The Impact of Record M&A Activity for the Tax Professional
2021 saw a record 240 merger and acquisitions worth a total of €24.6 billion take place in the Irish market.
The Irish M&A market saw a rise of 33% on 2020 and the highest deal volumes since 2006, according to the latest figures from the William Fry M&A Review, in association with Mergermarket.
Ireland’s mid-market was the most active area of the M&A landscape for deal-making with 81% of all deals having a disclosed value between €5m and €250m.
With such activity it is no surprise that tax professionals are in high demand.
Practice
We have seen heightened demand at all levels as the firms provide advisory support for these transactions.
Big 4 firms, Top 10, legal, boutique and smaller firms are all seeking talent in a very tight market for strong tax professionals. With such demand, hybrid working, flexibility, and an openness to reduced working hours are all being put on the table to attract talent.
While these might be the differentiators in attracting talent, the firms are also very conscious of retention and ensuring that their talent want to stay. Continued career development, variety of work, technical challenge, the collegiate environment are the reasons why lots of people stay in practice over the longer term and also why many return after working in industry or other fields.
Industry
In-house tax departments are also investing in their people and are growing out their tax teams. With such market activity it makes sense it have an in house ‘expert’ who can advise the business on the tax agenda and help translate the sometimes very technical advice into something that is understandable to non-tax professionals and workable from a business perspective.
As tax teams are growing this allows room for progression opportunities in industry also. Tax by its nature, being part of any transactional decision also means that tax professionals will have a seat at the table and generally get strong commercial exposure from a relatively early stage.
Considering the market?
If you are CTA qualified and thinking of a move in 2022 or would just like to keep abreast of market changes, contact Emer Murphy for a confidential discussion.
There are lots of options, so it is important to find the one that is right for you.
Emer trained in tax with KPMG and worked as a tax manager in industry before moving into recruitment in 2006 so has in depth knowledge of the tax market from all angles.
Emer Murphy
Director – Financial Services & Tax
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emer-murphy-27096920/