Data from Equifax shows an increase in the number of companies going bust in the second quarter of this year.
Failures in the services sector showed a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%, but a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12.8%. However, it was the retail sector which witnessed the largest year-on-year increase in failures – 15.9%.
The East Midlands seems to be the UK’s most resilient region with a year-on-year decrease of 11.3% and a quarter-on-quarter drop of 10.3%. The West Midlands also recorded drops of 7.5% and 8.7% respectively.
With so many firms still failing, it will probably come as no surprise to discover that bonuses for insolvency professionals are soaring. I&R professionals are in line to get average bonuses of around £11,000 this year. Bonuses are set to double, from 5% to 10%, as insolvency firms struggle to find sufficient experienced staff to meet the rapid increase in demand.
Shaila Verma, a recruiter at Marks Sattin, said it is now much harder to get credit and this has resulted in growth in the insolvency and restructuring sectors. As firms battle to attract top talent, remuneration packages are rising and there is an increased opportunity for larger bonuses.
I&R directors saw dramatic salary increases of 17.5% last year, bringing the average salary to £117,500. This compares very favourably with directors in other accountancy roles. Audit directors received an average 5% salary increase, whilst the majority of forensic directors did not see their salary rise at all last year.
In 2009 and 2010, recruitment of I&R specialists was virtually non-existent, but Marks Sattin says headcount will increase from 2,030 at the end of last year to 2,550 at the end of this.
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