Back office boom sees treasury vacancies grow 54% in the UK’s North West

The number of jobs advertised year-on-year in the North West has increased by 54%, according to research from specialist recruiter Robert Walters. Over the same period, the number of treasury jobs across the UK rose by 5%.

Figures from the Robert Walters UK Jobs Index, which charts vacancy numbers posted to online platforms, has revealed that the demand for treasury professionals in the North West has also grown compared to the first quarter of 2015, with the overall number of vacancies up 15% over this period.

Daniel Simmonite, Manager, Treasury, Robert Walters, comments:

“The research clearly indicates that the North West is offering a particularly welcoming market for treasury professionals looking to change roles, in part due to blue chip businesses continuing to move their back office functions to the region increasing the need for professionals with liquidity monitoring, cash management and risk experience.

“Many of these businesses are in the early stages of building their regional treasury teams so further growth through the rest of 2015 is expected.

“The UK’s recovery from the recession looks increasingly assured, and this is reflected not only in the overall healthy growth in the jobs market but also in the specific roles we are seeing advertised.

“We have seen an increase in activity across the interim market as departments embarked upon system upgrades and implementation to streamline treasury operations and processes, and other projects that can add value such as cash pooling and the creation of in-house banks. A noted trend has also appeared as hiring managers seek treasury accountants to deal with changes occurring in regulatory and accounting standards.

“There has been a growth in the recruitment market across the commerce and industry sector as hiring managers sought to strengthen their teams at the analyst level.

“Candidates who hold treasury qualifications are in high demand but hiring managers will struggle to find newly-qualified accountants as treasury is still not a common career pathway out of practice.

“Compliance remains a crucial focus for large multinationals, mid-tier and SME sized organisations. Candidates with treasury accounting, debt covenant reporting, compliance and governance related experience will be in highest demand for such employers.

“The market is currently very favourable for newly-qualified to senior treasury analyst grade candidates with strong hedge accounting skills, as well as a compliance focus. Whilst demand for senior professionals is still some way from reaching levels seen three to four years ago, demand has started to gradually increase.

“Moving into the third quarter, employers will benefit from recognising the importance of a long term focus on strategic direction for treasury, particularly candidates that have project experience in systems implementation, cash pooling and centralising treasury.

“Despite recent growth in the market, salaries remain largely static in 2015, as demand increases for talent throughout 2015 – we expect to see an increase in salaries as competition for top talent growths.”