It will come as no surprise when referring to the Audit job market this year as a rollercoaster. As always, the year commenced with a steady flow of opportunities opening, attracting the "New Year, New Opportunity" crowd and regular bonus-related attrition. However, to the surprise of many, at the end of Q1, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, marking the third-largest bank collapse in US history and the largest since the 07/08 financial crisis. Several others followed suit shortly afterward, sparking somewhat of a regional banking crisis.

Understandably, this caused a stalemate across the market as professionals debated whether or not there would be a recession. Those hopeful of a move early in 2023 opted to stay put for the fear of last in/first out if a recession were to hit. From the back of this, several major banks made lay-offs amidst a decline in deal-flow. By default, Public Accounting firms continued to downsize their core functions due to firms scaling back their spending on external help, including in audit.

Following a shaky start to the year, Q2 saw a 120% increase in job applications across the US Financial services industry*, likely due to the previously untapped, top-tier talent base that had recently found itself of on the market, competing for a condensed number of opportunities. Despite these lay-offs, unemployment rates held steady around 3.6% for the quarter.