Internal Audit market update

Recruitment trends and skills in demand – half year market update 2011

Our specialist audit business has seen an increase in the number of vacancies registered over the first six months of this year. While the quantity of roles is up by 13% year-on-year, the roles have become much more specialist in nature requiring strong product knowledge and a broad technical skill set, such as in credit risk or treasury;
As is often the case with very specialist roles, the supply of candidates does not equal the increase in demand and many of the companies looking to recruit are offering extensive pay rises for those with the required expertise. Buy backs are also increasingly common which is resulting in a general rise in compensation across internal audit;
Furthermore, we are seeing a steady increase in demand for IT audit skills this year, driven by numerous mergers and transformation projects taking place in the financial services industry. This too is a candidate-short market where technical skill sets are very highly in demand;
The demand for newly qualified accountants generally from external audit has declined in 2011 due to multiple hires made last year. Candidates with financial services knowledge gained with audit in practice are still highly sought after;
All the major UK banks are recruiting very heavily in audit. Many of these vacancies are arising due to constant corporate restructuring and the many transformation projects being undertaken post the GFC.

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