Finance Salaries

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We've lost some good part-qualified staff recently and have struggled to recruit decent replacements. We're paying as follows

Finance Assistant (AP/AR/Payroll) - £22-25k
PQ Finance Analyst £30k
CCAB with 2-5 years PQE £40k

I know this is probably 15-25% less than London rates but I thought it was pretty good for central Manchester. Am I massively behind the times?

[MOBB]

Based on Northants levels, I'd say the first 2 are thereabouts, but quals with that pqe should command 10k more depending on company size and role

[EV11NED]

Depends on what sector you are in to a degree, but finance being a very transferable skill set means you will always have competition. I do have to say that £40k for 2-5 years PQE is on the light side for Manchester. I would expect more £45 - 50k depending on the role.

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Shows how much I know

I had a sneaking suspicion that the Qualified rate was on the low side but I thought the first 2 were extremely competitive. Bear in mind for AP/AR Assistant they literally need only a couple of years' processing invoices.

Will need to speak to HR about getting them rebanded. HR Director won't be too keen as she's only on £50k....

[Flooble]

And the HR Director has spent how long qualifying and doing PQE CPD?

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Flooble said:

And the HR Director has spent how long qualifying and doing PQE CPD?

She’s very well qualified, (CIPD, MBA) but I don’t think she realises how much salaries for finance staff have increased recently. To be fair to her neither did I ! Anyway the latest advert managed for Finance Asst. to generate 73 applications so maybe we’re not too far off market rates

[Gregmitchell]

Countdown said:

We've lost some good part-qualified staff recently and have struggled to recruit decent replacements. We're paying as follows

Finance Assistant (AP/AR/Payroll) - £22-25k
PQ Finance Analyst £30k
CCAB with 2-5 years PQE £40k

I know this is probably 15-25% less than London rates but I thought it was pretty good for central Manchester. Am I massively behind the times?

I would have thought central Manchester would offer good salaries? in Oxfordshire PQ role would be £40k, and 2-5+yrs PQE would be £55k+, the assistant role seems bang on the money.

I know salaries tend to be a bit higher down south but i didn't think by that much? There are a lot of accountants out there, but the "decent" ones are hard to find, it can take us 6 months or more to find the right candidate some times.

edit... We also find using an agency (Robert Half / Hays etc) brings us better and more vetted candidates.

Edited by Gregmitchell on Wednesday 1st February 20:43

[joestifff]

Gregmitchell said:

Countdown said:

We've lost some good part-qualified staff recently and have struggled to recruit decent replacements. We're paying as follows

Finance Assistant (AP/AR/Payroll) - £22-25k
PQ Finance Analyst £30k
CCAB with 2-5 years PQE £40k

I know this is probably 15-25% less than London rates but I thought it was pretty good for central Manchester. Am I massively behind the times?

I would have thought central Manchester would offer good salaries? in Oxfordshire PQ role would be £40k, and 2-5+yrs PQE would be £55k+, the assistant role seems bang on the money.

I know salaries tend to be a bit higher down south but i didn't think by that much? There are a lot of accountants out there, but the "decent" ones are hard to find, it can take us 6 months or more to find the right candidate some times.

edit... We also find using an agency (Robert Half / Hays etc) brings us better and more vetted candidates.

Edited by Gregmitchell on Wednesday 1st February 20:43

I am in the north of England. My team are similar levels and their pay rates are:
Finance Assistant (AP/AR/Payroll) - £23k
PQ Finance Analyst £28k
CCAB with 2-5 years PQE £55k

It's only really your PQE that's is working for buttons. I am currently looking at FC jobs circa £55k+

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joestifff said:

I am in the north of England. My team are similar levels and their pay rates are:
Finance Assistant (AP/AR/Payroll) - £23k
PQ Finance Analyst £28k
CCAB with 2-5 years PQE £55k

It's only really your PQE that's is working for buttons. I am currently looking at FC jobs circa £55k+

The thing is, there aren't THAT many roles at £55k around so I'm not sure why that would be the level for somebody with 2-5 years PQE. For example we recruited for a Head of Finance (which had a broadly similar Job Desc to FC) for £60k and we were getting people with 10 to 20 years PQE, people who had been FD ins smaller organisations.

Having said all that, we are struggling to recruit at £40k so I'm probably mistaken, or the market has picked up, or both.....

[Dave350]

£38-40k seems to be the benchmark for newly qual.
£45k with 2 years PQE seems to be the norm outside of London.

I know of 4 recently qualified ACCA people (within 12 months) of which
2 are on £40k + car + 15% bonus,
1 on £40k + car,
1 on £38k

Those who have been qualified 2-5 years are pushing £55k.

Edited by Dave350 on Friday 10th February 16:10

[Ian Geary]

London, £800m turnover public sector org:

Ap,ar, payroll £26k
Part qual / aat £35
Ccab/acca 2-5 yrs £46k
Ccab with technical specialism - £51k

All before tax, but inclusive of employers' pension contribution ( circa 15%)

Sorry op, this is no help to you whatsoever. I'm just referencing for the next time someone is trying to say the public sector is as well/ better remunerated than the private sector.

For what it's worth, I'm having trouble recruiting decent accountants with relevant experience.

Ian

[rog007]

Countdown said:

We've lost some good part-qualified staff recently and have struggled to recruit decent replacements.

Whilst the headline salary for recruitment purposes is important, it's obviously not the whole picture. Are you clearly outlining the other benefits of joining your organisation?

In terms of retaining existing staff (and it's often cheaper to retain than lose and rehire); do you know why they're leaving? Is it just the pay or is it other things (poor leadership, poor terms & conditions, rubbish environment etc)?

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rog007 said:

Whilst the headline salary for recruitment purposes is important, it's obviously not the whole picture. Are you clearly outlining the other benefits of joining your organisation?

In terms of retaining existing staff (and it's often cheaper to retain than lose and rehire); do you know why they're leaving? Is it just the pay or is it other things (poor leadership, poor terms & conditions, rubbish environment etc)?

It's the pay . In every exit interview we've been told that the new job is paying £5k-£10k more for broadly similar responsibilities. At some point I'm going to have to speak to HR about rebanding / regrading.

[rog007]

Countdown said:

It's the pay . In every exit interview we've been told that the new job is paying £5k-£10k more for broadly similar responsibilities. At some point I'm going to have to speak to HR about rebanding / regrading.

My reaction to this is that you should not assume what you hear at exit interviews is the whole truth; exit interviews are notoriously unreliable. Staff leaving for £5k more pa would ring alarm bells if it were my organisation, even for £10k. I would seriously look internally first before I ramped up the annual wage. I'd bet a fair sum that if you did up it, you'd find your staff still leaving for '£5k'.

Are you sure you know the root cause? Have a good dig around; you may be surprised at what you find.

Good luck!

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rog007 said:

My reaction to this is that you should not assume what you hear at exit interviews is the whole truth; exit interviews are notoriously unreliable. Staff leaving for £5k more pa would ring alarm bells if it were my organisation, even for £10k. I would seriously look internally first before I ramped up the annual wage. I'd bet a fair sum that if you did up it, you'd find your staff still leaving for '£5k'.

Are you sure you know the root cause? Have a good dig around; you may be surprised at what you find.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice.

£5k seems a reasonable jump when you're on £25-£30k...no? Possibly there were other benefits such as working closer to home and not having to pay extortionate parking fees...the weird thing is we had 73 applicants for the Assistant post and some of those were passed Finalists, and that role only pays £22k.

[Flooble]

Ah! Parking problems? Big disincentive in my experience. Nice office in the suburbs can be very attractive when there is the school run to do. Do you offer flexitime? Maybe parking permits?

I did lose a guy who went to a far worse place for 5k more as his wife was driving him to earn more. So it can happen.