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The pool of talent within Tax in Leinster is always in high demand. Tax professionals are deemed specialists – the breadth of knowledge amongst this cohort of professionals is exceptional to say the least. While also having the capability to adapt quickly within an ever-changing landscape in terms of enhanced regulation and legislative updates.
As of late, we have observed an increased focus on the role of the tax professional – for many businesses, tax has gained a seat at the table, providing advice on commercial decisions proactively rather than advising on them retrospectively. The tax affairs of individuals have also moved to top of the agenda, rather than a tick-the-box income tax return there is a lot more to think about with the introduction of enhanced reliefs to support wealth and estate planning, as well as more stringent tax rules.
In line with the ever-changing tax landscape, the talent pool of tax professionals has transformed within the last five years alone. We have spent a lot of our time getting to know a large cohort of this pool and here’s what we’ve noticed across Tax Industry and Tax Practice:
#1 Base
For the purposes of transparency, we’re going to focus on years of experience and business structure for Tax Industry rather than focusing on job titles (titles can massively differ business to business due to internal structures!). This is also a very broad guideline and it’s important to understand the specifics of each individual role i.e., reporting manager, size of team, scope of responsibilities (context is very important when considering salary guides as we further delve into #2 below!).
Tax Industry
Tax Practice (Top 20 firms)
You can expect a 10-15% reduction on the above numbers, when considering appointments outside of Leinster. For bespoke advice, our team can provide further details, for contact aoibhin.byrne@barden.ie (Leinster) or aideen.murphy@barden.ie (Munster).
#2 Continuum of Activity | Tax Industry
A job title in Tax Industry doesn’t define your role in the external market. A rule of thumb, the smaller the tax team the broader your scope of duties are likely to be. The role of the Tax Professional in industry is largely defined by the variables listed below. The variables that are relevant to the role you are hiring for matter a lot.
#3 Demand vs Supply
The demand for tax professionals across Tax and Industry continues to outweigh the supply of experienced tax professionals.
We are noticing a significant outflow of talent to international tax markets for tax professionals with 3 – 5 years’ experience– Australia, Canada, and London remain the most popular destinations.
The tax professional is in “very high demand”. Here are some data points about the tax talent pool in Ireland this quarter:
What are companies doing to attract Tax talent?
The CFO’s and Tax Leaders that we work with have these considerations on their agendas:
- Monetary – competitive base salaries that are talent-led rather than budget-led and definitive salary review periods. Strengthening additional benefits i.e., sign on bonus, bonus multipliers to recognise professionals exceeding expectations, stronger employer % pension contribution, wellness subsidies, enhanced annual leave offering
- Career progression – defining clear paths for progression in current role and secondment opportunities to other business functions
- Learning & development – offering exposure to commercial projects/decisions and supporting educational opportunities to upskill
- Team support – committed to ensuring sufficient capacity on the team
- Enhanced efficiencies – focusing on automation where possible and outsourcing administrative duties
In Barden, we understand that each team, role, and requirement is unique. If you would like to discuss what tactics and approaches would suit you, contact Kate Flanagan, Aoibhín Byrne, Aideen Murphy our Tax Talent Advisory & Recruitment team here in Barden (kate.flanagan@barden.ie; aoibhin.byrne@barden.ie; aideen.murphy@barden.ie); we’re where leaders go before, they start looking for Tax talent.
(This information is accurate as per January 2024 and will be updated periodically. Data sources include Barden Proprietary Data, LinkedIn Analytics and other 3rd party data sources. If you have a request and would like real-time information to inform your hiring decisions contact Kate Flanagan at kate.flanagan@barden.ie, Aoibhín Byrne at aoibhin.byrne@barden.ie or Aideen Murphy at aideen.murphy@barden.ie.