City accountants set for bumper bonus season

Britain's accountants will have their collective bonus pot doubled to £1.3 billion this year, a survey showed today.

Recruitment firm Ambition said the surge, which contrasts with an expected decline in bonus payments at many investment banks, reflected the industry's increased importance as the economy continues to struggle.

"When times are tough, businesses turn to the accountancy department to tighten the company belt and weed out areas of overspending," said Ambition managing director Tim Gilbert.

"Accountants are often the unsung heroes of recessions as they keep a keen eye on the bottom line and help steer companies out of trouble."

In October, the Centre for Economics & Business Research said the City was set to pay £7 billion in bonuses, down 4% on last year. While much of the finance sector is tightening its belt, top-performing hedge funds or private equity firms are still likely to hand out bumper payments.

Standard Chartered said last week that it had pulled out of a pact among Britain's top banks to moderate bonus packages.

The accountancy sector, dominated by the "Big Four" firms of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG, has come under scrutiny in the wake of the financial crisis as regulators have questioned their evaluation of debt assets whose value plummeted during the credit crunch, causing taxpayers to bail out banks.