One third of commercial companies expect finance hiring activity to increase over the next years, according to research by financial recruiter ECHM, which is part of Imprint.

It found that 45% of companies believe it will become more difficult to find good accountancy professionals in the coming months; only 9% expect the availability of good candidates to increase.

The survey found that 23% of companies are implementing new initiatives to encourage people to join their businesses.

John Hunter, chief executive of ECHM, says: “It is encouraging to see that despite recent stock market fluctuations, growth looks set to continue. This underlying confidence in the accountancy recruitment market is further demonstrated by the fact that 21% of accountants are intending to change jobs in the next year.”