Tax partners command superior salaries

It may not be the most glamorous career, but a chronic shortage of accountants means tax partners are now among the best paid people in Ireland.

According to a survey of private sector job openings by the Irish National Training Authority, the FÁS and the Economic and Social Research Institute, accountancy is now one of Ireland's best paid professions.

Tax partners, it concluded, are now commanding salaries of around €240k, more even than chief financial officers, who can expect anything from €130k to €160k.

What's driving this financial bonanza is, as ever, simply supply and demand, and in particular a severe lack of experienced candidates, explains Sarah Wearen, finance manager for Dublin recruitment firm Recruiters.

"People often qualify and then want to go to London, New York or Singapore," she says. "That means anyone good who remains here can often command quite high salaries and sometimes even, to be honest, inflated salaries," she adds.

Compounding this shortage is the fact that Ireland's booming economy is generating increased demand for tax work and, therefore, tax specialists, agrees Ross Wynne of Dublin recruitment firm Brightwater.

"It is highly specialised work and Dublin is a relatively small area. With the growth in the economy there has been an awful lot of tax work coming online," he says.

The Celtic tiger and Ireland's favourable tax regime - not to mention the prospect of an influx of wealthy foreign bankers should the UK government push ahead with its controversial non-dom tax plans - have created a new generation of super rich, who all need tax specialists to manage their wealth, adds Wearer.

"There are a lot of people now in Ireland who have a lot of money," she says.