There appears to be some hiring one-upmanship among the Big Four accounting firms as they battle for the top spot in the MENA region.

Following announcements of significant recruitment sprees in the region from both PwC and Deloitte, Ernst & Young – which has been the dominant player in the Middle East for some time – has now said it intends to recruit 2,000 people next year.

There’s no one area of the business where this expansion is concentrated, with new recruits targeted in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory.

This may seem like a hugely ambitious expansion plan, particularly as E&Y currently employs 4,200 people in the MENA region.

But let’s not forget that Big Four firms typically experience a high degree of post-qualification staff turnover, and E&Y in particular has lost a significant number of senior ranking professionals in PwC’s push to become the dominant firm in the region.

Although E&Y hasn’t specifically stated this, a large proportion of the new hires are also likely to be at a graduate level. The firm also added 1,000 people this year, so the new recruitment spree – while significant – is not hugely out of kilter with regular hiring plans.

Nonetheless, the MENA operation does seem to have benefited the firm’s $1.2bn global investment initiatives, which according to EMEIA managing partner Mark Otty has been “earmarked for emerging markets”.

There’s also the question of where all these new recruits will come from. Headhunters have previously pointed to a strained talent pool, particularly within advisory functions, but E&Y’s “global integration” suggests it will look to transfer people across to the MENA region.

James Sayer, associate director – Middle East at Robert Half International says: “The Big Four firms are expanding in the region, and they’re all chasing the same type of profile, so naturally there’s a shortage of candidates. Firms are now open to looking at talent outside of the Middle East to close the skills shortage.”

On the more generic accounting functions, there will be no shortage of willing applicants. Finance recruitment has generally been muted this year, according to a recent survey by Robert Half, which suggested that 67% of hiring managers within finance and accounting in the Gulf have no plans to recruit this year.