There is a pattern I keep seeing in the Irish market right now. A hiring manager finds a strong candidate — genuinely strong, the kind that does not come along often — makes an offer, and loses them to a competitor within 48 hours. Not because the role was wrong. Because the number was wrong.
This is not a candidate greed story. It is a market reality story, and it is worth understanding clearly before your next vacancy opens.
The Market Has Moved. Most Salary Bands Have Not.
Finance salaries in Ireland have shifted meaningfully over the last two years. Inflation, the sustained demand for practice-trained talent, and the continued presence of multinationals and large tech employers in the market have all pushed expectations upward — particularly at the qualified accountant level.
A Financial Controller role that was budgeted at €75,000 in 2022 is now regularly commanding €85,000–€95,000 in commercial SMEs, depending on sector, scope, and location. Newly qualified ACAs moving from practice to industry for the first time are routinely expecting packages in the €60000–€65,000+ range. FP&A and commercial finance roles at manager level have seen similar upward pressure.
If your approved salary range has not been revisited in the last 12–18 months, you are likely offering below what the market is currently paying. That gap is not invisible to candidates — and it is not invisible to their recruiters.
What “Below Market” Actually Costs You
It is easy to think of a rejected offer as a neutral outcome — no hire, no loss. But that framing misses what the process has already cost you.
You have spent time shortlisting, interviewing, and building interest in the role. A hiring manager, a CFO, or a senior finance lead has given up hours in the process. Your team has been covering the vacancy in the meantime, which carries its own cost to morale and output.
And when a strong candidate declines your offer and accepts one elsewhere, you do not just lose that person — you go back to the start of a process in a market where suitable, available candidates are not sitting in a queue waiting. Practice-trained talent in particular is in genuinely short supply. The pipeline from the profession into industry is competitive and it is not getting easier.
The real cost of a slow or underpowered offer is not just the recruitment fee or the time spent. It is the cumulative drag of a role unfilled for three or four months more, and sometimes the loss of a candidate who would have been a very good hire.
Where Employers Are Getting It Wrong
The most common issue I see is not that employers are unwilling to pay market rates — it is that they do not know what market rates currently are.
Salary surveys have their uses but they lag behind real-time market movement. What a report published in late 2024 says about average salaries is already being stretched by what is actually happening in offer and acceptance conversations right now.
A second issue is internal compression. Sometimes the approved salary for a new hire is constrained by what existing team members are earning — which is a legitimate tension, but one that needs to be addressed proactively rather than used as a reason to underpay new hires and then wonder why offers are being declined.
And a third issue is the structure of the offer itself. Base salary is still the primary driver for most finance professionals in Ireland, but benefits, hybrid working arrangements, and genuine progression clarity all form part of the picture. A well-constructed offer that sits at the market rate is more compelling than a slightly higher salary attached to an unclear career path or a five-day office requirement in a market that has largely settled on two to three days from home.
What to Do Before You Open Your Next Vacancy
Before you finalise the brief or approve the salary band, have a real conversation with someone who is active in the market daily. Not to be told what you want to hear — to get an honest read on what a competitive offer actually looks like for the specific role you are hiring, in your sector, at your location.
Come into the process knowing what you are prepared to offer at the top of your range, not at the midpoint. In a market where strong candidates are often managing multiple conversations simultaneously, the time between first interview and competing offer can be shorter than hiring timelines typically allow for.
And if your internal bands are genuinely out of step with the market, that is worth raising now — before a succession of declined offers forces the conversation under pressure.
The finance professionals you want to hire are not being unreasonable. They are reading the same market you are. The question is whether your offer reflects it.
If you are not sure where your salary ranges currently sit relative to the market, I am happy to have that conversation. No obligation — just an honest picture of where things are.