UAE accountants in for windfall pay-hikes; Click for salary levels

For those employed in the accounting and finance sector, 2015 seems to be a promising year.

The hiring prospects are bright and salary hikes are expected as employers increase their headcount and in the continuous bid to retain current talent.

This is on the back of a good 2014, when those working in this sector saw salary hikes, relatively better than most other sectors in the country.

According to recruitment experts, the Accounting and Finance sector had a strong 2014 as economic and business confidence fuelled hiring.

“Where we commonly saw vacancies occur in order to replace leavers, the second half of 2014 saw vacancies for newly created positions surge, as managers sought to increase the skill set and experience level of their A&F teams,” reads the salary survey by Hays, a recruitment company.

“This trend will continue in 2015, in particular within financial institutions, law firms, FMCG, construction, and real estate,” it added.

Experts at Robert Half UAE, another recruitment firm in the country, sees increased levels of demand in this sector.

According to them, accounting and finance recruitment has returned to pre-recessionary levels, with companies expanding existing teams as well as investing in new initiatives.

Finance professionals are expected to ‘have it all’ to secure the best roles, say the experts at the recruitment firm.

If you are in the field of systems implementations and commercial/ business partnering, while staying focused on their risk and compliance activities, you sure will have many jobs to choose from if you are unhappy with your current one, says the Robert Half survey.

Hays experts believe that new roles are being created to aid businesses with better visibility over their financials, increase profit and productivity and improve internal controls and processes.

According to them areas that seem the greenest include risk and compliance and employers are specifically looking to target candidates in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific. If you are in internal audit, you can also expect your market worth to go up. Corporate governance professionals are also high in demand.

On the salary front, employees are looking at better pay packages this year. However, there’s a significant difference between employees and employers on this front, state Hays experts.

“Candidates are pushing for increases anywhere between 20 and 40 per cent. Whilst employers understand an increase is necessary, most are only able to offer between 10 and 20 per cent,” just half of what the employees are looking at, shows the Hays survey.

And, this renewed optimism comes after decent pay hikes the year before.

In 2014, the Hays survey shows, that 74 per cent of the participating professional received some form of pay increase and 31 per cent received positive changes to their benefits package.

The average increase last year was 5 to 10 per cent of basic salary and majority (87 per cent) are expecting a higher increase to occur again in 2015 with a 10 per cent plus hike.

Many may also leave their current jobs for better pastures and those who are planning to do so believe at least a pay hike of 15 per cent is likely to come by.

“This is particularly true for management and senior level positions, where 80 per cent are more likely to be seeking new employment over progressing internally.”

Here are the salaries that can give you an idea if you are looking to hops jobs or finally want to go ahead and negotiate with your boss for a bigger pay cheque this year.


Position                                                             Range (Dh)         Average (Dh)

Account Receivable/Payable                                8,000-18,000       12,000

Accountant/Senior Accountant                            10,000-18,000      14,000

Internal Auditor (non-management position)      12,000-23,000       15,000

Financial/Management Accountant                     14,000-25,000       18,000

Credit/Revenue Controller (Professional)            16,000-25,000       20,500

Financial Analyst                                               15,000-24,000        21,500

Senior/Regional Financial Analyst                       20,000-33,000       27,000

Chief Accountant/Finance Manager                     22,000-35,000      27,000

Internal Audit Department Head                         23,000-55,000     37,000

Financial Controller                                            35,000-58,000      45,500

Head of Finance/Finance Director (Medium cos)  45,000-65,000      57,000

CFO (Medium-sized company)                             65,000-80,000     70,000

CFO-Group/Regional                                           80,000-160,000   110,000

Source: Hays

Salaries in AED, monthly salary as of 2014
 

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