Accounting and Finance Salary Trends

Accounting majors gained 3 percent over last year for an average starting salary offer of $46,292, according to the Fall 2007 issue of Salary Survey, a quarterly report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Class of 2007 finance graduates posted average salary offers of $46,442.

According to Inside Public Accounting, average entry-level salaries (0- to 2-year staff) have surpassed $50,000 for the first time, reflecting the supply and demand pressures of staffing for strong growth and competition within that sector. These rising salaries for top graduating talent are a sign of the fact that the nation’s top 100 largest accounting firms on average grew net fees by more than 15% for the past fiscal year.

As a value-added service to our clients, Q&A Recruiting offers a free local Salary Survey. This data is specifically compiled for the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the disciplines of  accounting, finance, tax, information technology and human resources. The Q&A Salary Survey is calculated through a combination of information gathered from local job searches and market input from clients and candidates. Click here to request your 2007 DFW Salary Survey.   

Our Survey Results for 2008 will be available soon!

Top Four Skill Sets in Demand

Just as CPAs have caught up with the changes wrought by Sarbanes-Oxley, a whole new set of dynamics is coming down the pike. The time to prepare is now.

Tomorrow's auditors and accountants will need a skill-set both broader and deeper than today's professionals. Four skill clusters stand out in particular: technology, verbal and written communication, international experience, and the ability to apply international reporting standards.

Read Complete Story

Source: JobsintheMoney.com

Signs That It's Time for a Job Change

You dread getting out of bed in the morning and you have trouble concentrating at work - you could be one of millions of Americans who need to consider a job change before your "burnout" has serious consquences on your job performance. You also need to be aware of signals that your position may be in jeopardy so you have more control over your options.

Following is a list of eight warning signs that it may be time to update your resume.

Read Complete Story

Source: Fortune.com

Using Social Networking Sites for References

Job interviewees, beware: Your prospective boss may have called your references before you walk through the door -- and they may not be the contacts you provided.

Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and Jobster are making it easier for employers to get in touch with people who have worked with job candidates in the past or know them personally. Recruiters say they use such sites -- where people create online profiles and then link to professional colleagues who are also members -- to find mutual connections they can hit up for information. Many hiring managers say they even check to see if they have mutual connections with a candidate on Facebook and MySpace, the popular social-networking sites.

Because online contact lists are typically viewable right on members' profile pages, hiring managers can quickly identify relevant contacts and confidentially message these people through the networking site.

Such reference checking exposes job seekers to certain risks. Many site users routinely connect online to people they have only a glancing relationship with -- say, someone who simply works at the same company -- and there is no guarantee that the references will be favorable.

Read Complete Story 

Source: CareerJournal.com

Local Economy and Employment Trends

The Texas unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in August, down significantly from 4.9 percent a year ago. Seasonally adjusted nonagricultural employment in Texas grew by more than 10,000 jobs this month, remaining strong, despite the U.S. economy’s loss of 4,000 jobs this month.

Following stronger than average job growth of 3.4 percent in 2006, year-to-date employment has risen 2.7 percent—near the state's 35-year long-run average, and more than double the U.S. rate. There are almost 230,000 more jobs in Texas as compared to this time last year.

“Our strong Texas economy continues to surpass national trends, ” said Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chair Diane Rath. “At 4.2 percent, the Texas unemployment rate continues to hover at 30-year record lows and remains well below the national unemployment rate of 4.6 percent.”

Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston are representative of Texas as a whole with 4.0 and 4.1 percent unemployment rates respectively. Both metro areas have decreased their unemployment rates almost 1 percent from this time last year which means that talented candidates are becoming increasingly hard to find.

Professional and Business Services stands at a solid 5.1 percent annual growth rate, bringing more than 60,000 jobs to the Texas economy over the past 12 months. Natural Resources and Mining added 16,500 jobs over the year showing a strong annual growth rate of 8.8 percent. Leisure and Hospitality is representing an annual growth rate of 4.4 percent.

Growth in the health sector should remain strong, as witnessed by the ongoing expansion and pending construction of several medical facilities in Dallas. The Houston economy is fueled by the energy sector and the increase of crude oil prices Houston’s mid- and high-priced housing markets remain some of the strongest in the nation.

Currently there is little evidence that the downturn in mortgage lending and homebuilding is feeding into the broader economy in Texas. Recent financial turmoil has increased uncertainty in the economic outlook and created more headwinds for the economy than expected, but Texas is in good shape to weather the storm.

Sources: Texas Workforce Commission, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank

Professional Organizations in DFW

Contact Us

If you are receiving this email, someone from the Q&A Recruiting team has met you or your firm through a business interaction. We hope that you discover value in our Quarterly Market Review and feel free to share this with colleagues with similar interests.

Please let us know if you wish to receive future newsletters at a different email address than where you received this. We encourage you to subscribe to our other free online publications by clicking here

If you prefer not to receive our future quarterly newsletters, please reply with "Unsubscribe" typed in the subject line in order for us to remove your email address from our distribution list.

This newsletter is published internally by Q&A Recruiting, 14241 Dallas Parkway, Suite 550, Dallas TX 75254. (972) 720-1020. Comments or questions may be sent to Lynn Mazur, Director of Marketing, at lynn@qarecruiting.com.