Covid-19 was a shock to the international system. The pandemic caught us like rabbits in headlights, collectively dazed. As the world around us changes so does the world of accounting. With each year comes new challenges that drive demand for specific skills. With this in mind, and as we reach the middle of the year, we thought it the perfect time to assess the in-demand skills and see which roles are scorching hot this summer. Here’s what we discovered:
- Credit Roles
As uncertainty continues to stalk the breadth of industry (Brexit, Covid-19, Climate Change, etc) companies have been focussing on tightening operations and ramping up their credit offices. With demand growing for Credit Analysts and Credit Managers, we expect this to continue for the remainder of the year and well into 2022.
2. Auditors
Specifically internal auditors are in huge demand at the moment and have been throughout 2021. The role of ensuring an organisation’s risk management, governance and control processes are carefully monitored and functioning correctly is vital in risk averse times.
3. IT Accountants
As more companies deploy in-house accounting systems they require people with a mix of programming and accounting skills. IT Accountants take charge of the internal systems that manage the storage and reporting of financial data. It takes a person with feet in two worlds but with skills that overlap.
4. Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Many companies have made changes from the top down throughout this year and one of the hottest positions to secure in the accounting and finance market is CFO. The financial performance and strategy of organisations is being entrusted to new CFOs across the UK and in every industry. Creating new strategies and assessing current and future risks seem to be the big trends of 2021; the surge in CFO positions clearly highlights this.
Last year was challenging and this year has been surprising (in positive ways) but the lasting result of the Coronavirus has been a review of long-established working norms leading to a focus on the future. Couple the pandemic with emerging technologies that require people to sharpen and specialise their skill sets and you have a once-in-a-generation rapid evolution of how we all work. Our summer assessment of which roles are in-demand right now reflects the rapid changes we are all experiencing. We look forward to see what the rest of 2021 brings us!