Profession to survive credit crunch amid City job cuts

Profession to survive credit crunch amid City job cuts

Accountants still hiring despite credit crunch fallout, thanks to growth in tax departments and emerging markets

The profession is set to weather the storm of the credit crunch, with firms
well-placed to avoid the culls and cutbacks elsewhere in the City.

‘The outlook is healthy. We are not planning any job losses and are
continuing to recruit. We are hungry for people,’ a KPMG spokeswoman said. Firms
are especially looking for people in tax, they indicated.

A survey of 2,000 employers conducted by recruitment consultants Manpower
showed that the number of companies expecting to hire staff in the first quarter
of 2008 was still greater than companies expecting to cut jobs, but that the
margin between the two was the narrowest it had been for six years.

The Big Four are planning to match the graduate recruitment levels of
previous years, taking in approximately 1,000 students each.

Other businesses in the Square Mile are expected to slash headcounts for the
first time since 2001, with investment banks set to suffer the heaviest losses.
UBS cut 1,500 jobs in October and Dresdner Kleinwort is planning to reduce
headcount by 200 before 2008.

So far accountants have managed to avoid the credit-crunch fallout by
focusing on emerging markets.

The firms also said this week they were expecting a growth in insolvency work
as the credit crunch hit and businesses suffered. ‘We’re expecting a material
increase in business,’ said Mike Jervis, an insolvency partner at
PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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