Joslin Rowe reports that Professional Poles Help Fill UK Financial Services Jobs Gap

In the first two years of Poland’s EU membership, 270,000 Poles registered to work in the UK, although many more have arrived without registering. 60,000 registered in London. Joslin Rowe’s figures show that 3,425 of these were accountants, 5.7% of the total. Scotland has been slower to pick up on the trend. Just 1.3% of the 32,000 Polish arrivals North of the Border are accountants, although the numbers are accelerating.

Tara Ricks, Managing Director of Joslin Rowe Associates said: “There is a chronic shortage of qualified accountants in the UK. British firms are crying out for candidates for accountancy jobs. The introduction of International Accounting Standards, an increasing burden of regulation, and a rising emphasis on corporate governance have boosted demand for accountancy professionals dramatically and pushed salaries up accordingly. We simply don’t have enough home grown accountants to fill the void and this is creating accountancy job opportunities for those from overseas. Scotland has taken a bit longer to catch on to the Eastern European trend, but we think that it will follow London’s lead.”

In the twelve months to the end of August 2006, there were 32,150 new accountancy jobs advertised in UK financial services. Joslin Rowe’s statistics suggest that Poles secured around 3% of these finance jobs, double the proportion during the previous twelve months and growing.

Tara Ricks continued: “Polish accountants are still a relatively new phenomenon. Among employers, early adopters have already started hiring them enthusiastically, but it takes time for a new group to establish itself. We have seen this before with successive waves from the Anglosphere – initially Australian accountants, then New Zealanders and most recently South African accountants. After a slow start, these groups are now in high demand. Although Poles have to vault the language barrier, the introduction of International Accounting Standards is making the move to Britain much easier for them. Just like other foreign groups before them, Poles will become a key support to the UK accounting profession.”

Joslin Rowe has seen a smiliar pattern in Dublin. New Polish accountants registering for accountancy jobs in Ireland have risen 190% compared to 2005 and from almost a standing start in 2004. Although the overall numbers are naturally smaller than the UK, proportionately, Poles are twice as successful in Ireland at finding accountancy jobs than they are in the UK.


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Notes to Editors

Established in 1982 The Blomfield Group provides the financial services sector with a comprehensive recruitment and HR service via its three subsidiaries, Joslin Rowe, Origin HR and Firth Ross Martin Associates, across the UK and Ireland. On 7 April 2006, international staffing services company Vedior (headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) raised its stake in The Blomfield Group from 18% to 70%.

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