brewer morris tax recruitment market update & salary survey 2012 & 2013
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Brewer Morris is delighted to launch our 13th annual tax recruitment market update and salary survey for 2012 & 2013. The report takes an in-depth look at the tax market across commerce & industry, banking & finance, practice, the interim recruitment tax market, tax legal and the Middle East and European tax markets.TRANSCRIPT
Market update and salary survey2012/2013
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brewermorris.com
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Mark Pryor Partner
Introduction
“Black clouds are advancing over the horizon given the Eurozone crisis, turbulent world stock markets and concerns over the liquidity or indeed solvency of certain countries and their financial institutions.”
2011 Brewer Morris Market Update & Salary Survey
Well the black clouds have certainly come, are big and seem to show few signs of moving on. Inevitably this has created a challenging
environment for tax recruitment, following two great years in 2010 and 2011.
A tightening of corporates’ advisory spend and a reduced need for tax planning & advice has led to a sharp slowdown within the
Big 4 in the UK.
The Tier A firms have fared better given they are not as reliant on the large corporates and banks for work, and indeed a couple have
seen good growth making a number of significant hires. The larger independent firms and niche boutiques continue to do well, with
strong demand for tax professionals with specific skills to increase their service offerings to clients.
The banking sector remains depressed, with the larger tax departments implementing restructurings, although there are some
pockets of recruitment taking place especially in compliance and reporting. The broader financial services sector is holding up, with
steady recruitment in insurance and asset management.
There is still expansion recruitment in the corporate sector, with continued appetite for transfer pricing, VAT, compliance and
reporting tax professionals. Unsurprisingly, in this market the demand for interim and contract tax staff remains high.
There continues to be a healthy appetite for Tax Lawyers from the Law firms, with tax dispute resolution and litigation expertise in
particular demand.
In Europe we are witnessing strong growth in the demand for tax professionals and although hiring in Switzerland has cooled; we
are still seeing steady recruitment in other key economies.
The Middle East is currently seeing substantial levels of recruitment, with the key territories in the Asia Pacific region continuing to
enjoy growth levels far outstripping traditional Western economies.
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
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Commerce & Industry Tax
Market overview
To date, the tax recruitment market in 2012 has proved to be as
complex and unpredictable as at any time.
Despite the wider macro-economic climate and the challenges
that the majority of our clients face when looking at recruitment
needs, there has continued to be a healthy appetite for those
candidates who are able to illustrate a strong tax compliance
and accounting knowledge and who are able to use these
broad based tax accounting skills in a commercial setting. This
demand has been driven by the continuing compliance demand
placed on tax directors, their teams and businesses.
In the first six months of 2012, we have been involved in eight
Tax Director / Head of Tax recruitment exercises.
In our opinion this is a relatively large number of opportunities
at this level which has been driven by a number of retirements
and changes in senior personnel.
The one area of the market which has proved difficult, is the
mid-level commercial tax market. This has been the traditional
point for many Senior Managers making their first move in-
house to take on international tax roles or even greenfield roles
for smaller organisations. The reduction in the amount of M&A
transactions, refinancing or restructuring has meant that most
tax functions have dealt with this work through using existing
team members.
Looking ahead
With more than 60% of Tax Directors who responded to our
survey looking to grow their tax functions in the next 12
months, there seems to be a positive feel to the market ahead.
With no end in sight to the increase in tax legislation, and the
burden of tax compliance growing, Tax Directors are finding it
easier to secure the headcount that they envisage in this area.
However, visibility in recruitment is difficult at the best of times
and in these times of continuous economic change long-term
predictions become ever more difficult to make.
Salary trends
A detailed questionnaire was sent to all of the key tax clients
who work with Brewer Morris. Almost 95% of all clients who
responded to the survey intend to award a salary increase
to their team this year. Almost 20% are looking to increase
salaries by between 4% to 7% and more than 5% are looking
to give their team an increase in the region of 8% to 10%.
It also seems that the bonus culture is alive and well in the
tax world with more than half of our clients looking to award
bonuses in excess of 20% of base salary.
Benchmarking services
At Brewer Morris we have spent a great deal of time providing
bespoke salary benchmarking services to our clients. This
assists in-house reward teams in understanding how tax
functions operate within the larger finance environments and
ensures that they are rewarded accordingly.
We would be delighted to speak with any clients or individuals
who feel they may benefit from bespoke salary guidance.
For further information about the Commerce & industry tax sector please contact:
Matthew Gravelle PartnerE: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
FTSE 100
Continuing economic uncertainty has meant that any growth
in the larger tax functions across the FTSE 100 has been both
slow and sporadic according to industry sector. Similar to a
pattern we saw in 2011, many tax professionals have been
dealing with a broader range of tax issues as opposed to new
specialist tax roles being created.
At Senior Manager level there has been a decrease in the
quantity of opportunities, particularly on the international
advisory side. This is mostly due to the fact that in the current
economic climate, most businesses are not in a position to be
signing off on big M&A deals or restructuring work. The majority
of recruitment activity has been at Assistant Manager and
Manager level, largely focussing on compliance and reporting
issues; an area in which we have been surprisingly busy. We
have witnessed an increased demand for tax professionals with
particular specialisms such as indirect tax, transfer pricing and
US taxes. There has also been a reasonable number of senior
level hires being made, predominantly as a result of recent
retirements or indeed succession planning.
Increases in salaries have generally been in line with
standard year-on-year increases, with only a minority of tax
professionals obtaining any significant uplift.
However, many of the bonuses that have been awarded
have been relatively noteworthy. The results of our survey
show that where bonuses are available within a business, tax
professionals’ efforts are being recognised. Those who are not
awarded bonuses or pay rises are typically in organisations
where rewards are less available, primarily due to the nature of
their business and the sector they operate in.
About a third of the FTSE 100 envisage growth in their tax
functions over the next twelve months. Similar to what we
have seen over the last six months, any growth that is forecast
tends to be at the junior level, with a specific emphasis on
compliance and reporting professionals.
For further information about the FTSE 100 market please contact:
Stephen AdamsE: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Title Base Car Allowance Bonus
Head of Tax £120,000 - £230,000 £10,000 - £18,000 20% - 100%
Senior Manager £65,000 - £180,000 £4,500 - £12,000 10% - 100%
Manager £45,000 - £75,000 £4,500 - £5,500 10% - 30%
Tax Accountant £35,000 - £55,000 Up to £2,000 5% - 20%
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
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FTSE 250
As we move through 2012 we have seen this part of the market
remain particularly active at junior to mid-level, predominantly
in the areas of tax compliance and reporting, where there
has been a strong appetite for candidates in both London
and the regions. This is largely due to an increased focus on
the tightening of internal controls from a tax perspective and
ensuring absolute accuracy in financial statements.
In a continuation of what we have seen over the last few years,
there is still a focus on either bringing tax in-house for the first
time or increasing the amount of tax work carried out internally.
This has the benefit of not only increasing tax visibility within
the business but also reducing spend on external advisors.
There has been activity across a wide spectrum of industry
sectors, including FMCG, manufacturing and engineering. In a
similar fashion to 2011, companies have been steadily lifting
recruitment freezes and with confidence continuing to improve,
candidates have been more active in seeking out opportunities.
It does, however, remain the case that the majority of resourcing
needs have arisen as a result of natural turnover rather than
team expansion.
Remuneration across the FTSE 250 has remained fairly stable
over the last 12 months. Salaries on offer are competitive
at all levels and ensure that good quality candidates remain
attracted to the potential of working for companies with solid
growth prospects in a more varied and well balanced role. Tax
professionals currently ‘in role’ within this sector have seen
salary increases of between 1% - 5% on average over the last
12 months.
For further information about the FTSE 250 market please contact:
Guy WilmotE: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Title Base Car Allowance Bonus
Head of Tax £85,000 - £210,000 £5,000 - £12,000 15% - 100%
Senior Manager £70,000 - £115,000 £4,500 - £6,000 10% - 60%
Manager £40,000 - £95,000 £4,500 - £5,500 10% - 30%
Tax Accountant £35,000 - £60,000 Up to £2,500 5% - 15%
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
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Financial Services
The past year has been mixed in terms of demand for tax
professionals into financial services organisations. With the
Eurozone muddling through each successive crisis, and with
weaker results than in 2009/2010, banks have taken stock
and only hired when absolutely necessary. Fund managers
have tried to keep costs low, so whilst there has been some
recruitment it is still not at the levels we have previously seen.
Insurance groups have done a significant amount of hiring in
the past year which has propped up recruitment within the
financial services market overall.
Despite profit and economic uncertainties, candidates with
strong compliance and accounting experience have continued
to be in high demand. Companies must submit their tax returns
regardless of the economy and as a result, the largest area of
recruitment over the past 12 months has been of corporate
tax compliance professionals. The desire to make forecasting
and reporting more timely and accurate has increased the
demand for tax professionals with strong accounting and
reporting systems experience to ‘beef up’ capability in global
tax reporting and forecasting teams.
We have noticed more roles that have become available in the
UK as a direct result of a change in global tax teams to a ‘hub
and spoke’ model. Within the UK there are now a number of
EMEA or global hubs and this has increased the demand to
recruit in the UK for tax professionals with responsibility for
non-UK regions.
There has been a notable increase in demand for junior tax
professionals across financial services. These candidates will
typically range from Tax Accountants to Tax Managers from
£45,000 to £60,000, who focus on tax compliance and
reporting. Due to the negative media focus on tax planning and
with organisations putting any plans for group re-structuring
or M&A projects on hold until there is more confidence in
the economy there has been a notable decrease in advisory/
planning/structuring roles.
The demand for VAT and transfer pricing professionals has
remained constant and getting sign-off to recruit in either of
these areas has been much less challenging than in some areas.
These taxes have a notable effect on cash-flow and cost control
and have a real impact on net profit before tax, which means it
is much easier to get headcount approval for these roles.
We have seen that salaries are increasing in some areas of the
financial services market, although not at the same rate as
we have seen in previous years. In addition, when people do
change roles, they are not able to command the significant pay
rises that they have in previous roles.
For further information about the Financial Services tax market please contact:
Ben ThrowerE: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Job title Average Salary Bonus
Head of Tax / Managing Director £130,000 + 40% - 100%
Head of Team/Deputy Head of Tax / Director £110,000 + 30% - 80%
Group Tax Manager / Associate Director £90,000 - £130,000 20% - 60%
Tax Manager / Vice President £60,000 - £110,000 10% - 50%
Tax Accountant / Assistant Vice President £45,000 - £60,000 10% - 40%
Tax Assistant / Associate £30,000 - £40,000 0% - 15%
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Overseas Multinationals
Despite current economic conditions, foreign owned multi-
nationals have been recruiting steadily across all levels,
specialisms and industries. We have seen a particular demand in
recruiting tax accounting, compliance and reporting candidates
with strong experience in US GAAP, ASC 740 (FIN 48) and
FAS109, reflecting the need for businesses to comply with
increasingly complex legislation and reporting requirements.
Transfer pricing continues to be a key area of recruitment for
overseas multinationals as corporates are keen to reduce costs
by reviewing their transfer pricing policies accordingly. This
year there has been recruitment across all levels from Transfer
Pricing Analysts in media organisations to Senior Transfer Pricing
Managers in financial services. Given the wider economy, this
is a topic that will continue to remain a high priority within
foreign businesses’ tax functions as they look to minimise
profits, and the trends dictate that demand for transfer pricing
professionals candidates will continue to grow.
This year has seen a number of key hires across the UK
including a Head of Tax & Treasury for a Russian owned oil &
gas services company and an EMEA Tax Director for a US media
corporation, amongst others. Given that a large proportion of
overseas multinationals have their EMEA or global headquarters
elsewhere in Europe, there has been a rise in international
tax positions being located in places like Switzerland and
Luxembourg, particularly from Manager grades upwards.
Key sectors that have been recruiting include:
• Electronics
• Oil & gas (services)
• Information technology services
• Pharmaceuticals
• Media
• FMCG
• Manufacturing
In general the recruitment market has been active throughout
2012 with many foreign owned multinationals keen to grow
their tax departments, particularly in the compliance & reporting
and transfer pricing areas. Salaries have generally kept pace
with inflation since 2011 with 60% reporting a raise of up to
5%. 8% of respondees had an 11-20% salary increase, which
represented the highest raises in salary.
For further information about the Foreign Owned Multinationals market please contact:
Cristina BelcherE: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Title Base Car Allowance Bonus
Regional Head of Tax £90,000 – £180,000 £8,000 – £14,000 20% – 100%
Senior Manager £70,000 – £120,000 £6,000 – £9,000 10% – 50%
Manager £50,000 – £70,000 £4,000 – £6,000 5% – 20%
Tax Accountant £30,000 - £45,000 Up to £2,000 0% – 15%
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
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Commerce rates
Title Range per hour
Head of tax £50 - £150
Senior Tax Manager £40 - £50
Tax Manager £30 - £40
Tax Accountant £20 - £30
Interim Tax Market - Commerce & Industry The interim tax market has remained relatively steady despite
challenging market conditions. There has been relatively little
change in the status quo with regard to transfer pricing, VAT
and partnership taxes specialists. These specialist candidates
are still highly sought after in the interim market. In spite of
the current market climate, candidates in these areas are being
paid above market rate. Many companies are taking advantage
of the increased interim candidate pool by hiring temporary
candidates as a way of trialling staff for a permanent vacancy.
Alternatively, many organisations are still finding that hiring
temporary staff is perfect for completing projects of no fixed
duration whereby the candidate can work on an ongoing month
by month basis. This approach affords greater flexibility to
certain industry sectors and in particular to the manufacturing
and oil & gas sectors.
The main motivating factors as to why candidates are opting for
interim work are as follows:
• You can perform critical and challenging work
• Assignments are matched to skill level, so the work can be
varied and interesting
• The pay is competitive. Companies are still paying well for
temporary tax support especially in tax reporting
• Opportunities are often immediate. Assignments are
frequently created because of an unexpected deadline or
project that the full-time staff simply cannot handle
• It’s a great way to re-enter the job market. Contracting
allows candidates to ease back into the job market and gain
new experience
• Many temporaries are hired after their initial assignment.
Temporary and contract assignments are a great foot in the
door for a potential full-time role
• You often have greater flexibility. Assignments that are
temporary tend to be more flexible when it comes to working
hours, telecommuting and other factors.
Overall there is renewed confidence that the volume of
interim hires will grow due to existing in-house teams being
overstretched, but there is still caution due to budget constraints.
For further information about the Interim tax market please contact:
Mo Hanslod E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Interim Tax Market - Financial ServicesIn 2012, tax recruitment within financial services has seen
a promising increase in the number of interim roles being
recruited as permanent headcount restrictions and cost cutting
continue to remain the normality for most businesses.
In 2010 and 2011 there was a reluctance for businesses to
spend budget on hiring interim staff during busy periods and/
or for maternity covers. Although tax teams were already very
busy, the extra workload was absorbed within the team. In
2012 this situation has changed as the requirement for tighter
compliance, reporting and risk controls has led to increased
workload, making short term contract hires to cover corporate
tax compliance & reporting during the usual busy periods an
ideal solution.
Within banking and insurance, there have been several long
term maternity cover hires particularly at the Senior Manager
level and upwards. Additionally, there has also been an increase
in the hiring of temporary tax professionals as a way to provide
extra resource where headcount for a permanent hire is
restricted.
VAT professionals are continually in demand particularly for
specific project work and VAT compliance.
Overall, the calibre of interim tax professionals is very high.
It has become a very competitive market but the same trend
remains that immediately available candidates with solid tax
skills and good references are always snapped up relatively
quickly.
For further information about the Interim tax market please contact:
Yasna KlarinE: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Financial Services rates
Title Range per hour
Head of Tax £50 - £150
Senior Tax Manager £40 - £50
Tax Manager £30 - £40
Tax Accountant £20 - £30
Practice rates
Title Range per hour
Tax Senior Managers £40 - £50+
Manager £30 - £35
Tax Senior £20 - £30
Semi Seniors £15 - £20
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Professional ServicesMarket overview
Following a strong end to last year, 2012 began with continued
optimism that the tax recruitment market would follow in the
same vein and indeed the first part of 2012 followed very
much along these lines. However as we moved into the second
quarter it became increasingly clear that this recovery would be
a bumpy one as the economic climate took a turn for the worse.
This led to an inevitable slowdown in some areas particularly
within the larger firms and the Big Four with most of the firms
looking to retain the best of their existing talent. However
there does remain a demand for tax professionals with strong
technical and proven business development skills.
There has been an increased appetite within the mid tier and
independent organisations (which had, until recently, remained
relatively quiet) with recruitment starting to pick up across the
board at all levels with both candidates and firms displaying
increased confidence. Continuing adverse conditions have also
presented some opportunities to specialist boutiques who have
taken the opportunity to take some market share.
The impact of this on the recruitment market has meant that
40% of staff have experienced a pay freeze, an increase
of 37.5% from last year. The good news is that 60% of
respondents received a pay rise, indicating that there are
sectors in the market which are still experiencing growth. Of
those expecting pay rises however over 90% were expecting
a pay rise of between 1-3% with the remainder expecting
between 4-7%.
Over the last 12 months 50% of those questioned for our survey
have seen the size of their tax teams grow with the remaining
50% seeing either no change or a decrease in numbers.
With the continuing Eurozone woes and the return of the
country to recession it is difficult to predict what 2013 holds
for the tax profession. Caution remains in the market but there
are still positive signs that the market is being resilient. 2013
promises to be an interesting year.
For further information about the Professional Services market please contact:
Mark GlubbE: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
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Big 4 & Top 20
Following the steady rise in recruitment levels in 2011, growth
levelled off in the early months of 2012. Although the increasing
uncertainty in the market led to this inevitable slow down of
recruitment in London, pockets of growth continued in certain
specialist tax areas, in particular in expatriate & employment
tax, transfer pricing, tax insolvency, R&D and indirect taxes. The
trend has therefore been to focus on hiring in areas of genuine
growth and profitability. Of special interest is the growth of
R&D recruitment, given the focus by the UK government to
encourage technology developments in the UK following the
budget in April 2012.
A slightly different trend can be seen outside London, where
there has been a pick up in recruitment levels from quarter
four in 2011, in particular in Reading, Bristol and the Midlands.
Recruitment in the regions has mostly been of mainstream
tax professionals, perhaps indicating that the slower London
market has presented some new opportunities for these
regional offices.
Activity in the Top 20 firms has been steady, with recruitment
being centred around replacement or growth in key areas.
Interestingly throughout 2012, a few of the larger Tier A firms
have drawn up challenging growth plans, perhaps making the
most of the relative low profit growth of the Big 4.
With the market being tempered with such uncertainty, it
appears that the focus for firms for the rest of 2012 and going
into 2013 will be on retaining their most talented employees
as well as hiring strategically and recruiting quality talent in
specialist areas of tax.
Although a consistent pattern of recruitment has been difficult
to detect so far this year, in general there seems to be a
cautious optimism that the market will improve towards the
end of 2012 and beginning of 2013.
Partner recruitment remains muted across the market. However,
partners with followings or who can demonstrate a proven
ability to build business remain very marketable but the hiring
process remains rigorous and convoluted. The director market
mirrors that for partners although there are a good number of
signed off mandates particularly in the Top 20 market.
Partner remuneration levels span such a large range according
to firm profitability which makes listing them meaningless.
For a more bespoke view of remuneration at this level please
contact Mark Glubb. The Director bandings reflect base salaries
only as benefits can vary significantly at this level.
For further information about the Big 4 & Top 20 market please contact:
Kate SurgeonerE: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Job title London(£,000)
The South (£,000)
Midlands(£,000)
Scotland & The North(£,000)
South West & Wales(£,000)
Corporate & Employment Tax & VAT
Director £85 - £180 £75 - £150 £70 - £140 £65 - £140 £70 - £140
Senior Manager £65 - £95 £50 - £90 £48 - £85 £45 - £75 £55 - £85
Manager £50 - £70 £48 - £62 £38 - £55 £40 - £65 £40 - £58
Tax Senior £42 - £52 £38 - £48 £32 - £42 £28 - £35 £24 - £35
Assistant £25 - £40 £20 - £35 £18 - £30 £16 - £32 £16 - £26
Personal & Expatriate Tax
Director £80 - £160 £75 - £150 £65 - £130 £60 - £130 £65 - £130
Senior Manager £58 - £90 £48 - £85 £45 - £80 £45 - £75 £50 - £80
Manager £50 - £68 £45 - £60 £35 - £55 £38 - £60 £40 - £58
Tax Senior £42 - £50 £38 - £45 £30 - £40 £28 - £35 £24 - £35
Assistant £25 - £40 £20 - £35 £18 - £30 £16 - £30 £16 - £26
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Boutique Firms In the face of the variable economic landscape and a cautious
forecast amongst the Big 4 and Top 20 firms for the rest of 2012,
the independent and boutique firms market has continued the
steady commitment to recruitment which we saw across all
levels and tax specialisms from the middle of 2011.
In contrast to the patterns of last year however, where the
majority of roles in the mid tier were created through need to
replace candidates leaving for the larger firms, this consistent
activity has been generated more out of natural growth and
restructuring, with firms having the confidence and capital to
acquire new talent, and many taking steps to diversify their
service offering. This has led to a greater number of vacancies
with a focus on advisory or technical development, and a
renewed interest in recruitment for specialist areas such as
VAT, research and development and partnership tax. Across the
mid-market however, the main demand was, as expected, in
corporate and personal taxation, with the first half of 2012
dominated by the latter specialism and a steady stream of
corporate roles emerging from June onwards.
On the whole the first half of 2012 has seen a greater drive
from candidates to consider their options in these improving
markets, with strong candidates able to demand a higher salary
rate than in recent years at all levels from Tax Senior to Senior
Manager and Director. Salaries across the board however have
remained largely unchanged after their encouraging boost last
year, although incentives, commission structures and bonus
packages have been seen more often.
The Boutique market has remained dominated by overseas
professional services firms showing a similar commitment to
their fairly rigorous recruitment programmes announced last
year.
After very little partner level recruitment in 2009/10, senior
level recruitment across the mid tier and boutique firms has
been fairly solid throughout the back end of 2011 and the first
quarter of 2012, particularly Partners who are well networked
or have a client following. Boutique firms particularly have
been looking to take market share from some of the larger
professional services firms who have been quieter in these
periods. We have also noticed an increase in the smaller and
independent firms seeking to take on Tax Partners for the first
time due to a desire for growth or as replacement for general
Practice Partners who retired or left the partnership during this
time. A trend that we have noticed is smaller firms taking on
Senior Managers and Directors from the larger firms as Partners
as progression in these firms has been a little slow over the
last year.
The overall picture has continued to be positive across the board
amidst the mid market and independent professional services
and after a busy summer of nationwide events provoking a
quieter quarter three, September onwards looks set to be busy
as firms return to business as usual for the latter half of 2012.
Though we are still by no means out of the woods, what has
been encouraging has been the resilience of these smaller firms
against economic uncertainty.
For further information about the Boutique tax market please contact:
Hu Kabir or Emily MorrisonE: [email protected]: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Job Title London£,000
South East£,000
Midlands£,000
South West£,000
The North & Scotland £,000
Personal Tax and Expatriate Tax, and Trusts
Senior Manager £60-£80 £50-75 £46-£65 £50-£62 £45-£60
Manager £45-£65 £42-65 £36-£55 £35-£48 £35-£46
Tax Senior £30-£45 £26-42 £24-£38 £24-£35 £20-£35
Assistant £24-£32 £22-28 £20-£24 £18-£24 £16-£22
Corporate Tax and VAT
Senior Manager £62-£85 £60-80 £48-£68 £48-£68 £46-£62
Manager £48-£62 £45-60 £38-£52 £38-£52 £36-£48
Tax Senior £32-£48 £30-44 £25-£40 £25-£38 £22-£36
Assistant £24-£32 £22-28 £18-£25 £18-£24 £17.5-£22
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Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
Legal Tax Market
While there still has to be a strong business case to hire
additional resource into the transactional teams within the
law firms or indeed replace Tax Lawyers who may have left,
the first six months of 2012 has been surprisingly busy from
Associate up to Partner level.
Although across mainstream corporate tax and tax litigation
the appetite to hire has been steady, it is within private client
tax teams that we have seen the real activity. With high net
worth individuals being many law firms favourite clients at the
moment, more and more practices are looking for additional
ways in which they can service all their tax requirements in-
house which has lead to teams expanding to cope with the
increased work load.
Many smaller practices are benefiting from the quality of
candidates at the senior associate level who are coming to the
market looking for better career progression with partnership
in the larger City firms and magic circle still incredibly difficult
to attain.
We have also seen some key moves at Partner level with some
US outfits looking to bring tax capability into the firm for the
first time having tired of turning work away. In addition, we
have seen some strategic moves from the Big 4 back into legal
practice to set up specialist areas such as transfer pricing and
share schemes.
However competition for roles remains fierce at every level.
Whether applying for a mid level associate role in a City practice
or moving as a Partner there are some exceptional candidates
vying for the same jobs and employers are still cautious enough
to set the bar very high. Newly qualified positions are also
extremely rare within tax as it is never an area in which trainees
are taken on in volume and when opportunities do arise firms
are understandably prioritising their own trainees. That being
said, many firms are in competition with each other for the
very best candidates, especially at the 2 - 4 year PQE level so
Partners are having to move quickly to avoid candidates pulling
out of processes for a swifter offer.
With Partner promotions as elusive as ever, some Senior
Associate salaries in the magic circle are being artificially
inflated to retain experienced staff, but most salaries have
remained static, offering only the minimum PQE uplift and
minimal bonuses. However with many firms announcing 100%
retention rates for trainees and PEP up for many firms with
recent financials looking surprisingly healthy, the law firms in
London look steady as we move into the second half of 2012.
For further information about the Legal tax market please contact:
Catherine NashE: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Type of Firm NQ 1 PQE 2 PQE 3 PQE PEP 2011 / 2012
West End Firm £55,000 £63,000 £67,000 £75,000 £224,000
City Firm £60,000 £67,000 £72,000 £78,000 £332,000
Silver Circle £62,000 £69,000 £78,000 £86,000 £528,000
Magic Circle £64,000 £70,000 £80,000 £88,000 £1,200,000
International Firm £72,000 £82,000 £86,000 £97,000 £1,000,000
US Firm £95,000 £100,000 £106,000 £115,000 £1,350,000
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
International Europe
The trend for growth within international Big 4 firms has
continued with increased demand for high calibre candidates.
As the appetite for working abroad has increased, in some
circumstances driven by a rather flat UK market, many firms
in the European market space have raised their hiring criteria
and language skills have become essential. With an increase
in global organisations situating their EMEA headquarters in
these jurisdictions, there has been a large migration of finance
and tax staff to these locations. The Big 4 have capitalised
on these moves and grown their tax teams with a particular
focus on international tax, transfer pricing, expatriate tax, US
tax and private client. The most active jurisdictions have been
Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Netherlands but with increased
demand in other Central and Eastern European regions. In
the majority of the main European countries, salaries have
remained comparable to the figures quoted in our 2011/2012
salary survey with clients offering no or inflatory rises in base
salaries with bonus levels remaining static. This reflects a
continually challenging business environment.
In Europe we have seen a demand for candidate up to and
including Director Level. These roles offer the incoming
individuals opportunity for real client contact and ownership
of relationships, with a strong demand for talented business
developers. Demand has mostly been for experience within the
specialisms mentioned above, with language skills playing a
critical part in the decision making process.
The Middle East
The Middle East is still seen as a real growth area for the majority
of the Big 4. As the UK market place retracts, a majority of
business are increasing revenue growth by expanding their
emerging markets operations. Although hiring within this
region is not on par with 2011 levels, this area is still far more
active than the UK. International Tax is still the main area of
expertise, with UK and European trained individuals still in
high demand. These roles offer a variety of challenges, with
in and out bound multi-nationals continuing their investment
activities, and financial services, real estate and private equity
experience being of particulate interest.
In terms of salaries on offer in these jurisdictions, salaries are
non-comparable with the UK market, but the 0% tax rate and
work life balance can be seen as a real pull factor. Although
many candidates have seen a reduction in their net take home,
the quality and cost of living can far outstrip what is on offer in
their home territory.
For more information on the International tax market please contact:
Cristina BelcherE: [email protected]: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
brewermorris.com
Accounting Firms
Mark GlubbGroup Manager [email protected]
Hu KabirAssociate [email protected]
Emily [email protected]
Kate SurgeonerConsultant [email protected]
Commerce & IndustryMatthew Gravelle [email protected]
Ben ThrowerSenior [email protected]
Guy WilmotConsultant [email protected]
Stephen AdamsConsultant [email protected]
InterimMo HanslodAssociate [email protected]
Yasna KlarinSenior [email protected]
Tax LegalCatherine NashAssociate [email protected]
Claire [email protected]
Treasury Alex Hyde Associate Director [email protected]
brewermorris.com
Market update and salary survey 2012/2013
The Team - UK Roles +44 (0)20 415 2800
David Buckley Partner [email protected]
Andrew Hirst Consultant [email protected]
The Team - Australia Roles +612 9236 9000
Practice RolesMark GlubbGroup Manager [email protected]
In-House RolesCristina BelcherConsultant [email protected]
The Team - Rest of World Roles +44 (0)20 415 2800
Mark Pryor Partner [email protected]
London 95 Queen Victoria StreetLondon EC4V 4HN T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800
Dubai Suite 614, Liberty House DIFC PO Box 506739 T: +9714 448 7770
Hong Kong 1918 Hutchinson House 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong T: +852 2973 6333
Singapore 30 Cecil Street#21-03/04 Prudential TowerSingapore 049712T: +65 6420 0500
Melbourne Suite 4.02520 Collins StreetMelbourne, VIC 3000T: +61 (0)3 8610 8440
Sydney Level 12, 25 Bligh Street SydneyNSW 2000T: +61 (0)2 9236 9000
Brewer Morris is a member of The SR Group
brewermorris.com
Established in 1987 Brewer Morris was the UK’s first recruitment consultancy to focus exclusively on the recruitment of taxation professionals. We are firmly established as the international market leader and take great pride in the enormous number of long-term working relationships that we have developed throughout the tax world.
Brewer Morris is a member of The SR Group. The SR Group is a specialist recruitment consultancy dedicated to raising standards in the business environments that we serve. The sectors we cover include tax, legal, human resources, marketing and executive search, dealing with a substantial number of the world’s leading professional partnerships, multi-national corporations and international banking groups as well as small to medium sized developing organisations.