Recruitment consultant Hays reports strong growth (17% in both fees and eps) this morning but sounds a couple of warnings:

1) Public sector hiring of accountants appears to be slowing

2) Use of temp and contract accountants is weakening.

Encouraginly however it sontinues to see decent prospects and demand for (permanent) accountants in the private sector.

Nothing too dramatic then. I'll keep watching recruitment consultancy results closely, though, as they are an earlier indicator of market conditions to come.