As December rolls around, the secret Santas are being opened and you’re all beginning to celebrate at office parties, we’re taking a moment to reflect on what’s been another brilliant year of matching talented finance professionals with their perfect roles. 2025 has certainly kept us busy, and we’ve loved every minute of watching careers flourish and teams grow stronger.
We know many of you are balancing year-end reporting deadlines with annual leave and finding time for Christmas shopping. Whether you’re finalising budgets, planning for Q1 hiring, or simply looking forward to a well-deserved break, we wanted to take a moment to share some insights and updates as we close out the year.
In this quarter’s newsletter, we’ll be looking at what we’ve seen over the last few months leading up to Christmas, what’s surprised us in 2025 and what we expect heading into 2026.
Key Takeaways from Q4
The finance market across Scotland remained relatively stable throughout the quarter, with similar swings that we have seen in other quarters this year with slower periods and very busy periods in terms of new vacancies.
The FTC and interim market remains very buoyant with some businesses adopting this method of employment when it comes to new hires to assess whether there is a need on a longer term basis, as well as an increase in maternity and long term interim contracts. These roles are likely to attract candidates available at shorter notice, but invariably put off candidates already in permanent positions, meaning interest can vary.
Outstanding candidates at the transactional level continue to be snapped up quickly, with payroll and cashiering roles being particularly in demand. In the qualified space, business partnering and commercial accounting skills remain both in demand and sought after by candidates. Those in statutory accounting roles can deeply specialise in their space, but find the longer they remain in these roles, the harder it becomes to transition into commercial roles.
Sectors that have remained active in the finance recruitment market include FMCG and manufacturing, whilst service sector employers have taken a more cautious approach.
A number of hesitant conversations have been had around the recent Budget announcements. We don’t expect the same level of challenges in the market following the Employer National Insurance increase of 2024, but increased costs and little given back to business will likely impact hiring – perhaps with more being expected of candidates as wages increase. On this one expert said “Hiring will become more targeted, skills-based and ROI-driven, supported by internal mobility, reskilling and investment in productivity-enhancing technologies. At the senior end, the cumulative effect of higher taxation and tighter regulation will prompt some globally mobile professionals to evaluate low-tax jurisdictions more seriously.”
What’s Surprised Us in 2025
- Commerciality being key – the days of accountants being seen as bean-counters have arguably been long in the past but 2025 has seen a massive drive towards commerciality. Skills in business partnering and stakeholder engagement are being tested in every interview and it doesn’t seem to be enough now to be just good with numbers, most are looking for the personality and drive to match
- The tech revolution – perhaps related to the commercial piece, AI is here and is making an impact. It’s not stealing jobs in a scary way (yet?) but businesses are adopting it like never before, taking some of the manual, repetitive tasks away and leaving more time for adding value and being strategic. Systems and digital transformation professionals are hot commodities as a result.
- ESG interest waning? – We started this year expecting ESG to be a topic on everyone’s agenda but seems to have taken a back seat towards the end of the year. Still important, but maybe down the list a little bit. It will be interesting to see if that bounces back in 2026.
One Hiring Trend We’d Bet On for 2026
If 2025 was a transition year in finance recruitment with moves towards commerciality, AI and transformations, we’d expect 2026 to be adapting to this new world of work. We expect a skills-based but culturally focused recruitment plan from businesses moving into this year – candidates will need to bring their A-game to interview and demonstrate their technical strengths alongside their adaptability, reaction to change and strong business partnering abilities.
Contact our Accountancy & Finance team:
Hannah Green (Director & Co Founder) – hannah.green@iconicresourcing.com
Cameron Brown (Senior finance recruitment consultant) – cameron.brown@iconicresourcing.com
Claire McNally (Transactional finance recruitment consultant) – claire.mcnally@iconicresourcing.com