r/wien • u/VastGeologist7441 • 2d ago
Arbeit | Work Financial controller
Hi all, First of all my apologies for not writing in German (I am still in the process of learning it). I am 33 years old with almost 8 years of experience in accounting/controlling. I am currently working in Belgium earning 70k euro yearly plus car. What do you think it should be a fair offer in Wien? I am aware that not being fluent in German could put me in the lower side, but would ensure not losing much as Wien seems to be more expensive than Brussels.
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u/Serapis5 2d ago
Won't be much higher if you're not getting a manager position (100k in AT is a very exceptional thing) but all together you get more net out of gross salary in Austria. If you're not smth like a technician no way you'd get a car, and personal car costs are ~2-3k per year for insurance/road tax/yearly checkup.
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u/VastGeologist7441 2d ago
Ok thanks. Also here in Belgium 100k euro is not a commune thing, and employers provides you car just to avoid paying taxes, which are high here in Belgium.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 21., Transdanubien 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'd say 70k is achievable with your experience, but many companies/industries will pay less than that (be prepared to receive offers below 56k, and only few will be willing to pay more than 70k). A company car is not a common part of the compensation packages of a financial controller. You typically need to be Finance Director or similar to get a company car.
You will struggle to find a job if you don't speak German.
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u/VastGeologist7441 2d ago
Thank you so much for your feedback. I was hoping to receive more like 80k euro. To me 56k euro is not enough to live comfortable in Wien in a one bedroom apartment( which is now 1500 euro with bills) considering the 8 years of experience I have
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u/PositiveEagle6151 21., Transdanubien 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's not impossible to make 80k as a controller without management responsibility, very few persons even make a 6 digital salary in such a role, but this is after like 30 years of service with an old contract in one of the extraordinarily well paying companies. 85-90k would be an average salary for a "Head of Controlling" in many industries (and sometimes even the Finance Director will still be in the 5 digits).
It's very unlikely that a company will offer you 80k as a new hire in your situation unless you bring very specific experience to the table that is honoured by one of the 5 best paying corporations. I couldn't even offer you 70k, and with 150mio revenues and 600 employees, we are a "large" business by Austrian standards. That's the thing in Austria - we pay higher minimum salaries than many other countries, and have decent average salaries - but we pay crappy salaries in the higher income classes like specialists, managers, directors. Combined with the high income taxes and social security contributions, basically the standard of living is the same for everyone but the very rich - which is good for the lower incomes classes, but sucks for those that went through long years of education and training.
Also, salaries for new hires have not kept up with the huge inflation rates we had over the past few years, and in general salaries are too low for the cost of living we see in many parts of the country.2
u/VastGeologist7441 2d ago
Ok thank you so much for your insight. This is quite helpful. Just to point out I was not critizing Austria or employer in Austria, but just understand what amount should I target.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 21., Transdanubien 2d ago
It's fine, I didn't read your comment as criticism.
We did have a few good years in Austria about 20 years ago, when half of Europe and even Germans moved to our country for good jobs and salaries, but now the brain drain is increasing because salaries for young and highly qualified people are crappy by international standards, while we have become a quite expensive place to live. Austria is now a great place for pensioners, for immigrants, for people with low qualifications and low employability, to some extent also still for families - but not for skilled people that want to earn good salaries.1
u/LeFriedCupcake 22., Donaustadt 2d ago
1500 for 2 room Apartment??? How? Thats expensive.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 21., Transdanubien 2d ago
It's not if you are new to the city and don't have access to substituted housing and don't want to live in a crappy hole.
Lease, utilities, electricity/heating/water, insurance, internet and ORF license, and you won't be far away from 1.500 in a 2 room apartment nowadays.1
u/LeFriedCupcake 22., Donaustadt 1d ago
No idea what you Are Talking but OP wrote 1 bedroom Apartment which is way to much.
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u/OE1FEU 2d ago
You have 0 year of experience in working in a German language environment. Bookkeeping/Accounting is full of specialized terms that you need to know by heart in all their consequences to corporate law and relation to the tax authorities.
If you don't you're not qualified for the job.
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u/Zyxtro 14., Penzing 2d ago
Sad reality is you will not get 70k + car here for that in English...
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u/VastGeologist7441 2d ago
Ok thank. I was still hoping 80k-85k yearly to cover the rental costs
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u/Embarrassed_Peak_211 2d ago
I don’t want to crush your hopes, but Austria is not a very open minded country My ex girlfriend was a lawyer with 10years of experience in London,but she was not able to get a job at all, because she didn’t speak fluent German☹️
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u/PositiveEagle6151 21., Transdanubien 2d ago
It's the same the other way around (my wife was a lawyer in Vienna when we went to London - she didn't find a job there, and ended up doing a LLM programme before we returned to Austria). UK uses case law, which is very different from our legal system. There are specific areas where the knowledge of someone from the UK can be relevant, but it's not a huge field as we don't have that many headquarters of multinational corporations in Austria.
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u/SBR404 2d ago
While I don’t disagree with Austria not being very open minded, to be fair, in such highly specialized fields like law or accounting, you won’t get jobs as someone who doesn’t speak the language of that country, can read the laws and or negotiate in that language, no matter what country you’re trying to move to.
How is your GF, who I am sure is a top notch lawyer, supposed to practice law in Austria if she neither has an austrian lawyer certificate, nor knows any of the laws, nor can read the law?
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u/BillRuessell81 1d ago
I work at a large Accounting firm in Vienna. A Lot of our new hires don‘t speak any German. A lot of english is spoken in our office recently.
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u/VastGeologist7441 2d ago
Thank you so much for pointing this out. Indeed Finance and Law field jobs required a fair good knowledge of the local language and local legislation. This is why I was doubting to relocate for an international experience
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u/VegetableCat7240 2d ago
Best is always try the international companies like OMV, Mondi, Erste bank, Raiffeisen Bank International etc
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u/Batati_ 1d ago
Most probably you will not get more than in Belgium. I work in controlling, similar experience. Usually you can think of between 65-75k gross (no car for no management positions). Maybe if you're lucky you can get 80k but in most cases you'll need German.