By Ed Heffernan
Coming out of training contract there’s lots of things newly qualified accountants will be thinking and wondering about. For many, money is usually high on the agenda. They have, after all, worked hard and sacrificed a lot, so it’s only fair to be compensated correctly for the value of their time.
So how do you as a hiring manager identify what’s fair and accurate to offer? Some of the questions that may be running around in your head could be…
What’s the going salary for a newly qualified accountant? What info is accurate and what can be relied upon? I heard Mary got 52K and Laura got 62K – what does that mean? How do I benchmark a salary for the NQ accountant I want to hire against the going ‘rate’ out there?
…nobody in this equation wants to be short changed.
Well look no further…
Most salary surveys give you an average or range. But depending on the sample size, the average figure can be skewed, and often doesn’t give a true reflection of actual base salary. And sometimes (more than you might imagine) the numbers are not based on surveys but on sentiment. I don’t know about you but I prefer to use hard data when making big decisions when it comes to hiring the best people and building my team…
Over the last 6 months, across Dublin & Cork, we’ve helped lots of newly qualified accountants make their first move after their training contract. For fun we tracked their base salaries (yes that’s what we regard as fun here in Barden!) and created some real time data points which will be of help to you as hiring manager…
Interesting, right?
Now here’s the two big caveats:
- Base salary is only a part of Total Compensation – want to know about total comp for newly qualified accountants? Ask one of our experts in Barden and they’ll set you on the right track when it comes to what to offer to make sure you get the best people to build your team.
- Sometimes…people get paid more for the same job in a different company. Why? One of our experts would love to shed some light on this for you.
It’s not all about the base in someone’s first move after qualifying…but base sure is important! If you’re curious, want to learn more and what to base your decisions on actual data, you know where to go….
About the author
| Ed Heffernan is Managing Partner of Barden. He has worked for many years in recruitment both locally and internationally within the accounting and finance space. He has also worked with 1000’s of accountants nationally on career moves. Ed is a regular contributor to industry publications (including Accountancy Ireland), and contributes as a subject matter expert in accounting careers for IrishJobs. He is an ardent supporter and promoter of the accounting profession and has worked over the years through CASSI, CAI (Chartered Accountants), CIMA, ACCA and CPA on numerous initiatives to promote accounting careers.
Need help achieving your ambitions or building your finance team? If so, get in touch with Barden today at [email protected].
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