National survey indicates growth to continue for finance professionals here

BY BEN TINSLEY

While industry woes are driving Las Vegas employment numbers down in the housing industry, local executives are expected to continue hiring accounting and finance professionals throughout the rest of the year and into 2008, a survey shows.

"Las Vegas is in aggressive growth mode despite those other downward trends," said Craig Kapper, regional vice president for Robert Half International, which commissioned the study. "Hiring is up for health care, gaming construction, commercial construction, manufacturing, production, and other financial services."

Robert Half International's most recent Financial Hiring Index, a survey of the nation's chief financial officers, shows 12 percent of the 200 Las Vegas CFOs intend to continue adding employees throughout the rest of the fourth quarter. Another 7 percent plan to reduce staffs.

Nationally, 9 percent of CFOs surveyed said they plan to add full-time employees in accounting and finance while 3 percent expect staff reductions, the survey shows.

Locally, the 7 percent who plan to cut staffs blamed problems caused by subprime mortgage loans that were given to people with poor credit histories. This situation has led to a foreclosure crisis caused by subprime borrowers not being able to meet the terms of their loans.

Carol Stieffermann, a chief estimator for the national firm Staffmark, has a lot of experience staffing for the mortgage industry and wasn't surprised by the news. She said she was talking with a regional manager for a large mortgage company about the problem recently.

"Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate in the country," she said. "Even with the rates going down, he was predicting it's going to be a long turnaround -- although it will pass as everything does."

Despite the housing mess, skilled professionals in the accounting, finance and technology fields remain attractive to local employers, Kapper said. Officials in the construction finance, insurance and real estate industries on the national level are the most optimistic about hiring, officials said.

Kapper said manufacturing and distributing companies are moving in to the city as are many high-tech companies.

"There is a lot of growth in positions such as internal auditing or staff accounting," he said.

The national report is based on feedback from more than 1,400 CFOs from companies with more than 20 employees. The survey has been compiled for Robert Half since 1992 by International Communications Research of Media, Pa.

Debbie Freas, the company's account manager, said nearly as soon as the interviews for one quarter are finished, it's time to begin the process for the next.

"We do this for about six weeks each quarter," Freas said. "We have 40 interviewers and it's very intense."

Joel Dibble, who manages public relations for the company's financial staffing division, said bottom line, the quarterly report measures the "employment optimism" among financial executives.

"This is a snapshot of what they are feeling about their hiring plans," Dibble said. "You can compare how markets across the company feel about the upcoming quarter."

btinsley@lvbusinesspress.com

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