CFO / COO

1. How is the current recruitment market?

The finance market remains ‘sticky’ - with few newly created opportunities as new funds / businesses are established, the market is reliant on the movement of existing roles. Some liquidity has been created by moves to Asia but strong successors have mostly taken these opportunities leading to more junior backfill hiring.

2. Any trends observed in the last 12 months?

The past 12 months has seen continued hiring at Director / VP level but few more senior appointments, so opportunities are still sparse for CFO’s looking for different options.  The strength of the dollar has meant that salaries in Australia have continued to look attractive to offshore candidates and economic conditions here, while not stellar, have looked better than in many financial centres.  These factors have continued to provide mobility lubrication and ensured a continued inflow of returning Australians or foreign nationals relocating. 

The strong dollar has also created problems in the domestic market for those firms with head offices offshore as the cost base in Australia looks high in comparison to other territories.  This has also meant that salary increases and / or bonus negotiations have been harder.

3. Any views on the next 12 months?

Economic conditions in Australia remain in reasonable shape, however declines in markets derived from the European debt issues continue to stagnate the prospect of a move to a more rosy picture for financial services.  Many firms are waiting to see how events play out before committing to new hiring. This strategy usually leads to some pent up demand which may well play out early next year, particularly if we see a ‘January effect’ in markets.

4. Any particular interesting observations or case studies seen recently?

In these uncertain times CFO’s require a number of arrows in their quiver of skills.  Most firms are mindful of keeping a close eye on costs but are also judiciously investing in pockets of growth so CFO’s must have a foot in both camps.  Managing the capital structure remains a tricky task for CFO’s as wholesale funding questions are raised in broader global markets and trickle down to make debt harder or more expensive to manage.  The same is true of managing currency risk given the dollar continues to be quite volatile.