What’s Hot and What’s Not

Robert Half’s 2009 Accounting and Finance Salary Guide and Ajilon Finance's 2009 Finance and Accounting Salary Guide are out, and the winners of this year’s highest projected raises are…large company tax accounting managers at 4.9 percent, with second place going to tax managers working for companies with sales above $250 million at 4.8 percent, RHI says.

Ajilon Finance says its winners are accounting and finance professionals in San Francisco and San Mateo, California, where salaries are a whopping 20.4% above the national average. Salaries in finance-centric New York City are 14.1% higher than the average salary in other regions, the company says.

The biggest losers? No surprise here, it’s mortgage originators and processors, who’ll see a 0.4 percent change in base salary in 2009, according to Robert Half’s data. Given that mortgage banking has shed over 100,000 employees so far this year, perhaps the handful of originators who still have jobs and are managing to close any loans in the current environment are thrilled with that 0.4 percent.

Robert Half says the most in-demand positions right now are: tax accounting manger, director of financial reporting, staff or senior accountant, financial analyst, controller, credit and collections specialist and cost accountant.

You can use the surveys to calculate the salary range for your specific position, experience level, company size and region.

No time for that? Here’s our summary of what’s hot and what’s not, in accounting and finance, based on the RHI and Ajilon surveys:

HOT
Industry experience
Knowledge of company-specific software
Project professionals
Temporary-to-full-time hires
Cost control and process improvement
Low expectations for company performance
Total compensation
Job location
Work/life balance
Financial analysis
Planning, budgeting and forecasting skills
People skills
IT experience

NOT
Social responsibility
Moving to a new job for professional advancement
Governance/ethics
Sox compliance
XBRL compliance
FASB/GAAP
High base salary
Relocation packages
Lacking certification