A natural effect of this will be a marked increase in the requirement for Insolvency Practitioners at all grades of development. As a specialist industry, the ‘pool’ of staff available is relatively small, so firms within this sector will need to look ahead and plan their training and recruitment needs carefully. Reviews need to be conducted, forecasts of increased staffing requirements – both professional and support – need to be analysed. Recruitment strategies need to be put in place in the light of the marked increase in requirements, and the professionalism with which this sector prides itself needs to be upheld as never before.

This professional industry sector will be in demand during 2009.

‘So tell me something I don’t know’ may well be your thoughts right now, and we would agree with you.

The list of those operations shedding staff reads like a roll call of the great and the good in the financial world. Hedge funds are now in the spotlight. Will this be like a house of cards that collapses before our eyes? Or will the talent and skill see it through? Investors in those hedge funds are now heading for the exit in ever greater numbers. The knock-on effect through the financial industry is undeniable. What is also obvious, is the ripple effect throughout industry as a whole, with H M Revenue and Customs already having received in excess of 22,000 calls from businesses requesting time extensions on paying various taxes after the Chancellor’s Pre-budget statement. Despite the Chancellor’s efforts, corporate insolvencies and defaults are going to increase throughout 2009.