Crunch fails to dampen career confidence for finance professionals
Despite fears of a more widespread economic downturn and talk of job losses in the City, the accounting and finance sector is holding up well. According to the latest research from Badenoch & Clark, UK finance professionals remain confident of their career prospects despite the current economic gloom.
One in four accountants actually feeling better about their career prospects than they did this time last year.
The credit crunch has failed to dent the confidence of nearly two thirds of people, with nearly one in four actually feeling better about their career prospects than they did this time last year. The accounting sector remains up beat; salaries have risen (3.7%), bonuses are healthy (9.4%) and newly qualified candidates are still in high demand.
The figures reveal a trend that cuts across the UK. Despite predictions that London workers would be most heavily hit by the crunch, nearly three quarters in the capital remain confident about their future. The results provide a surprising contrast to many of the headlines in recent months, predicting mass job losses in a range of areas. One estimate had even gone as far to say that one in every five employers plans redundancies this year (source: CIPD). Research from one of the largest financial institutions predicted 40,000 jobs would be lost in the City this year - at 6% of the workforce; it should be a worrying number. So far, however redundancies seem to have been limited to frontline operations.
A perceived lack of opportunity in financial services has, however, led to a number of corporate finance accountants making the move to the FMCG, pharmaceuticals, media and technology sectors.
High levels of confidence are reflected in Badenoch & Clark’s Happiness at Work Index. Eighty-one per cent of finance professionals haven’t lost any confidence from last year; with nearly half saying they are actually more confident.
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