after that, I got an opportunity to be a director of services at the council, which, again, took me away from the accountancy role. I had water and environmental services, the fire service, health and safety procurement and roads—all areas that were not in my training.” From there, Monahan decided to dedicate herself to public service, eventually becoming the Interim Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council. “When making career decisions, it didn’t matter whether [my role] was or wasn’t accountancy. It was more about whether it was a progression for me in my career,” she says. “Moving to a director of service role from accounting was definitely a progression. It was a much wider remit of responsibility and a management job.  “Accountancy skills are still very useful and transferable, and the Chartered Accountancy qualification is a good base for any career. I wouldn’t necessarily say I left them behind. I’d say I took them with me, but they were just not the dominant skills I needed.” Tackling the mid-career slump While many women make significant strides in the early stages of their career, they often face various challenges as they progress up the professional ladder.  “Organisations need to be aware of what is standing in the way of women 10 to 20 years after qualification,” says Leane.  “They need to really engage with women to see what they identify as being the blockers to their careers. I’m a big believer in things like mentoring and sponsorship for women in organisations, and this doesn’t have to come from other women. Men are keen to support women in the workplace but might not always know what to do.” “Research shows that, when a woman is working for a male manager, male managers often dilute feedback or don’t give women the feedback they need to develop their career because they fear an emotional response, even if that’s not valid,” explains Leane.  “If you’re giving feedback that you think a woman would like to hear, rather than what they need to hear, that is an enormous barrier in their career.” Moloney thinks there has been an improvement but says that women need honest conversations and feedback, so that they can fully understand their options. “One of the areas that has definitely improved since I left the profession is the willingness to have more honest, open and transparent conversations about things like satisfaction, values and purpose, and achievement. This isn’t a language we would have spoken when I worked in accountancy,” she says. “This is highly dependent on the teams you work in and the managers you work for, and their willingness and how equipped they are to have those kinds of conversations, but they can be the difference between someone leaving the profession or staying.” An important choice According to Leane, there are several steps women can take themselves to ensure their career continues to flourish. “A woman must think about her professional brand and networking – all the skills men got to develop when training,” she says.  “Women often see the benefit in getting the work done – we are taught the benefit of getting the work done – while men have been taught to make themselves known in their professional networks and pick their heads up. “Women might not realise many of these unwritten rules and norms of behaviour exist in the workplace. Many women find they have been very qualified for, say, a certain promotion, but by waiting for the tap on the shoulder or not putting themselves forward, they didn’t play the game.” Moloney says women need to figure out what they want before they can take the next steps in their careers. “It’s all about empowerment and encouragement. So much of the experience I had in my professional career was waiting for validation and affirmation from other areas or other people to tell me that I was doing the right thing at the right time. I should have been able to depend on myself.  “Nobody is advocating for you, but it’s difficult to advocate for yourself when you don’t know what you want. What do you want to do? What do you value? What do you love? What motivates you? You have to answer those questions for yourself before you can communicate them to someone in your organisation who can help you.” Organisations can only do so much, Monahan says, and there comes the point when a woman has to make her own choices. “Ultimately, women have to make choices that will suit their own circumstances, and shouldn’t have to justify those choices.” 

Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership and team development questions I feel I need to constantly prove myself, meaning I work very long hours. I spend hours drafting reports, checking other people’s work and preparing for meetings. I’ve been aware of this for a long time and my boss and others tell me that I don’t need to do it, but I don’t seem to be able to change. First, it’s important to acknowledge that changing our behaviour and habits can be really difficult. For you, it sounds like there is an unaddressed fear (possibly unconscious) at play here.  A great way to become conscious of what is unconscious is to write about it. Whether you feel very stressed or just a bit anxious, stop what you are doing and write about what is happening and how you are feeling. Then keep writing and see what comes up.  You are not attempting to analyse or rationalise what is happening—you are simply describing it to see what thoughts arise.   Over time, your fears will come out in your writing. Our fears can seem ridiculous—”people will laugh/I’m letting the side down/they’ll find me out”—so we hide the fear, letting it have all the power.  By getting the fear down on paper, we lessen its power and then we can interrogate the fear—”when is the last time people laughed at me/I let the side down?”.   In my experience with clients, they don’t have any examples. In fact, they will often come up with examples of the opposite: “people took me seriously, I was complimented for my contribution”.  If acknowledging and addressing the fear through writing doesn’t enable you to change your habits, it may be worth talking to a professional to help you through it.  I am heading up a cross-functional project team which will have high-level impact. People turn up for meetings, the discussions are constructive and polite, but there is little or no follow through. Everyone is very busy, but getting this project over the line is one of my key objectives and I worry I might fail. Many factors could be causing this blockage, including people’s core responsibilities, personal motivation, support for the project objectives, commitment to the project, team norms that have been formed, or your chairing style, etc.  I suggest that you organise a meeting to examine the progress on this project, face-to-face, in a nice room. This gives you the opportunity to have a very open discussion with the team. You need to lean into the reality of what is (and is not) happening and get very curious. Leave any hurt or defensiveness aside. The usual ‘stop, start, continue’ approach may be useful to get the conversation going. Make sure to pay attention to what is working. This gives people the psychological permission to address what’s not.   You may need to go a bit deeper and explore some of the issues mentioned above, which may feel awkward. Design the process so that people feel safe answering the questions—getting small groups to explore questions, for example, or providing post-its and pens for people to write. Even if you feel a bit hurt by some of the feedback, lean into it.  If the project is paramount, getting support from HR or a professional could be useful either in helping you to prepare or in running the session for you. Julia Rowan is Principal Consultant at Performance Matters, a leadership and team  development consultancy. Email questions to julia@performancematters.ie

Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership and team development questions Q: My team is positive, proactive and eager to learn more. My company doesn’t invest much in training and won’t give me a budget because ‘nothing is broken’. How can I keep them motivated? There is a lot you can do to motivate and upskill your team. First, think about how you would describe your team. Is it strategic? Independent? Collaborative? The words you select will guide the way you direct them. The next step is to consider the way you engage with your team. Set yourself up so that your conversations become a learning experience. Coach and listen. Trust the team enough to share your challenges and see what ideas they have. Here are a few ideas to get started: Start a pool of resources – books, articles, podcasts, webinars – where everyone is able to access the same material. Schedule protected time to discuss and share ideas, allowing team members to choose the material and chair the discussion. Organise an away day (even if you are on company premises) and scope out a small number of business projects that will move the team forward and give them learning opportunities. Small groups could work on individual projects and report back regularly to the wider team, making sure that all retain ownership. Ask them to report back on the ‘what’ (what we are doing), the ‘how’ (the process) and the learning (what went well and what could be improved on). Make your team meeting a place where people can share their learning about their everyday experience. This can be done in very simple ways: like opening with a ‘check-in’ (what are you proud of achieving this week? What has your biggest challenge been?), but also by asking team member to make presentations around projects, tasks or initiatives that they have undertaken, and sharing their learning. Seek out cross-functional projects that your team can get involved with.If you put together a business case with learning objectives, outputs and impacts, your company might give you a budget. Q: At meetings, my contribution is often overlooked, but I’m often the only person who has prepared. There is lots of aimless discussion. When my ideas are heard, they are often taken up but attributed to others. This is a common problem, very frustrating and exacerbated by online communication. To address the issue long-term, talk to the meeting owner, explain your challenge, and suggest that they do a ‘go-around’ from time to time, hearing from each individual. Meet the main movers and shakers one-to-one to discuss challenges and share ideas – this puts you on their radar. Some tactics: sit close to the Chair so that it’s easy to get their attention. Quieter people often contribute tentatively, in short sentences. Note the points you want to make so that you can be deliberate when you speak. I’ve devised a structure that quieter clients have found useful: ‘Signal, State, Suggest’. Preface your contribution with a ‘signal’ that gets people’s attention: “reflecting on what I’ve heard, there are two ways to tackle this”. State (give your input): “we could either do A or B”. Suggest (a way of moving on): “Given current circumstances, I suggest we”. It’s not easy to enter the melee– but your meetings will be better for it. If you read one thing... Coaching for Performance – The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership by Sir John Whitmore. An accessible and practical book about coaching. The updated 25th anniversary edition has recently been published. Busy managers often direct. Coaching creates a conversational space for learning through everyday experience.

As demand for professionals in accountancy and finance continues to heat up, salaries are on the rise and flexibility is top of the agenda for candidates, writes Arlene Harris. Despite rising inflation and predictions of impending recession, “good accountants will always be in demand” and, as companies shrug off pandemic restraints and begin to plan ahead once again, the need for professionals in all areas of finance is on the rise. So says Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director at Morgan McKinley Ireland. “We are in a market like no other, rich with opportunity. It is one of the best times I can remember for accountancy professionals living and working in Ireland,” said Keevans.  Businesses emerging from under the cloud of COVID-19 are being “more intentional” in their hiring for accountancy and finance positions, according to Keevans. “I think this is why we are seeing so much demand in the market. In some instances, companies have been focusing their efforts mainly on surviving the pandemic by ensuring that the accounts were prepared and controls in place. They were really paying attention to very little beyond that,” she said. “Now, they are hiring again—some with a preference for finance professionals with data skills, because financial planning and analysis (FP&A) is seen as providing business intelligence that can help shape the way forward for companies.” The pandemic has also brought about a shift in the perspectives and preferences of candidates in the profession. “The pandemic really made for a much more competitive market, because employees had more time to evaluate their current positions, to think carefully about the level of flexibility they wanted in their working lives, and the direction they wanted their careers to take,” said Keevans. As recruitment moved online, the virtual hiring process also became faster and more agile. “All of these factors have combined to contribute to the record movement of professionals—particularly in the past 18 months,” Keevans said.  In response, she said companies had been adopting “all manner” of retention stratagems to keep talent on board. “Some of this focus has been on compensation and benefits. The culture of counter-offers is at an all-time high, and this has brought about the need for companies to be more agile in all things pay- and perk-related.” As a result, demand for payroll professionals is particularly high at the moment. “We have seen a number of companies that had previously outsourced to payroll bureaus opting to bring this function back in-house,” said Keevans. “This has created significant demand for payroll specialists, not just with EMEA and MNC experience, but also with experience in indigenous organisations.” In addition to compensation and benefits, employers are also responding to changing attitudes to work-life balance and remote working among candidates post-pandemic. “As long as the demand for accountancy talent outweighs supply, we will see professionals continuing to vote with their feet,” said Keevans. “Any company that isn’t offering any form of hybrid working can expect to see their talent pipeline reduced by up to 80 percent based on current market demands. “The preference in the market is for two to three days in the office and the remainder remote.” Some professionals are taking the demand for greater flexibility even further, challenging employers to adopt a more innovative approach to remote working policies. “We’re starting to see talent challenging the flexibility offered by their employer to include working from locations overseas for a number of weeks of the year,” said Keevans. “This trend is still in its infancy and employers are being understandably cautious in assessing the risks and fairness of such an approach before agreeing to any request.  “They are aware that doing so would need to be referenced within the company’s policy documents on the scope of the hybrid/remote working offering.” Employers are showing greater flexibility in other ways too – recruiting more candidates with experience in sectors other than those they operate in. “Until there is a levelling in demand and supply, we expect to see continued flexibility on the part of employers regarding the sectoral experience they are likely to be flexible on when hiring new recruits,” said Keevans. “As it stands, we have seen employers in all sectors showing flexibility in this regard, with the exception of manufacturing, construction and to some extent, pharmaceutical.” Starting salaries Starting salaries for newly qualified accountants are currently averaging €60,000, up from €55,000 this time last year, while part-qualified accountants can expect to earn about €45,000 annually. “The single biggest area of demand we’re seeing right now is for Big Four newly qualified accountants, as well as those with two to three years’ post-qualified experience in multinationals,” said Keevans. Demand for newly qualified accountants is high in both industry and financial services, as is demand for internal auditors and risk professionals, financial analysts, and accounts payable and receivable. Among tax professionals, the highest demand among employers is for candidates at managerial and senior managerial level. “Here, professionals with five years’ qualified experience are securing salaries of between €80,000 and €90,000 plus benefits. That’s up from a range of €70,000 to €75,000 up to 12 months ago,” said Keevans. “The growth in the number of FDI multinationals setting up here, and wishing to have an in-house tax function, is a driving factor—as are the retention incentives the bigger firms are putting in place to retain their tax talent.”   Keevans said there had been a significant shift from contract to permanent recruitment in the market, a trend she expects will continue in the 12 months ahead.   “As the market starts to open back up, we hope to see more mobility in terms of talent coming into the country,” she said. “This would be welcome as a means to alleviate some of the pressure on the supply of accountancy professionals, particularly in the transactional space. “It is important here for companies to consider the potential to sponsor talent to get employment permits and visas, where required, before going to market to hire. This will help to ensure as broad a talent pool as possible, accessible in the most efficient timelines.”