Tax Market Report & Salary Survey
2014 – 2015
Company
Overview
Established in 2003, Bluefin Resources has from the
very beginning operated with the aim of servicing our
chosen market sectors, in a way far superior to that of
a traditional recruitment firm.
Bluefin Resources employs over 40 staff across
locations in Sydney and Melbourne focusing on
specialist market areas including; Tax, Risk
Compliance & Audit, Data Analytics, Wealth
Management & Insurance, Technology, Sales and
Project Services.
Bluefin Resources is an Australian specialist
recruitment firm, providing talent to the Australian
market for over 11 years. Our consultants are
specialists within their fields, with in-depth knowledge
and experience in their niche markets. Bluefin
Resources is a panel supplier to many Australian
leading organisations, and we also support many
unique and interesting SMEs.
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
Tax
Specialisation
In 2014, Lauren Maunsell joined Bluefin Resources to provide dedicated
coverage of the Tax market across the firm’s key areas of focus. The client
areas include: Banking and Financial Services, Private Practice, Energy &
Resources, Infrastructure and a select group of ASX listed commerce
organisations.
Working closely with other members of the team, including the key areas of
specialist finance Risk, Compliance and Audit, Lauren brings over 8 years
specialist experience recruiting Tax professionals within these disciplines, 6
years of which are in Australia and 2 years in London completing searches
for many of the global corporates and well known Australian brands.
Market
Trends –
Industry
Sectors
Legal & Private Practice
This has been the busiest area by far this year with 3 of the Big 4 recruiting
heavily including specific recruitment drives for multiple hires within the
transactional and M&A tax space, the Financial Services and Wealth space
and one firm in particular predominantly replacing a large number of
corporate tax professionals that moved into in-house roles in 2013 and
2014.
We have seen a number of tax professionals move between the Big 4 on
inflated salaries as well as from the law firms to the Big 4 in order to advance
their career and experience direct access to the clients - something which
is rarely available to them in a legal environment. It is still very much
recognised within the industry that the law firms are losing some work to the
Big 4 who are able to offer a "one stop shop" tax solution to their clients at
a reduced price which is only becoming more prevalent with the investment
from the Big 4 in their tax, legal and controversy teams.
Throughout the first 6 months of 2014 the reports from both the Big 4 firms
and the law firms alike was that transactions have picked up, people are
busier and there is generally more faith returning to the market. This has
translated to an increase of tax roles being signed off within industry clients
but also to the accounting firms going above and beyond to hold on to their
staff when faced with a resignation. This year has seen more successful
counter-offers than ever before with promises being made to staff that we
suspect will remain largely unfulfilled even as we move into 2015.
Industry, Infrastructure & Property
Whilst the property sector has remained relatively stable this year, there
have been a number of interesting new roles signed off within the
infrastructure space which have been largely filled by professionals coming
out of the Big 4 accounting firms. The roles have not only been within
corporate tax but also more specialised areas including employment and
expatriate tax divisions.
This calendar year has seen some interesting trends with senior tax
professionals moving from Financial Services into fantastic roles within
Commerce & Industry. These include; Douglas Smith from Lloyds
International who has recently joined Maersk Line as the Head of Tax in a
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
newly created role and Basil Salvaris (Ex ANZ and Credit Suisse) is now
the Head of Tax Compliance and Strategy at News Corp Australia.
Historically it has been quite difficult to move from a long term tax career in
Financial Services into Commerce particularly at a senior level, but some of
these moves indicate that more emphasis is being put on proven technical
and people management ability and indeed cultural fit as opposed to
specific industry experience. We believe that both Doug and Basil will make
fantastic additions to their respective new employers.
Banking & Financial Services
The main area of activity and growth this year across the Banking and
Finance sector has been within the wealth management arms' of
organisations such as; HSBC, Westpac, ANZ and NAB who have been
hiring professionals with specific tax skills across the areas of
Superannuation, Life Insurance and Funds Management. A high number of
successful hires has come from the investment and Insurance Tax teams
within the Big 4 accounting firms. One of these successful hires was Jessika
Heynen who joined ANZ Wealth as a Tax Manager from KPMG Sydney.
Looking forward to 2015, we predict that there will still be vacancies across
the Wealth Management sector. We also expect to see an increase of
potential roles within indirect tax due to changes to the GST reform in
Australia. Both the domestic and international banks are likely to add bench
strength in their Transfer Pricing Tax teams due to continued pressure from
the ATO. We expect there to be some redundancies within the international
banks however with continued pressure to streamline and reduce
headcount within Australian subsidiary tax functions. One organisation
worth mentioning is UBS who as of this year, no longer have a tax team in
Australia.
Energy & Resources
We believe that Energy & Resources will be an area to watch in 2015. We
have already seen some interesting and high profile roles filled towards the
back end of 2014 including the appointment of the new Tax Manager at
Horizon Oil – Luke Domrow from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Aoife Dean's
move from BHP Billiton to Orica as Tax Manager Global Strategy &
Compliance, EMEA/Asia, the appointment of Tom DeGeorgio from the
Houston Office of BHP Billiton to take over from Chen Leong as the VP Tax
– Asia Pacific and Anne Maree Wolff's promotion to the Head of Tax
Australia position at Rio Tinto post Ross Lion's move to London to take on
the Global Head role.
BHP Billiton Melbourne are still very much in the process of hiring and onboarding 10 new members of the Group Tax Team and the new Global
Head of Tax to replace Tony Merlo's internal move is yet to be announced.
With the oil price dropping there has been a slight hesitation from various
organisations but there are still plans for many to move some senior staff
internally or overseas thus creating positions across Sydney, Melbourne
and Brisbane.
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
Candidate
Trends
What have we seen in 2014?
This year has been a year of restored faith into the Australian Tax market in
both professional services as well as in-house. We have seen more roles
signed off in industry for candidates to consider but also a huge number of
successful counter offers from the Big 4 accounting firms desperate to hold
on to their high performers. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds in
2015 when even more in-house roles become available and the Big 4
perhaps being unable to commit to previous promises made in order to keep
their staff.
Salaries in the Australian market remain fairly unchanged in industry as is
the case also "officially" within the Big 4 accounting firms (we have seen
some candidates paid above their grade in order to entice them to move to
a competitor). The Law firms as always pay way above market at the more
senior level which is actually a good move on their part as it does keep their
higher performers from leaving and joining the Big 4 as it would just not be
viable for most to take such a significant pay cut.
All of the major banks have gender diversity targets and as a result women
in leadership has been a major focus over the last 12 months. This has also
been a strong focus for some of the Big 4 accounting firms but less so within
commerce and industry who tend to have a more even split traditionally.
Candidates considering their options in 2015
The information we have so far is that specialist skill sets will be in demand
next year particularly within the first 6 months. Those skills sets are Transfer
Pricing and GST due to several legislative changes that have already
happened or are expected to happen in July next year. If you are currently
in Private Practice and considering a move in-house, now would be a good
time to start looking at options.
We are also interested in hearing from candidates with the more traditional
corporate tax skill sets for various roles that we are aware of for the first few
months of 2015 including both advisory and international roles as well as
the more compliance and reporting focused positions within large Australian
organisations.
The general feeling moving into 2015 is that the market has recovered, and
we are expecting to have a busy year with various moves already being
reported, with exciting new roles and projects in the pipeline.
The
Numbers
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
* Attached in Appendix
Figures based on candidate data gained through the Bluefin interview
process.
Questions
Lauren Maunsell
Account Manager – Taxation
lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
02 9270 2650 | 0405 619 413
See my profile on Bluefin Resources
If you have any questions in relation to this market update or would like
more detail on any of the above, please feel free contact Lauren Maunsell
– Account Manager, Taxation on:
+61 (0) 2 9270 2650.
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
Appendix – Salary Survey *all salaries quoted do not include bonuses.
Big 4
Tax Consultant
(approx. graduate
– 2 years)
Senior Consultant
(approx. 2.5-4 years)
Manager
(approx. 4-6 years)
Senior Manager
(approx.. 6-8
years)
Director
(approx. 8+ years)
Partner (Salaried)
Partner (Equity)
Direct Taxes
(Corporate
Tax/M&A)
55,000 - 72,000
73,000 - 95,000
100,000 - 135,000
135,000 - 180,000
181,000 - 280,000
281,000 - 400,000
Indirect Taxes
(GST/Stamp Duty
55,000 - 72,000
73,000 - 95,000
100,000 - 135,000
135,000 - 180,000
181,000 - 280,000
281,000 - 400,000
Direct Tax
(Corporate/Funds)
55,000 - 72,000
73,000 - 95,000
100,000 - 135,000
135,000 - 180,000
181,000 - 280,000
281,000 - 400,000
Transfer Pricing
55,000 - 72,000
73,000 - 95,000
100,000 - 135,000
135,000 - 180,000
181,000 - 280,000
281,000 - 400,000
450,000 + (have
seen up to 1.5
million for practice
leaders
450,000 + (have
seen up to 1.5
million for practice
leaders
450,000 + (have
seen up to 1.5
million for practice
leaders
450,000 + (have
seen up to 1.5
million for practice
leaders
Top Tier Law Firms
Paralegal (Tend to
be on rotation in
all areas)
Associate/Consultant
Senior Associate
Salaried
Partner/Special
Council
Equity Partner
Direct Taxes
(Corporate
Tax/M&A)
65,000- 90,000
90,000- 130,000
135,000- 280,000
300,000- 550,000
550,000 +
(depending on firmhave seen up to 3
mil)
Direct Tax
(Corporate/Funds)
65,000- 90,000
90,000- 130,000
135,000- 280,000
300,000- 550,000
550,000 + "
Indirect Tax - GST
65,000- 90,000
90,000- 130,000
135,000- 250,000
300,000- 500,000
500,000 + "
Indirect Tax Stamp Duty
65,000- 90,000
90,000- 130,000
135,000- 280,000
300,000- 550,000
550,000 + "
Transfer Pricing
65,000- 90,000
90,000- 130,000
135,000- 250,000
300,000- 500,000
500,000 + "
Banking/Financial
Services
1-3 years
4-6 years
7-10 years
10+ years
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
Global Head of Tax
N/A
N/A
N/A
400,000 +
discretionary bonus
Regional Head of
Tax
N/A
N/A
200,000 - 300,000
250,000 - 350,000
Senior Tax
Manager/2IC
N/A
N/A
160,000 - 220,000
180,000 - 300,000
Tax Manager
N/A
110,000 - 140,000
140,000 - 160,000
140,000 - 165,000
Tax
Accountant/Advisor
60,000 - 85,000
85,000 - 110,000
100,000 - 130,000
100,000 - 140,000
Energy &
Resources
1-3 years
4-6 years
7-10 years
10+ years
Global Head of Tax
N/A
N/A
N/A
500,000- 750,000 +
Regional Head of
Tax
N/A
N/A
200,000- 300,000
200,000- 350,000 +
Senior Tax
Manager/2IC
N/A
N/A
170,000- 250,000
200,000- 350,000 +
Tax Manager
N/A
115,000- 150,000
150,000- 220,000
160,000- 220,000
Senior Tax
Accountant/Advisor
70,000- 100,000
105,000- 130,000
135,000- 200,000
140,000- 200,000
Tax
Accountant/Advisor
65,000- 90,000
95,000- 120,000
100,000- 150,000
100,000- 150,000
Commerce,
Infrastructure &
Property (ASX
Listed)
1-3 years
4-6 years
7-10 years
10+ years
Global Head of Tax
N/A
N/A
N/A
350,000 +
(Discretionary
bonus depending on
company)
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au
Regional Head of
Tax
N/A
N/A
180,000 - 250,000
200,000 - 400,000
Senior Tax
Manager/2IC
N/A
N/A
150,000 - 250,000
200,000 - 300,000
Tax Manager
N/A
110,000 - 150,000
150,000 - 180,000
170,000 - 200,000
Senior Tax
Accountant/Advisor
N/A
90,000 - 125,000
120,000 - 150,000
140,000 - 170,000
Tax
Accountant/Advisor
55,000 - 85,000
85,000 - 110,000
100,000 - 130,000
120,000 - 140,000
Lauren Maunsell, Account Manager – Taxation
Tel: +61 (2) 9270 2650
Email: lauren@bluefinresources.com.au