HARSH winds of recession are blowing through the accountancy

profession, which is a new experience for many. Yesterday KPMG Peat

Marwick, number two among the big six partnerships, made 30 redundancies

chiefly from its Glasgow office but with Dundee and Edinburgh also

involved. Most were young people just coming out of training contracts.

A spokesman blamed the effects of the prolonged recession and

regretted that they were unable to employ students about to qualify, but

promised the firm would do its best to help them get jobs.

Most of the big accountancy firms find themselves in a difficult

situation at present, though they are reluctant to admit to jobs being

cut. Figures this week have confirmed that five out of the top six have

taken a cut in income.

That included the current number one, Coopers & Lybrand, but Frank

Blin, managing partner in Glasgow, made it clear that the firm had no

redundancy problem.

He maintained that any loss of numbers had been ''insignificant''

though admitting that student intake had fallen significantly.

''It is tough out there, it has to be said,'' commented Mr Blin, and

that is a view most of the firms share.

Coopers has a significant insolvency practice, but encouragingly

enough even that work is slowing. In Scotland it peaked 15 months ago,

with cases now showing a significant fall although corprorate recovery

remains an active area of consultancy.

''We have no redundancies at this time; our work flow has improved,''

said Douglas Fairbairn, managing partner of Ernst & Young in Glasgow.

Having recently won the Greater Glasgow Health Board's substantial

internal audit work obviously has a bearing on that satisfactory

position.

As Mr Fairbairn pointed out, however, one of accountancy's problems

tends to be the pressure of audit work which is followed by a period

when it is more difficult to occupy staff. The increasing move towards a

December 31 financial year-end is aggravating that situation.

That numbers of CA students have dropped off sharply was confirmed by

Ian Marrian, director of eduction for the Institute of Chartered

Accountants of Scotland. He expects a further fall in intake next

September, but pointed out that the sister institute in England had

probably fared worst since the Scottish economy had not over-heated to

the same extent.

Mr Marrian said that prospective employers were being ''deluged with

applications'' and he agreed it was disappointing that those coming out

of training contracts were not getting jobs.