ALLISON PLAGER FINDS OUT FROM PURE TAXATION HOW THE INTERIM MARKET HAS WEATHERED THE RECESSION
Things can only get better, and indeed they are, at least as far as the market for interim tax professionals is beginning to show. Pure Taxation’s ‘Interim spring 2010 market update’ notes that while placement numbers remain consistent with earlier in 2009, ‘an increasing number of enquiries are being made from existing and new clients with an intention to recruit on both an interim and permanent basis in 2010’, particularly within the financial services sector.
Pure Taxation’s Kimberley Britt says that as companies are emerging from the recession, ‘head count restrictions may still remain in place leaving them no other alternative but to consider a temporary worker’ to help clear backlogs of compliance, or assist in a specialist project.
Indirect tax is particularly buoyant. Kimberley says that there has been ‘an increasing number of VAT professionals, who have been hired to work on a project basis focusing on systems implementation, international VAT planning, VAT compliance and risk management’.
Transfer pricing is also a strong area, says Kimberley, ‘with many FTSE 100 and 250 companies evaluating whether to bring in permanent hires to cover transfer pricing or if contractors can assist in a more project focused capacity’.
Another steady area is temporary and contract work within employment and expatriate taxes ‘with a number of FTSE 100 businesses without a dedicated employment/expatriate tax resource looking for project assistance in these areas’.
People looking for senior interim roles are also finding the market opening up. Kimberley says ‘the beginning of 2010 has seen more senior level recruitment. These positions have either been interim head of tax roles or senior projects focusing on restructuring as well as an increased appetite in the M&A arena’.
Financial services
‘The financial services sector has demonstrated that it can either underpin or undermine the UK global economy’, says Pure Taxation’s Dalia Greenwood. ‘Despite an extremely challenging 2009 for a number of financial services institutions, we have started to witness a significant number of banks which are coming back to profit having indeed strengthened and been heralded as the winners of the global financial crisis. There are those which have not only avoided state aid but moved opportunistically to acquire profitable parts of vulnerable banks for knockdown prices thus expanding their market share both in the UK and internationally.’
Since the start of 2010, she says ‘some organisations, having downsized too much, are now finding themselves at minimum staffing levels and are reconsidering whether additional resource is required. Other banks which have merged or have been taken over, ie Lloyds Banking Group, RBS (ABN Amro) are finalising the restructure of departments, and gaps and skill shortages are becoming apparent within the teams’.
The increased demand in 2009 for transfer pricing and supply-chain management is continuing in 2010, says Dalia, with financial services organisations ‘hiring transfer pricing specialists, primarily on an interim basis, to draft and implement transfer pricing policies, restructure the existing transfer pricing framework, perform transfer pricing reviews, etc’.
Overseas candidates
Last year saw a decline in opportunities within the UK market for overseas candidates, says Pure Taxation’s Marisa Hari. ‘The scene was set at the end of 2008 with many redundancies from the profession and financial services institutions flooding the tax candidate market. The number of new candidates continued to increase throughout 2009 while we witnessed a decline in the number of interim corporate tax roles available to candidates. This influx of immediately available, UK qualified candidates to the market had not been seen for many years and has instantly altered the dynamics of the tax recruitment market.
She says that businesses grew ‘more meticulous with the type of candidate they brought in to assist on an interim basis and consequently the criteria for short-term requirements became even more stringent’. Often budget approval for interim assistance could only be obtained if ‘specific skills and experience requirements had been met’.
Inevitably, says Marisa, ‘these market conditions have had a profound effect on overseas candidates without UK experience or qualifications. The interim tax market was once dominated by Antipodean candidates who were considered “the next best thing” when a shortage of UK candidates was evident. The similarities in the two tax jurisdictions meant that Antipodeans could make an easy transition into the UK market with little or no training at all required’.
However, as increasing numbers of UK-qualified candidates came onto the market, overseas candidates were ‘squeezed out of the market and consequently, the number of overseas candidates arriving in the UK to work has declined significantly throughout 2009’.
Despite this, candidates with specialist experience such as VAT, employee and expatriate taxes and transfer pricing are still in demand, says Marisa. ‘Overseas candidates who have specialist skills in these areas have been able to obtain an interim role with less difficulty. Others, who have been not as successful at finding a suitable role with a tax focus, have accepted roles within finance and product control.’
She notes that ‘a distinct change in mood in the interim tax recruitment market became evident towards the end of 2009 initiated predominantly by an increased appetite for tax professionals within the financial services sector and notably the big four have also started to offer secondments to overseas candidates again’.
Overall, Marisa is optimistic that ‘with commerce and industry looking set to follow the same trend, overseas candidates can only become more sought after as the year goes on’.
Outlook: good
So it would seem that professionals looking for interim work are likely to find 2010 a more positive year than 2009, particularly if they have specialist skills and experience.
