Finance job, career & recruitment news experts, city finance job marketplace low down & industry articles, plus career guidance

To the layman, product control doesn’t look particularly exciting. After all, who would be inclined to spend their days totting up the P&Ls of irascible traders whilst earning a fraction of their pay. For this reason it’s often assumed that the throng of newly qualified accountants which floods into the City each year has been lured in on false pretences. Rather than wanting a career as product controllers, it’s they really... Read more

Monday was Clifford Sacks’ first day as Ceo South Africa and head of Pan-African equities for Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank that is expanding aggressively in emerging markets. Before joining RenCap, Sacks, who is South African, was co-Ceo for SA and Sub-Saharan Africa at BoA Merrill Lynch, a well-respected investment banker with twenty years’ experience and a deep knowledge of African equities. His task is to open and staff a... Read more

Many recruitment firms would have naïve newly qualified accountants think otherwise, but product control is not really very exciting. It might be ok if you derive immense gratification from totting up P&Ls for ungrateful traders, but it’s not so hot if you’d rather put your accountancy skills to use in a more strategic context. But what product control lacks in excitement, it makes up in steadiness. According to one recruiter, product... Read more

It has come to our attention that Ernst & Young has biggish hiring plans for its financial services advisory arm. Fresh from hiring Vincent Oratore from Banque AIG for its financial services tax practice, our source informs us that E&Y aspires to further expand its FS advisory headcount by 30 people. A spokesperson for the company says E&Y’s advisory practice is engaged in “everything that’s not audit.” More specifically, this includes... Read more

These are fortunate times if you’re a newly qualified ACA with a sense that your destiny lies in product control. After a period of limited recruitment in which only experienced product controllers were even vaguely appealing, banks are hiring juniors again. Even more fortunately, banks’ renewed appetite for juniors coincides with the time when ACAs get their exam results and are free to move out of private practice. “In the past... Read more

With recession comes increased incidences of fraud, heightened anxiety around capital projects and tougher financial regulations, all of which spells more business for forensic accountants. Not surprisingly, they're hiring. Business is booming – PricewaterhouseCoopers, for instance, has seen revenues from its forensics division increase by 77% on three years, and KPMG tells us its one of its most profitable areas currently. "Over the last 12 months, the economic crisis... Read more

Barclays Capital’s trade support deficiencies may prompt banks to strengthen their teams in the area. BarCap’s failings were nothing if not comprehensive. Yesterday it was fined £2.45m by the FSA after it emerged that 100% of its reportable transactions across every ‘core asset class’ (except cash equities where a mere 84% were affected) were reported either inaccurately or not at all between 1st November 2007 and 31st October 2008. Although this... Read more

In spite of improved performance in the first half of this year, investment banks are still keeping a close eye on costs. The upside of this is that it's creating an increase in demand for accountants on contract basis. Recruiters tell us that the first quarter of 2009 was a tough time for temporary accountants looking for work within investment banks. Projects were put on hold and those who managed to... Read more

Like traders and salespeople, product control jobs have been hit by the demise of structured credit. Now they’re being hit again by an alleged push to move roles related to vanilla products offshore. Recruiters say Morgan Stanley is moving some of its accounting roles to its Business Services and Technology Centre in Budapest. Credit Suisse is said to be moving roles to Pune in India and JPMorgan is rumoured to... Read more

As someone with long experience of working in the finance function of investment banks, I can safely say that front office bankers are not always very nice. I have been threatened with violence, humiliated, and shouted at on many occasions. It’s easy to say that front office bankers’ are self important because they’re revenue generators and everyone else is a cost. This is undoubtedly a big factor, but the reality... Read more

Given the incredible popularity of the Morgan McKinley monthly employment monitor and our almost unblemished record of writing about it, it seems fair that we should add a small something on the subject at the end of the day. Needless to say, things are looking up. As suggested by the Powerchex report we referenced earlier, there are certainly more jobs than there were a few months ago, but there are still... Read more

Following the Sunday Times’ declaration of the rebirth of tax avoidance schemes, we thought it worthwhile checking out precisely which schemes are now available and to whom.The answer appears to be that there aren’t really many schemes available at all. And those that are on offer are only open to a very select few able to slip under the radar of HMRC.Most tax avoidance schemes died horribly in 2004  “I was very surprised... Read more

Everybody knows that the jobs market is extremely competitive at the moment but thinking outside the box when it comes to your job search could go a long way in helping you to secure that role.Recently, Morgan McKinley conducted a survey of 600 UK finance professionals who are currently job hunting. We found that a third (34%) said they would relocate to secure their next career move. In addition to... Read more

A new survey suggests that tax professionals were rather pleased with their job prospects, even before the budget elevated them to the status of demi-gods. Of 650 who were surveyed in the weeks preceding the budget, 45% said they thought their team would expand in the next 12 months. That number can surely only be higher after Wednesday,

Expansion into Africa is serving South African banks well and providing significant opportunities for employment. Standard Bank, the continent’s largest, has pursued the most active and successful African diversification strategy. In 2008 profit from its African operations increased by 46% to R1.8bn, a performance Standard Bank Ceo Jacko Maree has described as “unbelievable”. Determined to strengthen its footprint in the 16 countries outside South Africa it operates in and also... Read more

The FSA’s latest business plan, makes it look like it’s suddenly become a place where one can make some decent cash. Money put aside for staff costs has risen nearly 25% to £306.4m and the regulator is introducing a new ‘reward strategy’ to incentivise and attract banking types. The FSA plans to increase headcount to 3,000, implying that the average regulatory person might be earning £100k, and that some might be earning... Read more

Accountants are suffering, but they're suffering less. If you’re a former accountant-turned-banker, now may therefore be the time to retrace your steps. According to the Accountancy Age ranking of the UK’s top 50 accounting firms, all but two had positive revenue growth in 2008. This is not to say that accountancy firms haven't been suffering. BDO Stoy Hayward is said to be cutting partners' pay by 30% in 2009. The Big... Read more