Many Irish companies are having to recruit outside the country to fill senior finance positions, whilst existing personnel are increasingly being enticed to stay put by the use of bonuses and perks, according to the Spring 2000 salary survey from recruitment consultants, SkillsGroup International.
Paula Lager, joint managing director of SkillsGroup, said she noticed a specific demand for senior finance personnel with ‘pan-European experience’, which consists of language skills and a broad-based knowledge of accounting practices across continental Europe. She said candidates for these positions tend to come from mainland Europe, especially Switzerland, with the US and Canada also prominent.
Remuneration for senior positions remains attractive, with the base annual salary for a finance director of a company averaging IEP70,000 and that for a senior financial controller averaging IEP56,000. A director of shared accounting services can expect an annual salary of some IEP85,000, while a senior accounting manager can expect to gross around IEP70,000 for the year.
Salaries on offer in the booming fund administration and global custody industries reflect the strong demand for senior personnel in the sector. According to the SkillsGroup survey, a head of fund administration can expect to command an average salary of IEP52,000, whilst a manager in custody services can expect to earn some IEP35,000 per annum. On the treasury side, a corporate banking manager can anticipate an average salary of around IEP47,000.
The SkillsGroup joint MD said while it was sometimes difficult sourcing senior finance personnel in the funds administration sector, she did note a steady influx of people from the traditional funds centres of London, Luxembourg, the Caymans and Bermuda.
In addition, the vast majority of candidates for senior finance positions could expect to negotiate a package including some or all of the following: pension plan; company car; car allowance; private health insurance; life assurance; relocation allowance; performance bonus; share options.
Lager said the average bonus for senior finance managers was about 15 per cent of their annual salary but that this had risen as high as 30 per cent on occasion. She said other benefits-in-kind that influence finance high flyers to stay or go include a secure parking spot, flexible working and further education opportunities. |
