Salary Expectations in Finance?

anonymousme66

I'm relatively new to the country (only been here for about a year, came from North America), and am contemplating on whether I should stay here or move back home. Salary is a huge consideration and after some research, I'm getting all mixed results.

I work as a specific type of financial analyst in a telecommunications company, and graduated from university in 2015. My degree is not relevant to finance and I do not have a qualification, though I have started with ACCA. My salary is 35K, which is 8K less than what was advertised, on the basis that I only had 3 years of Accounts Payable experience.

Would this be is a good starting salary in Dublin? It is only 2K more than when I worked in Accounts also in Dublin, which worries me slightly. Any advice appreciated!

cocker5

anonymousme66 wrote: »

I'm relatively new to the country (only been here for about a year, came from North America), and am contemplating on whether I should stay here or move back home. Salary is a huge consideration and after some research, I'm getting all mixed results.

I work as a specific type of financial analyst in a telecommunications company, and graduated from university in 2015. My degree is not relevant to finance and I do not have a qualification, though I have started with ACCA. My salary is 35K, which is 8K less than what was advertised, on the basis that I only had 3 years of Accounts Payable experience.

Would this be is a good starting salary in Dublin? It is only 2K more than when I worked in Accounts also in Dublin, which worries me slightly. Any advice appreciated!

Have far up the scale are you in ACCA?

While i studied ACCA my top salary was $39,000 until i qualified so i would say at your current level €35,000 is average. Newly qualified ACCA are getting from €45,000 upwards depending on experience... and it goes up from there it does depend on where you work also. (I'm also based in dublin)

livedadream

anonymousme66 wrote: »

I'm relatively new to the country (only been here for about a year, came from North America), and am contemplating on whether I should stay here or move back home. Salary is a huge consideration and after some research, I'm getting all mixed results.

I work as a specific type of financial analyst in a telecommunications company, and graduated from university in 2015. My degree is not relevant to finance and I do not have a qualification, though I have started with ACCA. My salary is 35K, which is 8K less than what was advertised, on the basis that I only had 3 years of Accounts Payable experience.

Would this be is a good starting salary in Dublin? It is only 2K more than when I worked in Accounts also in Dublin, which worries me slightly. Any advice appreciated!

check out the morgan mckinley salary survey it shoudl steer you in the right direction

https://www.morganmckinley.ie/article/morgan-mckinleys-2016-irish-salary-and-benefits-guide

hickory

Are you just starting your ACCA studies if so the salary appears about right but it should also go up as you get closer to completion. On passing it should be about 46 to 52.
In my experience best thing to do is get loads of experience at different jobs in a finance dept. Usually at the lower levels be aiming to move to a new position every year to 15 months getting new experience and proving yourself but also moving up levels getting more money as you go. Each time u move u should be further along in your exams making it easier to justify why you should get pay rises at each move.

anonymousme66

Ah I guess that makes sense as I've only passed F2, and don't have a relevant degree in business or finance which means I've another 13 to go. Suppose it only feels like I was ripped off a bit, since I'm only being paid 100 euros more per month from my previous role, which was also in the same company. And they also gave me a higher starting figure when I asked in the interview, which gave the impression that I was being underpaid.

At what point would you be able to start negotiating your salary up? Once you pass F5, say?

hickory

Generally every year when it comes to pay review remind them that you have another year of exams done. Not sure how many exams you intend doing every year but it's worth raising the point unless you are doing it very slowly. In every company it's usually easier negotiate a decent payrise when you are changing roles and at the point reminding them again that your salary in previous role was for when you had less exams. The most important thing is to get your exams. I have seen people join a finance dept and move around different roles proving themselves in each and going up significantly in salary and I have seen others during same time period just get their annual pay rises and stay put in roles.

One other thing, in case you didn't realise, you seem disappointed with the effect the payrise had on the home pay not sure you know but the tax rates change when you hit 32800. after that all money gets taxed at 41%(plus prsi plus USC) instead of at 20℅ so the payrise you got will have less of an impact given u are at 35k

anonymousme66

hickory wrote: »

Generally every year when it comes to pay review remind them that you have another year of exams done. Not sure how many exams you intend doing every year but it's worth raising the point unless you are doing it very slowly. In every company it's usually easier negotiate a decent payrise when you are changing roles and at the point reminding them again that your salary in previous role was for when you had less exams. The most important thing is to get your exams. I have seen people join a finance dept and move around different roles proving themselves in each and going up significantly in salary and I have seen others during same time period just get their annual pay rises and stay put in roles.

One other thing, in case you didn't realise, you seem disappointed with the effect the payrise had on the home pay not sure you know but the tax rates change when you hit 32800. after that all money gets taxed at 41%(plus prsi plus USC) instead of at 20℅ so the payrise you got will have less of an impact given u are at 35k

Thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind to keep an eye out for new opportunities.

Yep, I knew the pay rise put me into the higher tax bracket, but I assumed that employers would take that into consideration. Oh well... at my salary level now it doesn't make much of a difference compared to back home, but in the long-term the high taxes do turn me off from staying.

Kenya1234

Im on 27k in dublin as a Financial analyst.... I must be doing it wrong!

irishguy

Stick at it. A bit of hard work and 4/5 years PQE will get you 80k + .It's well worth the effort in the medium term, salary's are always bad when your training

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

doc22

FizzleSticks wrote: »

I know a few people on 15-20K working in Finance while studying for their ACCA exams.

And there are plenty of junior analyst roles for 25-30K so 35K is quite good for your level.

Mind you the pay here isn't as competitive for graduates, I know it sucks about the pay, I've taken a pay cut just to get into the industry I want to work in but it will be worth it.

Good advice above, definitely look at your negotiation skills and be recording all your accomplishments at work for when review times rolls around.

What industry would you have taken a pay cut to get into?