Consultancies pay top dollar

PayFinder.com, the salary comparison website, today reports on the leading employers by salary in the UK.

According to data from the 145,000 registered users of PayFinder.com, the mean income in the UK is 23,439 per annum. The leading company in the PayFinder report, consultancy firm Accenture, pays almost double that with their average employee earning 45,628.

Deloitte & Touche and IT giant, IBM, occupy positions two and three, paying 37,725 and 36,851 respectively. Both firmsí average salaries a good 10k higher than the national average.

Consultancy firms, occupying four of the top five positions, dominate the list. Additionally the leading payers are primarily foreign, Accenture, Deloitte & Touche and IBM all with global headquarters in the states. Of the top ten, the only homegrown generous employer is BT.

The BBC is the only media company within the group, an average employee earning 28,601. Tesco and Sainsburys are the only non-service providers, the former retailer out-paying its competitor by 7,000. Of the four banks listed, HSBC is the most generous, Lloyds TSB employees fairing the worst.

CJ Brough, spokesperson for PayFinder.com comments, PayFinder has been gathering salary data since February 2003 enabling the UK workforce to assess their true worth by comparison with their peers. With this report weíre highlighting which companies the ambitious should aim for. Whilst itís encouraging to see so many UK based firms, overall their average salaries are significantly less than the big US businesses who tend to make more and therefore can afford to pay top dollar. However good wages come at a price, although consultancy firms appear to be the most financially generous they are as well known for their long hours culture.

This data is based on 11,211 employees, from Managing Directors to assistants, who have anonymously registered with PayFinder.com and identified their employing company (not prerequisite data at registration). PayFinder holds salary information from over 700 UK businesses; this league was compiled from those companies for which PayFinder held data from over 100 employees. The top twenty employers represent 23% of the entire database.

Accenture 45,628 Consultancy

Deloitte & Touche 37,725 Consultancy

IBM 36,851 Technology

KPMG 34,677 Consultancy

Pricewaterhousecoopers 33,961 Consultancy

Cable & Wireless Global 33,163 Communications

HSBC 29,599 Bank

Marconi Communications 28,754 Communications

Fujitsu 28,618 Technology

British Telecom (BT) 28,602 Communications

BBC 28,601 Media

Barclays Bank 28,257 Bank

RBS 27,061 Bank

Tesco Stores 26,558 Retail

BAE Systems 26,367 Security

Qinetiq 24,206 Technology

Royal Mail 22,807 Public Service

Lloyds TSB 22,634 Bank

J Sainsbury 19,347 Retail

Norwich Union 19,076 Insurance


www.PayFinder.com is a free and anonymous service that allows users to obtain a detailed report comparing their salary with others in their industry, role, age bracket, region and most importantly specific company.

The information on salaries and companies is provided by the users themselves, who then pass the site on to their friends and colleagues to gain more and more information, and therefore more detailed reports.