US: Bidding War for Banking Corporate Governance and Control Professionals Continues as Salary Expectations Rise

Barclay Simpson Executive Search, a leading Corporate Governance headhunting firm, has released its annual U.S. Internal Audit market report which suggests that salary & compensation has become almost as important as career development when candidates seek to change jobs. 43% of candidates said that salary was their primary motivation for seeking to move employers, up from 15% the previous year, with career development down to 50% from 62% the year before.

Simultaneously, average base salary increases for Internal Auditors who moved employers in the last 12 months rose to 19%, up 4% from the previous year, suggesting that banks have had to increase offers to keep up with candidate expectations.

Whilst the report strikes a note of caution, noting that job creation itself is slowing, and despite a number of global challenges which have investors nervous, these figures imply that recruitment for control functions – those roles that effectively monitor and identify risk and control deficiencies, including Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance – continues to perform well into 2016.

The findings are the result of a representative survey of internal audit candidates working in banking and financial services in New York. Candidates are asked to provide salary information as well as answer a range of sample questions around their current role and any recent job moves. Barclay Simpson has been publishing corporate governance market reports for over 15 years and this is the second market report published in the U.S. audit market.

Daniel Close, President of Barclay Simpson North America, commented: “Whilst these findings do not suggest that control functions are immune to the vagaries of financial markets, they do suggest that competition in hiring remains strong. The recruitment market is all about confidence and the control functions, especially internal audit, risk management, compliance and information security, continue to witness demand”.

“Even as financial markets speculate on possible destabilizing events, this report shows that there is still a consensus that control functions including internal audit will be central to contingency planning and crisis management strategy in the future”. Gareth Carpenter, Head of Americas Audit Practice at Barclay Simpson

The full report can be read at: http://www.barclaysimpson.us/US-MR-Audit-2016