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Big Four retention issues; housing crisis needs ‘unprecedented measures’ and defending Irish banks

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Big Four accountancy firm KPMG says it retains only about half of its newly qualified accountants post training. Photograph: iStock

Dominic Coyle's face
Dominic Coyle
Mon Aug 28 2023 - 06:25

Big Four accounting firms say they are losing up to half of newly qualified accountants who have trained through their graduate trainee schemes amid an increasingly tight market for young talent, with some recruiters saying that of those who stay on after training with a big firm, the number who leave within the first year of qualifying “could easily be 80 per cent”. Ellen O’Regan reports.

“Unprecedented measures” are needed in the upcoming budget to arrest the housing crisis and make home ownership more affordable for younger people in particular, according to auctioneers industry group Ipav, Ellen writes.

In our opinion column, DCU finance professor Brian O’Kelly argues that Irish banks are fully justified in keeping deposit rates low, especially given how difficult it is for Irish banks to foreclose on non-performing home loans.

Tackling gender equality in law firms is “one of the biggest issues in the profession”, according to Mark Wasserman, US managing partner of international law firm Eversheds Sutherland, admitting that even though intakes are strictly 50/50, “we’re still not doing the job when it comes to the class that stays and is ready for partnership”.

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Professional services firm Azets Ireland has called for the Government to support small and medium business (SMEs) with the “increasing cost of doing business”, most notably by limiting any rise in the national minimum wage.

And Irish financial services company Fexco has announced a strategic partnership that will enable some of its services to be rolled out at ATMs across Brazil, writes Ian Curran.

Barretstown, the charity for children living with serious illness, is launching a €100,000 fundraising campaign this week as it welcomes the 100,000th sick child to its Irish base this week.

In his column, Eoin Burke-Kennedy take a look at how Sinn Féin is preparing for the prospect of government by toning down on some of its tax policies and wooing big business.

And Emma Jacobs looks at the potential for conflict when love and labour collide.

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