The accounting industry is looking promising for both experienced and graduate job seekers, while the financial services industry lags behind, according to the September Advantage Job Index.
Online job advertisements for the accounting sector were up 6.6 per cent last month, making it one of the sectors with the greatest activity over the month as the local economy continued to strengthen, Advantage Professional stated. Financial services only saw a marginal increase over the month of 0.6 per cent.
However, over the last 12 months the financial services sector outpaced the accounting sector, with a 29.8 per cent increase in advertised roles, while accounting saw a 12.1 per cent increase over the same period.
In terms of graduate roles, the accounting sector saw dramatic growth over the last 12 months with an increase in advertised roles of 87 per cent, second only to the management and consulting sector, which experienced an increase of 89 per cent. Banking and financial services graduate roles were -2 per cent over the last year.
Advantage stated that surprisingly, careers in banking and financial services, education, legal, science, arts and entertainment and IT lag the national average in terms of graduate roles, although it conceded that these sectors would see an improvement as skills shortages emerged.
In terms of accounting graduate roles, Advantage stated that it was among those sectors “showing signs of a return to the good old days and a war for talent for our youngest and brightest stars of the future”.
