It’s not often in the current climate that there’s a shortage of a particular skill-set in Ireland, but financial services firms are struggling to recruit sufficient numbers of accountants.

In some ways you could say they only have themselves to blame – hundreds of newly qualified accountants were made redundant from Big Four firms in Ireland in 2009, and since that period much of the new work coming out of financial services firms has been on a contract or interim basis.

The result is that more accountants than traditionally has been the case spread their wings and looked towards Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada. With banks now looking to recruit auditors, financial accountants and regulatory accountants, they’re finding a distinct shortage of people willing to step forward, suggests research from recruiters Robert Walters.

“Working in financial services, particularly the domestic retail banks, is a hard sell for accountants in Ireland,” adds Paul McClatchie, manager of recruiters Career Register. “Although there is excellent exposure on offer, to some degree there is a view that the roles are a little heavier around number crunching than making really strong commercial decisions.”

There’s also the fact that banks are failing to communicate the value of the experience that can be gained in the roles, candidates’ fears around job security and the fact that salaries have been cut and the prospect of promotion is slim, he adds.

Financial services firms are also facing some stiff competition from commerce and industry companies, as well as Big Four and other large accountancy firms, suggests Ken Harbourne, managing director of recruiters Wallace Myer International.

“Audit is booming across multiple industries and financial services firms are struggling to attract candidates, particularly at the newly-qualified stage,” he says. “Moving abroad has always been a right of passage for many young accountants, but they’re extending this because the perception is a lack of exciting opportunities back home. What’s more, the larger accounting firms are hiring like crazy.”

Now, it seems, is an opportune time for accountants to switch into financial services.