2023 Salary Survey: finance market trends

They’re certainly earning their keep in these financially-challenging times, but are charity finance professionals securing higher salaries and what’s happening in the market?

Here’s what our finance experts have to say on the subject, updated from our 2023 Salary Survey, which you can view or download below for all the figures.

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Finance market trends

To the world of charity finance now, where salaries in the past year have been increasing across the board.

At junior levels, it’s a long time since we handled anything below £25,000 (£32,000 is now achievable with just 1-2 years’ experience) while further up, once-rare salaries over £65,000 are now regularly spotted in our listings.

The reason is once again the scarcity of experienced charity candidates, who know they’re in demand and will hold out for what they want rather than compromise.

Quality over quantity

Candidates aren’t the only ones with high expectations, however. Obliged to spend more on staffing, ever-frugal finance bosses are determined to get their money’s worth, and will increasingly extend or re-run campaigns to find someone they feel is worth every penny.

As a result, while finance staff are moving more regularly, with average tenures nearer two years than the four or five of the past, vacancies are typically taking longer to fill, with appointments that were once made in a matter of weeks now frequently running into several months.

Not every move is for salary reasons though: a fair proportion of finance movers are looking to lower their stress levels, making a break for something more balanced before ever-expanding workloads and responsibilities crush them altogether.

Flexibility first

Perhaps more than anyone, finance staff really don’t want to be in the office, and have arguably the least need to be, so organisations asking for even two days per week on site are asking for trouble filling that position.

They’ll generally be among those employers yet to recognise that salaries that served perfectly well for the last decade will no longer bring a deluge of applications. However we're seeing that more than 40% (and rising) know they need to offer more and are finding new ways to do so, such as financially supporting the studies of employees working towards their accountancy qualification.

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​Mind the gap

Finally whatever the salary, our best advice for those seeking to hire charity finance staff - other than calling us, of course - is simply to move as quickly as possible.

As much as campaigns are being extended or re-run to find the right person, it's also because the right person is often being snapped up elsewhere during the process, often in the gap between first and second interviews. The key is to avoid leaving long gaps where this could happen: get to first interviews quickly, schedule the second very soon after, and make an offer before anyone else does.

For more tips on hiring, see also our recent post on how to secure new talent (without spending a fortune).

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To see the salaries, as well as those in all other major charity departments, see the full 2023 Salary Survey here, while for help with recruiting or your job search in one of these areas, please contact our specialists:

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