PQ magazine, March 2021

Incorporating NQ magazine

March 2021

www.pqmagazine.com/www.pqjobs.co.uk

The new normal for accounting: what the future holds The time is now right for the creation of a new branch of accountants, says CIPFA CEO Rob Whiteman. A key speaker at the recent ‘2021 and beyond: The New Normal for accounting Around the Globe’ conference, he revealed the sustainable/social value accountants’ time had come. In another session Professor Mervyn E King, the author of the King Report on Corporate

Governance, claimed that calling someone a CFO has become a ‘misnomer’. “We need to welcome the Chief Value Officer,” he said. To this end, he revealed there will soon be academic courses for CVOs in South Africa and the UK, and you can expect to see the creation of the chartered chief value officer. King also revealed that by November we will see the formation of an International Sustainable

Standards Board. This was a truly global event, with delegates from Bahrain to Zimbabwe. In all, LSBU/PQ magazine were joined by participants from over 30 countries. Just under 300 people watched live, and already over 250-plus have watched the recording on YouTube. You too can check out the whole conference at tinyurl.com/159fqtfd

LOOKING AT POSITIVES FOR THE YEAR AHEAD How are your data analytic and IT infrastructure skills? Well, you may need to do some work on these, as they are the top skills employers are looking for in a PQ for 2021 – after your financial skills, of course. The latest Hays Salary and Recruiting Trends survey is out, and despite the current lockdown employers said they had a ‘positive’ outlook in the short term, with nearly 90% saying their organisation’s activity levels will either increase or stay the same for 2021. More than half (53%) are planning to hire new staff which, says Hays’ UK director, Karen Young (pictured), should be “encouraging for PQs who intend to look for new opportunities over the next 12 months”. When it comes to salary rises, PQs seem to have fared relatively well. Salaries in 2020 rose by 1.5% on average, which is higher than the average for the rest of the accountancy sector (which was 0.9%). Payroll, accounts receivable and insolvency practitioners saw the most generous salary rises, of over 2%. London, perhaps not surprisingly, tops the league of PQ salaries. An ACCA and CIMA finalist working in the capital can expect a yearly salary of £40,000, around the same as 2019. ACA finalists are ‘enjoying’ around

£38,000, but the big jump has come in the pay packets of CIPFA finalists. In 2019 they were earning £33,500, but in 2020 it had risen to £35,000. Meanwhile, in the Midlands, a CIMA finalist can expect more pay than those from other bodies, receiving between £35,000 and £36,000 a year. At the other end of the pay scale comes Wales and Northern Ireland. Finalist ACCA and CIMA PQs can expect £10,000 less than their London counterparts – £30,000. CIPFA and ACA trainees will also start on salaries of around £17,500 on average. That’s the lowest for the whole of the UK. The survey also asked PQs how they felt about their career prospects moving forward. Just 43% said they felt positive about their career – that’s a big drop on last year’s 60%. Uncertainty is on the rise, and 43% of respondents said they now feel worried about their career prospects. Some 83% claim their employers are not doing anything to reduce these uncertainties. Another interesting result from the survey was the number of PQs who are not happy about working from home. Just 12% say they would like to be working fully remotely. And just 30% want to be working half remotely and half in the office. • Take a look at the salaries for finalists, semi-seniors/PQs and trainees on pages 18–19.

Registered Tuition Provider