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by Mary Canniffe

Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, a booming economy is a good environment for business growth. But when an economy is booming some management tasks become even more essential to the success of the firms operating within it. In the booming Irish economy one of the key determinants of business success for accountancy firms is attracting and retaining key staff. Recognising this, professional firms are taking steps to ensure they have the staff and the skills sets to meet the needs of a growing market.

As demand for skilled accountants continues to grow, out-pacing the supply that can be generated domestically, most Irish firms are actively encouraging skilled foreign accountants to consider Ireland as a place to work, continuing to encourage Irish accountants to return home and implementing innovative policies to ensure retention of their skilled staff. It is understood that there are currently about 500 posts for qualified staff waiting to be filled at the top Irish accounting firms. And human resources specialists suggest that delays in processing work permits for non-European Union accountants often result in discouraging strong candidates from coming here. Skilled candidates offered positions in Ireland can hand in their notices at home and can then have to wait for about twelve weeks for a permit. In these circumstances they will often look to the UK market where they can get a permit more quickly and will take a position there instead, a number of HR specialists say. PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst and Young, all have a variety of retention policies in place aimed at helping their staff achieve the work life balance they want including facilitating staff to travel and take time out with the guarantee of a position to come back. “Obviously salaries and overall compensation are important. We find that training is fundamental - if you have a reputation for outstanding training you will attract high calibre candidates. But the intangible issues are becoming much more important. For example, as part of our overall ‘People Strategy’ we have various measures to help address issues around work / life balance, healthcare, childcare, financial advice and other topics that help busy people manage some of the things that matter outside their jobs. These things help create the right environment and help attract and retain the people our business needs”, according to head of HR at KPMG Colm Gorman. All of the firms tap into their international networks to develop reciprocal arrangements to share resources across the world. Through these arrangements qualified Irish accountants can get new experiences in a wide range of countries while accountants from those countries can come to work in Ireland. This works particularly well between Ireland and Australia New Zealand - Irish accountants go to these countries to help out in their busy June to December period while skilled Australian accountants come here from January to June to cover the Irish busy season, Deloitte human resources director Orla Graham explained. Grant Thornton, which has grown strongly over the last two years, is currently developing similar retention tools. At Ernst and Young human resources director Paul Selfridge operates a number of schemes through which foreign accountants can come to work in the group’s Irish offices and Irish accountants can go to get overseas experience in the group’s foreign offices. “We could not meet our client requirements without bringing people in from abroad. In a booming economy with growing demand for accountancy skills we cannot meet our staff requirements from the Irish market alone”, he says. Trying to encourage Irish accountants who are working abroad to return home only provides a small proportion of the required numbers in any year, the top firms agree. “We have tried advertisements and the recruitment agencies to encourage Irish accountants home from places like Boston, New York and London. We have the contacts there and Irish accountants abroad know they can pick up the phone to call firms here about opportunities. But this is not a route that brings in many people. Very few make enquiries about coming back. Maybe they are happy where they are or they are still building up experience in specialist areas ...”, according to Mr Selfridge. PwC Human Resources Director Sharon Vize agrees and stresses the need to develop innovative retention policies. The firm maintains a strong informal network to support their trained accountants who want to take time out for travel or other reasons to make it easier for them to come back, she explains. About 15 people take up their short (six months) leave of absence programme each year while smaller numbers opt for the longer period of about a year. “We are conscious that people want to travel or make life changes so we facilitate leave of absence periods of up to about a year. We are conscious too of the high investment we have made in their training, in both their technical and personal development, so we are open to discussing what they want to do and giving them a formal right to return after an agreed period. When they go away we maintain contact informally to keep the lines of communication open to make it easier for them to come back”, she explained. PwC tax consultant Nuala Gallagher is one beneficiary of the leave of absence scheme. She travelled for 18 months after finishing her training in 2003 and came back to the firm in 2005: “PwC made it easy for me to slot back in. I got the time I wanted to travel and was ready then to come back and commit to my career. I came back to do what I had trained to do and because my family and friends are here” she says, adding that the good night life in Dublin is another attraction.

STAFF SHARING WITHIN GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS

Because attracting Irish accountants back home is not enough to fill the job vacancies, the Irish firms have entered staff sharing arrangements with their in global partnerships firms in other countries. At Ernst and Young human resources personnel are in daily contact about staff movements, whether it is to facilitate individual requirements for skills or personal development or to meet resource requirements in specific geographic locations such as Ireland, according to Mr Selfridge. “It is a global initiative in a dynamic organisation. We operate three schemes - our ‘Irish Experience’, specifically aimed at bringing skilled foreign accountants to Ireland for periods of about three months, our ‘Global Exchange’ which allows foreign accountants to come to Ireland or Irish accountants to go abroad for periods of 18 months to two years to get specific career development experience, and, our ‘Global Travel Programme’ where accountants can go to work in group offices abroad to for 12 weeks to experience the work and culture in other countries”, he explains. Under the ‘Irish Experience’ initiative some 30 to 40 foreign accountants are seconded from their own offices to work in audit in Ireland at any one time. Skilled accountants have come from many countries including Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain and Germany under this scheme. The process starts in their home countries with interviews and assessments to ensure they have the required skills and are proficient in the English language - spoken and written. When they arrive in Ireland Ernst & Young has a welcome programme aimed at ensuring they understand the culture and are given the information and support they need to integrate well. The firm also organises their accommodation. “The people who come are all qualified and skilled people who can do the audit job. Because audit skills are generic worldwide this exchange works well, whereas, for example, it would not work for tax because this is largely country-based. For the people who come they get international experience and experience of big clients, and exposure to a different culture.”, he says. This initiative is not aimed at recruiting for the long term, Mr Selfridge insists: “It would not work if we were trying to poach staff from other countries. It is not a long-term placement. Staff who come here are very focused on the opportunity to gain experience to bring back to their home office.” Under the longer term ‘Global Exchange’ initiative accountants come here to get very specific experience to build up their skill set, he explains. Again, the accountants who come here - or the Irish accountants who take the opportunity to work at Ernst and Young offices abroad - are fully qualified. They may be looking for more experience in specialised areas or greater exposure to bigger or international clients. At any time Ernst & Young will have about 5 skilled accountants under this initiative working in their Irish offices. The ‘Global Travel’ initiative, offering 12 weeks work placement, is popular with accountants who want to get a taste of the culture - both business and social in other countries. Other Ernst & Young initiatives aimed at increasing the supply of Irish accountants are focused on encouraging college students to consider accounting as a career and provide for work placements with the firm ranging for 6 weeks to 3 months. Ireland is an attractive destination for foreign accountants because the economy is booming so there are opportunities here, there is exposure to big clients and to international businesses and we have a good name internationally, the HR specialists agree. They find that while foreign accountants who come to work in Ireland usually comment on the high cost of living, they are happy they get the work experience they want and enjoy the work and social environment. All of the firms take care to ensure they have structures in place to help new employees to integrate and to recognise cultural diversity and deal with any issues that may arise. “We find they are very happy here. They love the atmosphere in the office, the friendliness and helpfulness of staff and the different cultural experiences available to them. We help them to integrate well. We want them to go back saying this is a great place to work. And the feedback is very positive”, according to Mr Selfridge. New Zealander Paul Jacobs has been in Ireland since 2000 and is now Director and Head of Forensic and Investigation Services at Grant Thornton. A graduate in law and commerce and a qualified barrister as well as an accountant who trained with Ernst and Young in New Zealand, he decided in 1995 he needed overseas experience to develop and broaden his skills. “I suppose all Kiwis have an in-built desire to go abroad but also I felt that the specific skills I wanted to develop in the forensic area were not available in New Zealand”. He got a three-year secondment to Ernst & Young in London where he got experience in expert witness work, fraud investigations and loss calculation. Three years turned into five and in 2000 he was approached about a job opportunity in Dublin. “I was at a crossroads. Do I stay in London, a large pond with clear career progression opportunities or do I come to Ireland and establish a forensic practice. I was influenced by the fact that I had married an Irish girl. But the key driver was the career potential here. At that time forensic accounting was essentially a specialist service line in which some general practice accountants were dabbling. I was one of the first to come from the UK who had trained specifically in the area”, he explains. The market has changed since 2000, he adds, with the setting up of the new commercial court dealing with claims over €1 million and the increase in the demands for forensic services from Irish businesses with litigation or disputes outside Ireland or foreign companies coming before the Irish courts, he comments. As a New Zealander living in Ireland he enjoys working here and he relishes the opportunities to access other European countries and cultures on weekend breaks as well as the availability of sporting and family orientated activities. “I find Ireland an excellent place to work. There is a sophisticated financial services industry here and the IFSC is very successful. And Dublin as a capital city is second to none as a workplace. People work hard and the hours are long and while it is starting to reflect what I saw in London, I think it is still more laid back here than it is in London and there is a better work life balance. There is a sense of community and personal relationships tend to be good”, he finds. Compared to New Zealand, working in Ireland can give an accountant exposure to bigger clients, bigger companies and more specialist areas of work. While Paul finds Ireland a relatively expensive place to live, he says that wages are higher as well. At PwC there are currently about 100 trained accountants from Canada, the United States, Poland, Luxembourg, Germany, Australia and other countries working in the Irish operation. They come to Ireland through the PwC global deployment network for periods of one to two years, though in a few cases it can be up to four years, to work within their own areas of expertise under a structured career programme. There is a high level of support from the firm's human resources specialists here to help both the staff members and their families find their feet and integrate. Incoming staff, including audit and tax specialists, is initially provided with temporary accommodation, then helped to find more permanent accommodation and with the other practicalities of moving to and integrating into a new country through a structured support programme. Deloitte’s staff in Ireland now comprises sixteen nationalities compared to just four a year ago. A concerted advertising and recruitment campaign in six countries last year yielded limited success for the cost and energy expended, according to human resources specialist Orla Graham. “It is now the norm to recruit from abroad. Advertising brings limited results. We have sourced strong accountants through the Deloitte global deployment programme. Through this programme we work together to give accountants the opportunity to travel and remain within the Deloitte family. We offer opportunities for leave of absence, short term secondments and longer term placements”, she explains. Positive reports from new recruits about working in Ireland back to their colleagues at home act as a strong recommendation and helps the recruitment drive at Deloittes. The firm has produced a comprehensive guide, available on its website, explaining all about working and living in Ireland to ensure potential employees are fully aware of the possible advantages and disadvantages of a move and it operates an integration programme. “Being aware of diversity and the issues that arise is important in order to ensure our new employees integrate well here. Overall they are very positive about living here though we have had comments about the cost of living and long commutes to work”, she says. Mary Canniffe was Investment Editor with The Irish Times. She is now with the Consumer Directorate of the Financial Regulator.