Written by pbcreative 
Demand For Accountancy and Finance Professionals Soars as Training Contracts Grow in Popularity
Accountants and finance professionals with a high level understanding of various reporting standards and techniques are massively increasing in demand. The technical knowledge honed by many young candidates in the profession has become an attractive trait for businesses looking not only to get ahead of the curve, but to stay there.
Finance professionals and accountants were, at one point, seen as mere number crunchers – necessary tools to make sure that tax returns were completed on time and the company’s operations were above board and in order. In the modern world of digital business, accountants and finance professionals take on a much more centralised role, often informing on wider things like strategy and general business organisation and representation. A candidate with an acute knowledge of numbers, stats and data can provide incredible insight into where a business might be headed, and things that it could take advantage of that may lie just around the corner. Today, data is invaluable.
Of course, along with the new wave of eCommerce which is constantly evolving, come new financial challenges. With the business landscape being so fluid and often unpredictable, companies are taking greater risks for greater returns, and looking to streamline and minimise their expenses wherever they can. Businesses are getting more cost-conscious, and are more focussed than ever on getting accountants to have wider commercial exposure within the ranks. In short, they want to squeeze everything they can out of their finance professionals, and are started to realise that they work excellently in crossover roles as data becomes an important strategy informer.
There are also some big reporting changes in the pipeline around IFRS coming into play over the next year, and having someone in-house to keep the wheels greased and keep things moving is proving invaluable for SME’s and corporations alike. You can of course pay a lot to get things looked at externally, but this is proving less and less common as more in-house finance professionals are recruited to look after things in the office. The added value brought by many is simply too good for companies to pass up.
More training contracts are being taken up in finance and the economic interest is there. It’s true that many companies will be seeking financial support in-house after the uncertainty of the past 5 years too – the UK has experienced a tumultuous start to the decade financially, and many businesses have fallen in its wake. One way to keep your head above water when the economy experiences a downturn is to make sure you dot all of your ‘i’s and cross all of your ‘t’s, and the latest generation of finance professionals can do that, and so much more.