Berkshire: Savant Recruitment establishes Reading office and launches new report

Accountancy and finance specialists Savant Recruitment has opened a new office in Reading. 

The company, which is supported by Cordant Recruitment, the second-largest privately-owned recruitment company in the UK, has also just launched a new report – '2016 Employment & Skills Outlook for Accountancy and Finance’* – which found that half of senior finance professionals expect their organisations’ ability to attract and retain key talent to worsen in 2016.

Paul Clutton, associate director at Savant Recruitment, is director of the new Reading office.  He has over 13 years' finance recruitment experience spanning a wide range of clients and industry sectors; from owner-managed businesses to FTSE 5 organisations and roles from newly-qualified accountants to ‘head of' and director-level appointments. He is supported by an experienced team of consultants.

Savant recruits accounting and financial management, from financial directors and controllers to analysts and accountants, tax and treasury, risk and compliance and credit management. It is currently recruiting for a number of finance positions across the Thames Valley in the hi-tech, bio-tech, logistics, charity, financial services sector and roles within accountancy practice.

The report unveiled that roles most in demand for 2016 will be those in risk, compliance and governance as markets will be shaped by regulations such as Basel III (international regulatory framework for banks) and as companies look to safeguard against the prevalent risk of cyber and financial crime. Over 80% of those interviewed believe that these roles will be hardest to recruit followed by accountancy and financial management (55%) and qualified accountancy (48%).

Commercial capabilities high on the skills list 

Finance professionals with strong leadership and commercial understanding will be high on the skills hotlist for 2016; half of those interviewed believe candidates with the ability to make effective commercial decisions and to work strategically with teams across other areas of the business will succeed. This was followed by experienced management and leadership (43%), risk management (40%) and data analytics (38%). Skills in taxation, foreign languages and cost analysis were low (around 10%) on the priority list.

Mark Sheldon, managing director at Savant Recruitment, said: “Working smart, mitigating risk, adopting new technologies and understanding or using data to make commercial decisions will be important factors for success, so it’s not surprising that key skills in leadership, commercial understanding, risk management and data analytics are high up on the much-needed skills list. As candidates become scarcer the specialist recruitment market will be under even greater pressure and firms will be looking to recruiters for their expertise to help in finding and securing the key talent they so desperately need.”

Harnessing disruptive talent 

Despite recognising a growing concern in attracting and retaining key finance skills, Savant's report highlighted an opportunity among companies to utilise and nurture the talent within the business.  One in five senior finance professionals admitted ‘disruptive’ individuals – people with the unique ability to innovate and challenge conventional wisdom – are not being recognised within their organisations for their unique potential. Around half (44%) of accountancy and finance teams believe they do not contain any ‘disruptive talent’, at a time when this is intrinsic to business performance.

Pay increases expected across the board 

Expectation over pay is rising in line with the skills shortage. The report found that over three quarters of those surveyed expect salaries to increase next year, with 14% expecting a pay rise of over 5%. Only 20% believe that salaries are unlikely to increase at all.

The Savant Recruitment Reading office is situated on 1st Floor,10-14 Duke Street.

* The Savant 2016 Employment & skills outlook for accountancy and finance report was conducted in October 2016 among 200 senior accountancy and finance professionals across the UK.