Scottish and London-based accountants earn the most
Worst off - in purely financial terms - are accountants practising in the North East, earning just £1,144 more than the regional average
LONDON and Scotland are the UK’s best paid regions for accountants, new research finds.
Data collected by Randstad Financial and Professional found that accountants earn £9,680 more than the national average salary, with those working in London earning £16,014 more than the regional average, effectively delivering a London weighting of £6,344.
Accountants in Scotland earn an extra £1,111 more than they might expect given average wages across the sector and in the country specifically.
Worst off – in purely financial terms – are accountants practising in the North East, earning just £1,144 more than the regional average. This is some £8,536 less than they might expect given their location and profession – a salary discount of 33.6%, the report authors found.
The global recruiter looked at over 54,000 accountants’ CV’s in addition to some 870,000 resumes from across the job spectrum and their associated pay, looking at typical salaries across a variety of sectors to compare them with average salaries in that region.
Tara Ricks, managing director of Randstad, said: “The opportunities available for accountants in London are more than just the sum of their parts. The average London salary is higher, and accountants’ pay is also above average – but even taking these things into account, London’s accountants earn far more relative to their neighbours than in other regions. It’s not just that the City’s workers earn more – they’re higher up the salary pecking order than in any other region.
“Skipping across the border from the North East to Scotland could allow an accountant to leap right across the distortion gap, giving an average salary boost of more than £9,600. The simple fact is that accountants have to head where the big banks are based to make their salaries competitive. The surprising news is that you don’t necessarily have to head to London to do it. Even moving from the East Midlands to the West Midlands can bring about a noticeable bonus.”
Randstad’s salary checker tool can be accessed here.