Fund Accounting Salary Guide 2024

Evidently, this is not a new phenomenon. Third-party providers based in Australia continue to build large offshore teams in China, India, and the Philippines to remain competitive and leverage cost efficiencies with some backfilling Australian-based positions in these locations in recent years. This challenge will be compounded by NAB Asset Servicing exiting the market, despite a stream of talent emerging from here over the coming months.

As a result, we have observed a lack of end-to-end investment accounting knowledge in the market, which has resulted in challenges in recruiting fund managers and superannuation funds where this knowledge is favourable. In addition, another factor is fund service providers having each function within fund accounting run as a separate team.

There is now a definite need for fund accounting professionals with a bespoke relationship management skillset. With most fund managers having outsourced functions, fund accountants are taking on more oversight responsibilities.

In such cases, overseeing and managing the relationship with custodians, third-party administrators, and auditors is a key responsibility. Some of the main skills fund managers are seeking include:

1. Clear communication
2. Transparency of processes
3. Accurate data flows

These positions are likely to remain in demand as fund managers seek to maintain investor confidence, manage risk, and adhere to regulatory compliance.

Private markets experience is in high demand across the fund accounting space, with institutional investors, including superannuation funds, increasingly allocating more capital to private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and private debt. The desire to diversify from traditional public markets is at the forefront of this trend.

However, equities and fixed income remain the most common skills in terms of asset class exposure. There has been a notable increase in candidates possessing experience in real estate, private equity, infrastructure, and private debt, however, there remains a gap between demand and supply. There needs to be some flexibility from firms on having this skillset as a requirement for roles, with some firms willing to allocate resources to upskilling and training candidates on this skillset.

Fund management firms continue to place a growing emphasis on technology and systems to achieve more efficiency, accuracy and compliance. The role of a fund accountant in Australia will continue to evolve and has resulted in an increased demand for fund accounting professionals with data analytics skills. This shift will result in upskilling and reskilling of existing fund accountants to leverage these advancements.

Increasingly, we are observing fund management firms adopting a cost-out approach, resulting in several roles restructures and redundancies.  This trend is particularly evident in firms operating traditional investment strategies, such as equities and bonds, in stark contrast to firms with investment strategies in areas such as private credit and private debt, where we have observed significant growth. This has resulted in a significant number of senior fund accounting professionals currently being unattached to the market.

With a shortage of end-to-end experience on the market, one potential solution for firms would be to look at international candidates to solve their resourcing needs. We have observed an influx of international fund accounting professionals coming to Australia on working holiday visas. We have noted that most fund managers are reluctant to offer contract opportunities or sponsorship. We have observed fund accounting professionals coming from Ireland, the UK, the USA, China, and India, many of whom bring a broad skillset across fund accounting and would potentially fit well into generalist business models.