Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. Vault Guide to the Top UK Accounting Firms is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting.
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Vault Guide to the Top UK Accounting Firms Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. Vault Guide to the Top UK Accounting Firms is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting. |
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Vault Guide to the Top UK Accounting Firms For the first edition of The Vault Guide to the Top UK Accounting Firms, we have surveyed and profiled in detail 20 of the UK?s top accounting firms. In addition to the Big Four, the guide features 16 other leaders in the field who play a huge role in the industry. The profiles in our guide are based on industry surveys, research and extensive feedback from employees about everything from company culture to compensation, training, management, perks and benefits. They also offer their valuable perspective about interviews, internships and diversity at the firms.
Accountancy in Britain has a long and dynamic history in which both big and smaller players have contributed greatly. As such, career opportunities exist for graduates at all sizes and types of firms throughout the country. This first edition is fantastic resource for anyone interested in or starting out a career in the field of accountancy in the UK.
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Over the past six years that has changed. Companies have expanded their own corporate governance frameworks to improve transparency, which has helped auditors provide objective validations of financial statements. More stringent regulatory control, particularly in the US, has improved accounting practices and quelled public fears over corruption in the industry. Despite its more laissez faire approach to legislation, the UK has until now largely avoided scandals such as Enron.
Improvements in public opinion have been complimented by increased revenues. In 2007, the top-50 UK accountancy firms had combined revenues of 8.7 billion pounds, a one billion pound increase over 2006. According to Research and Markets, the UK accountancy market will grow by more than eight percent year-on-year to 2009. The rise in demand for accountancy services has been caused by the boom in the financial services sector, increasingly complex tax legislation and the need many organisations have for business advice. As revenues have grown, so have salaries. According to a survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters, UK accountancy graduates are paid 24,250 pounds on average, expected to rise 4.2 percent this year. Chief financial accountants are earning a median of 80,000 pounds after as little as six years in the industry.
Little wonder then that in a joint survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Robert Half Finance Accounting, 84 percent of respondents were satisfied with their current salary and benefits package. The ?Big Four? ? Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young ? have myriad strategies for keeping staff happy.
Deloitte, for example, is investing 80 million pounds in a new "campus" including a hitech gym, learning zones, relaxation places and a bicycle garage. Company staff who are part of its charitable ?give-as-you-earn-scheme? are given incentives through monthly competitions, giving scheme members the chance to win tickets to Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and New York. At Ernst & Young more people earn in excess of ?55,000 a year than the number that earn less than ?25,000 a year. Anyone can take an unpaid sabbatical of 26 weeks and those who have been at the company a year or more have the option of a 104-week unpaid career break. PricewaterhouseCoopers has developed a ?Zest for Life? well-being initiative and invests 42 million pounds a year in learning facilities. Its four-year business diploma, run in association with the Centre for Management Development at London Business School, is available to all management staff. Unsurprisingly, The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2007 included all the Big Four in its top-10. If these facts don?t speak for themselves, retention rates do. More than 1,600 workers at KPMG have put in at least ten years? service.
