Onsite parking, hybrid working, longer holidays at Christmas, and free refreshments were the best benefits for those in accounting jobs. However, these benefits are ‘secondary to cash’, revealed the latest Reed Accountancy & Finance Salary Guide in to pay and remuneration across the sector.

The report found that ‘salary is king’ with accountants, who would prefer to give up ‘soft benefits’ like free tea and coffee (11%), cycle-to-work schemes (11%), free parking (8%), and wellness programmes (7%) for higher pay. Even benefits like health insurance were not seen as an attractive perk by 6% of employees.

Only 21% of employees worked in an organisation annual salary increments, although the majority of staff across the accountancy sector did receive pay rises in the last year.