FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALARY GUIDE - Versique · and hiring trends in the finance and accounting sectors. ... FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALARY GUIDE 2020. PG. 4 A Crisis of Finance

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING

SALARY GUIDE

2020

Understanding Your Salary GuideThe Minnesota Finance & Accounting Salary Guide from Versique is a comprehensive resource on compensation and hiring trends in the finance and accounting sectors.

The information and figures in this guide are based on full-time placements made by our experienced finance and accounting recruiting professionals. Our finance and accounting recruiters work with hiring managers and job seekers throughout Minnesota each day, giving them unique and comprehensive insight into Minnesota’s finance and accounting compensation and hiring trends.

In addition to our own data and recruiter insight, we’ve gathered information from hiring and finance experts to bring you the most complete guide to the finance and accounting functions. In each of our practice areas, we strive to bring you a salary guide as unique as our approach to recruiting.

Understanding the latest salary trends and hiring outlook is integral to attracting and retaining the top finance and accounting talent for your organization. Our Finance & Accounting Salary Guide gives you the local insight you need to meet Minnesota’s emerging salary expectations to recruit, retain and engage your current talent and your future workforce.

THIS GUIDE INCLUDES

Finance & Accounting Hiring Trends in Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . .3-4

The Importance of Becoming an Employer of Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-7

Salary Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Meet the Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

PG. 3

Finance & Accounting Hiring Trends in Minnesota

In the years following the recession, the total number of finance and accounting employees in MNhas increased by only 6%. However, the unemployment rate for finance professionals in Minnesota is less than 1.5%, well below the national average of 3.7%.

Overall employment in the Minnesota finance and accounting market is projected to grow faster than overall employment growth, with some positions increasing in demand by as much as 32% by the end of 2020 [Minnesota Bureau of Labor and Statistics]. Much of this increase will be due to a demand for specific finance and accounting skill sets and the need to fill positions vacated by retiring baby boomers with 20+ years of experience.

Due to a short supply of these top professionals, job seekers can afford to be more selective in their employment search. Additionally, employers will have to shift their focus to the passive candidate market, recruiting professionals that are already employed.

In Demand Finance & Accounting Positions in Minnesota

• External Financial Reporting

• Senior Accountant (with CPA and 4-6 years of experience)

• Senior Financial Analyst (with data analytics and visualization tool expertise)

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALARY GUIDE 2020

PG. 4

A Crisis of Finance & Accounting Talent

Smithink founding director David Smith says, “The profession fundamentally is heading towards a big crisis of talent,” and the AICPA expects more than 75 percent of today’s CPAs will retire within the next 15 years, eligible as early as 2020. That’s one of the highest percentages of any subgroup within any other field over the same time frame.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that employment of accountants and auditors will grow faster than any other occupation it tracks through the end of 2018. Between 2014 and 2024, there will be 142,400 new jobs. However, the 11 percent increase within the field will fail to address issues including millennial turnover, lack of experience, and enormous IT changes affecting the profession.

The McKinsey Global Institute concluded in its report on global labor force trends that by 2020 there will be a global supply shortage of 83-85 million people with college degrees or secondary education. With an aging global population and declining birth rates among every country in the developed world, it is likely the answer will be in part technological and not entirely human capital replacement.

The accounting profession could be the first to reach the pending massive structural employment dilemma and the drastic need to implement proactive changes. In an era of increased importance on work-lifebalance and a drive towards homogenous career and life fulfillment, employers recruiting accounting talent must help shed the stereotype of cubicle number crunching. In a paperless, cloud-based, client-focused, and employee-driven world there is a battle for accounting talent, and employers aren’t winning it.

Employers may find it difficult to find finance and accounting professionals, especially accountants, auditors, and analysts with 2-4 years of experience, particularly, professionals with public accounting experience. Many organizations are prioritizing retention of finance and accounting talent because the cost of replacement is extremely high. Defining career paths, offering professional mentoring and development are key both for attracting and retaining top talent.

Sign on bonuses with commitments to stay for a minimum amount of time are becoming increasingly popular when hiring professionals. With this challenge in mind, companies that attract the attention of top talent and move quickly through the hiring process have a distinct advantage over those with lengthy evaluation processes.

In addition to the skills gap, the number of baby boomers becoming eligible to retire is a cause for concern with employers as years of experience leave with them. Employers will need to establish succession plans and consider the possibility of training in more junior talent.

In the current market, many companies look to utilize smaller teams and, therefore, look for degreed finance and accounting professionals who not only fit well into their culture but add value in multiple areas of the business.

Many organizations are employing enhanced interview processes to ensure cultural fit. Personality assessments are also gaining in popularity.


PG. 5

The Importance of Becoming an Employer of Choice

One of the reoccurring challenges finance and accounting leaders face is creating a strategy for driving talent to and retaining the brightest and best talent for their company. A few years ago, companies were worried about “How good is our product or service? Is it better than the competition?” Companies are still asking those questions; however, of equal importance is the question, “Are we a good company to work for?” More than 45% of employers and CFO’s surveyed said that their biggest staffing concerns involve retaining their valuable employees and staff.

Talent has become the secret weapon. With talent that is innovative, creative, collaborative, and competitive, companies can create new and leading products, top-of-the-line services, improved business practices, and much more.

The company’s leadership ought to see becoming an employer of choice as a strategic imperative and critical differentiator in their market position.

So How Do You Create or Build on That Initiative?

Whether you want it or not, your company already has an employer brand. Is it the one you wish to have? How is it being socialized? Does it reflect what today’s employees are looking for in employers? Today’s workforce is looking for meaningful and challenging work. Millennials value company culture and core values more than any other generation and are demanding access to leaders. Things like corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, idea generation, engagement, and purpose rank high in things today’s generation looks for when considering who to work for.

Companies ought to evaluate their current values to determine if they reflect today’s demographics. It’s not enough to have the words on your company walls. Organizations should seek honest feedback about how their employees appraise their adherence to company values. A company’s best brand ambassadors are happy and motivated employees.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are my employees encouraged to take risks and think outside the box?

• Do they have a clear vision of where our company is headed?

• Do they view the leaders as authentic and transparent?

• Do they understand how the work they are doing contributes to the overall well-being of the company?

• Are we investing in and developing our employees to do more with the company?

• Do our employees feel like we care about their personal and professional well-being?

• Do our benefits reflect what employees’ value, rather than what the organization believes they want?


PG. 6

Employment Branding Employment branding is becoming critical from abusiness strategy perspective. According to the Harvard Business Review, 33% of business leaders are looking to build their global employer brand by 2020.

One of the best ways to engage and retain your current top performing talent is to develop a cohesive employment brand that reflects your organization’s vision and values. Studies show that engaged employees have a 51% lower turnover rate and 18% higher productivity levels (iCIMS).

Qualities that make employers attractive include honesty, security, and reliability. According to Entrepreneur magazine, the employers that highlight these attributes are more likely that have higher retention and greater acceptance of offers.

Employer branding is not just the responsibility of HR. The companies most effective at building a brand have the executives involved in telling the story. Have your executive population be active on LinkedIn and on your website. You will be amazed at the result. Reach out to your employee population and host focus groups to learn what characteristics are most important and valued by your constituents. Candidates want to see the culture in action. A few ideas to showcase your brand is having potential coworkers meet with candidates and create a “brand” video to show to potential new hires.

Know Your Employees

A recent survey by Hays found a discrepancy between the benefits employees consider important and the benefits their employers provide (i.e. 45% of employers offer life insurance; however, only 4% of employees consider it important).

So where can you start building your employment brand? A great place to start is by gathering information from your current employees. What are they saying about your company? What are they telling friends and family members about the organization? What do they want to see changed or improved upon? Once you’ve collected all their responses, be sure to communicate your findings with your employees and engage them in creating strategies for change.

Another step at building an employment brand is to make certain your website tells your story about why someone would want to work there. Use real-life examples for case studies on employee engagement, professional progression, community involvement, etc. Use social media to broadcast your story, as well as to collect more information about what others are saying about your employment brand. This is not a one-and- done exercise but rather a continuous process and evolution.

Lastly, don’t forget to promote your employment brand internally – it’s important not only to recruit top talent but to retain it once you have it. Remember, your competitors are marketing their brand to your people consistently. You need to as well!

Succession Planning Another key factor in attraction and retention of talent is career pathing. The most sought-after candidates are looking for a career when they change employers, and not just a job. Most employees look for new challenges after a couple of years to continue to evolve their skill set. If your company can’t provide one in this candidate driven marketplace, your competitor will. Does your organization have a robust succession planning process? Corporate Finance organizations are known for discipline and structure. However, in the spring 2019, CFO.com surveyed 900 executives and only 36% said they had a succession plan. 77% of CFO’s surveyed said there was no one internal at their company ready to currently step up. 45% of public companies are likely to have a succession plan while only 25% of private companies have a plan in place. One of the other findings was that if the CEO doesn’t have a succession plan in place for their role, it is unlikely other C-Suite individuals will either. It is important to remember that succession planning is not replacement planning, but rather building broad and deep talent pipelines at all key levels of the organization. A replacement strategy typically focuses on one individual; a succession plan takes into account not only current needs but considers the changes in the competitive landscape, shifting strategies for the industry, future needs and challenges, etc. Potential and current employees need to envision themselves in the future of your organization and that requires strong mentoring and development programs.


PG. 7

The Evolving Labor Market

Every day, an average of 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring and there aren’t enough skilled millennials or gen-x’s to fill the void. It’s the largest segment of workforce shift in modern history. At the beginning of 2019, there were an average of 1.3 job openings for each person unemployed, which is an improvement over 2018 but still fueling a candidate driven market. Expectations are that this will continue for the foreseeable future.

To complicate matters, roles are evolving. It’s estimated that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 don’t exist today. In fact, most of these jobs have not been invented yet and the technological landscape is set to become unrecognizable over the next 13 years. From a candidate perspective, continuous improvement needs to be a core value and our formal education process needs to change. The challenge for employers will be; creating a culture that fosters an environment of employee satisfaction for all generations, retraining programs in partnership with educational institutions, and implementing successful succession planning programs.


PG. 8

Salary Guide

To the right are the average base salary ranges for various positions within the finance and accounting industry, broken down by overall function.

The salary ranges are based on full-time placements made by our executive finance and accounting recruiting professionals.

Note: These ranges represent the average base Finance & Accounting salaries across mid-sized companies ($250-500M) in a variety of industries throughout Minnesota. These numbers will vary based on company size, ownership structure and complexity of business model. Please contact Versique’s Finance & Accounting team to discuss salaries relevant to your business.

While there are a number of non-monetary benefits, which can cause salaries with the same or similar titles, to fall outside these ranges, due to companies varying compensation structures, the ranges at the right are based solely on employee’s base salaries and do not include any form of monetary or non-monetary incentives.

These types of non-monetary benefits can include compensation structure, retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, discounted parking, free coffee, company discount, work environment as well as many other non-monetary benefits.

2020 Finance and Accounting Salary Ranges – 2020 Salary Guide

Finance Base Salary RangesCFO $174,524 - $222,195

VP of Finance $140,739 - $179,920

Director of FP&A $125,574 - $156,136

Finance Manager $116,085 - $131,328

Treasury Manager $92,479 - $115,804

Senior Financial Analyst $90,513 - $115,937

Financial Analyst $65,232 - $84,679

Compliance Tax Director $145,720 - $171,372

Internal Audit Director $143,604 - $182,478

Director in External Financial Reporting $140,292 - $170,100

Audit Manager $109,652 - $141,417

Tax Manager $110,329 - $142,323

Senior Auditor $80,063 - $110,283

Internal Auditor $65,741 - $78,994

Tax Accountant $67,255 - $83,349

Accounting Corporate Controller $131,520 - $175,333

Assistant Controller $115,189 - $131,520

Accounting Manager $90,821 - $108,732

Cost Accounting Manager $95,722 - $110,345

Manager of A/P – A/R $85,813 - $102,577

Senior Accountant $75,136 - $91,221


https://www.versique.com/for-employers/finance-recruiters/

PG. 9

Contact Our Finance & Accounting TeamCall today to find a new opportunity or start the search for your team’s top finance and accounting talent!

Email: [email protected]: 952-935-2000Social Media: Follow us on LinkedIn for more career, recruiting and workplace advice

Pillars of Expertise

Executive Leadership› CFO› CAD› VP Finance

Compliance & Risk› SEC› SOX› Audit› Tax› Technical Accounting

Finance› FP & A› Sr. Analysts› Mergers &

Acquisitions› Treasury

Accounting› Controller› Cost Accounting› Accounting Mgr.› Plant Controller

Meet the TeamOur Finance & Accounting team has a proven track record of exceeding client expectations and creating amazing connections. The team is led by Joe Reardon, who has more than 20 years of Finance experience as a Controller and CFO. After transitioning to the recruiting industry more than 20 years ago, Joe has grown Versique’s Finance & Accounting practice with a focus on building trusted partner relationships with clients, as well as candidates.

Our Finance & Accounting search team pairs highly-skilled and experienced finance and accounting talent with Minnesota’s best companies—from on-the-rise startups to established industry leaders. We differentiate ourselves from the competition by ensuring that the candidates we place fit the precise technical and cultural requirements of our client’s business needs. Our team of professionals possesses a unique blend of executive search experience, as well as experience working in many of the accounting and finance roles we fill.

Corporate Controller

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Joe ReardonVice President

Heidi StarckDirector

Dee LonnDirector

Calvin FreedSearch Consultant

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Accounting› Controller› Cost Accounting› Accounting Mgr.› Plant ControllerCAO

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6465 Wayzata Blvd #800Minneapolis, MN 55426

(952) 373-8521

versique.com

ABOUT VERSIQUEVersique is one of the largest talent acquisition firms in the Midwest

and specializes in both consulting and permanent placement.

The recruiting and consulting team specializes in the following practice areas: information technology, human resources, digital marketing, engineering/operations, finance/accounting, sales, CPG (consumer packaged

goods), and executive retained search. Versique also has an internal digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO, PPC, inbound marketing, and more.

Versique has filled thousands of positions and its network of connections is one of the strongest in the industry. We create amazing relationships.

Documents

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALARY GUIDE - Versique · and hiring trends in the finance and accounting sectors. ... FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SALARY GUIDE 2020. PG. 4 A Crisis of Finance