Two separate surveys of the professional environment in Ireland have found that the majority of businesses are looking to expand their workforce.
Ireland’s economic performance of late has left the vast majority of chief financial officers confident that their business is in a good position to capitalise.
“And this is not just over-ambitious sentiment,” explains David McGarry, director with RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, who conducted a survey of CFOs from companies throughout Ireland.
“Fifty-four per cent of finance professionals surveyed currently have opportunities for employment in their companies and 66pc say that they expect to hire new employees in 2015.”
Other findings from this report included the fact that just 40pc of those surveyed use cloud applications as part of their finance function, which is relatively low by global standards.
Future expansion a target
According to another report – EY’s biannual Capital Confidence Barometer – Irish business expects economic growth to underpin earnings going forward and, combined with a positive view on both market stability and credit availability, Irish companies are beginning to position themselves for future expansion.
“These sentiments were demonstrated in the survey, with 70pc of Irish respondents expecting their organisations to create jobs over the next 12 months,” reads the report.
EY claims that Ireland is set to post the highest economic growth in the EU this year, and EY’s latest Eurozone Forecast expects GDP to grow by 4.8pc in 2014.
“Overall the Irish economic growth, supported by structural changes and growing availability of both equity and debt funding, is driving increased business confidence in terms of earnings. This has positive impacts for future investment and hiring,” says Graham Reid, EY partner in transaction advisory services.
“The capital trends in Ireland reflect the positioning of the Irish economy where businesses are seeking to remedy and rebalance their capital structures and also position themselves to take advantage of the increasing Irish economic growth.
“Also, the invigorated Irish entrepreneurial business approach in Ireland, as exemplified by the technology and life sciences sectors in Ireland, relies on equity to fund growth.”