eFinancialCareers

Accountants may have more to fear from outsourcing and systems improvements than the credit crunch.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Morgan Stanley is cutting 150 City jobs, mostly back office. But an insider in one American bank says that shouldn’t alarm accountants in support roles: “The cuts are part of a global review that banks routinely carry out,” he says. “IT and operations staff are likely to be included.”

If anything, robust trading volumes should be good news for accountants in product control roles. Stock Exchange figures show January’s trading activity at record highs, despite shares falling.

Instead of sub-prime repercussions, Ketan Gohil of Martin Ward Anderson, says accountants should be more wary of outsourcing: “Some banks are making cuts by reducing temporary staff and long-term contractors, or outsourcing less complex work overseas, including management accounting and product control for vanilla products, such as equities. Most who haven’t already embarked on outsourcing to cheaper locations are considering it.”

In the meantime, Gohil says banks’ appetite for full-time accountancy hires isn’t appreciably lower: “The market’s flattening rather than dipping massively. There are still more jobs than candidates.”

“Some employers are taking advantage of the fact that good people are looking around,” confirms Martin Long of Joslin Rowe. “Candidate quality is surprisingly high; employers have a greater choice.”

Former accountants who’ve moved on to bigger and better things are most likely to be impacted by the credit crunch: “It’s accountants in front office roles who are more likely to experience redundancy caused by market conditions,” says the insider.