The last few years has seen plenty of activity in the Indirect Tax market. The accountancy firms have been in recruitment overdrive. New commercial roles have appeared, as companies either decided to bring Indirect Tax in-house. So why?

• Greater interest in Indirect Tax as affecting base-line costs.
• The effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.
• Increasing demand for Indirect Tax advice.
• A heightened profile for Indirect Taxes in the overall business world.
• Further growth and enhanced complexity of Indirect Tax jurisdictions outside of the UK.

The market has now reached saturation point, and once more we find ourselves in an exceptionally resource constrained market, where supply of candidates is simply not meeting demand.

Practice

Post Sarbanes-Oxley, the increasingly legislated environment in which Indirect Tax professionals have been operating over the last few years has had a major effect on the need for high quality, cost-effective consultancy solutions, and the accountancy firms as a whole have needed to grow Indirect Tax teams generally to meet the demand for their Indirect Tax advice.

In 2006, the need to recruit amongst the Big 4 firms appears to have become less pressing, as firms 'settle in' the hires of their last few years into their teams. Additionally a slight feeling of economic unease has seen the brakes applied slightly. Cost-cutting in commercial organisations appears to have become the order of the day once more, and we have heard the odd comment about companies examining their budget available to spend on external advice quite carefully.

In contrast, the mid-tier and independent firms have started to step up recruitment campaigns slightly after a period of consolidation. Roles have been a mixture of junior roles in London and Manager/Senior Manager appointments elsewhere, as the larger practices grow their presence nationwide. We hear nothing but reports of continuously successful performance coming from the firms outside the Big 4.

On the international stage, big growth plans are in place, largely amongst the Big 4, who are looking for specialists in a range of locations worldwide, most commonly at Manager/Senior Manager grades. Eastern Europe is a particular hotspot, given a number of countries' recent accession to the EU.

Industry & Commerce

Over the last few years, the numbers of roles arising in commerce & industry has been more of a steady trickle rather than the full-flowing stream one might have hoped for. Most organisations of the size and complexity necessary to require an internal VAT resource already have such a specialist in place, although there are still some surprising gaps. That said, one has been able count the numbers of genuinely 'new' first appointments of a VAT specialist arising on one hand, and as such, roles by and large have fallen into one of the following four categories:

• Growth of an existing Indirect Tax advisory team.
• Replacement roles.
• Roles with an emphasis on managing the increasingly legislated compliance burden post Sarbanes-Oxley.
• VAT 'number-crunching' roles.

As one can therefore imagine, the most common requests for candidates has been at the least populous grades i.e. the Assistant Manager and Manager level. Such individuals are firstly at the right kind of level to slot in as 'second-in-command' equivalents, and also they aren't senior enough to be put off by the increasingly compliance-related nature of the roles arising.

In direct contrast, the more senior (i.e. commonly 'first appointment' or else replacement) roles that have arisen have been highly fought over, and such companies can guarantee a long list of appropriately qualified individuals at the Senior Manager level, simply because they are so rare!

By far the most 'active' sector in terms of sheer numbers of roles arising has been the finance industry, where finance sector skills are normally sought, and a good candidate at the appropriate grade can normally be guaranteed a range of interviews. The hi-tech, telecoms, energy, manufacturing, media, education, automotive and retail sectors have all seen roles arising as well.

Summary

The challenge ahead for the Indirect Tax fraternity as a whole will be how to answer the increasingly noisy cries for Indirect Tax expertise, when there simply aren't the numbers of appropriately experienced individuals in existence to meet the demand. It is interesting to note that despite the much vaunted growth of Indirect Tax, the total numbers of individuals actually operating in the private sector has remained largely the same for the last five years or so - at last count only c. 1600 individuals.

Salary Survey

For further information about current market trends and salary information, BLT's eagerly anticipated Indirect Tax Salary Survey & Market Report 2008/2009 is now available. It has been long regarded as the only reliable survey dedicated solely to the world of Indirect Tax as a distinct entity from the rest of the world of tax. The survey is packed to the brim with information about market trends in practice and commerce in the UK and internationally, up-to-date data on salaries and benefits, working patterns, size and location of departments, qualifications as well as other facts and figures. To request a copy, please call 020 7405 3404 or email vat@blt.co.uk