The challenges and opportunities for recruiting and retaining accounting staff

As with many professions, hiring challenges have gone beyond supply and demand. Financial incentives have become more competitive, expectations about the work environments have changed, the tools and technology have changed, and clients are asking for more from their accounting firms. Compound that with a shrinking pool of qualified workers and the high costs of losing seasoned employees, and firms are struggling to find a new path forward.

Fortunately, there are opportunities with new tools and technology that have been able to help industries revolutionize their workflow processes and offer more efficient and effective ways of doing things to help offset HR challenges while improving client services.

A challenging landscape

The public accounting profession is constantly changing and the need for experienced, highly technical staff is more critical than ever. Before the pandemic, the shortage of accounting professionals was an increasingly pressing issue for many firms. The shortage is attributable to several factors, including:

• Concurrently fewer graduates and more retirees
• A higher rate of junior and senior accountants opting for industry positions
• Graduates forgoing public accounting practice experience and moving directly into industry roles
• The pursuit of entrepreneurship

Accountants don’t perceive the profession as having a good work-life balance due to long hours, monotonous work, and limited flexibility. Yet demand remains high. According to the “2023 state of the tax professionals report” from Thomson Reuters Institute, 90% of large firms surveyed say they want to hire in 2023. The U.S. Labor Board expects that trend to continue with a projected growth of 6% between 2021 and 2031 in employment openings for accountants and auditors.

Adapting your recruitment and retainment practices

While many firms consider recruiting as interviewing and making offers, today’s recruiting encompasses much more. Accounting firms should approach recruiting with a more holistic approach. Some initial steps — like posting positions and collecting applications — should be part of an ongoing program that nurtures an interest in the firm.

Many firms now have formal, ongoing recruiting programs for both new graduates and experienced professionals at all levels. By collecting resumes continuously and conducting interviews all year, regardless of whether a position is available, firms can snap up new talent when the right hire comes along. If a candidate is a good fit, the firm will work to retain that individual even before a position is open.

To recruit and retain successfully in the face of such a complex staffing landscape, consider incorporating the following three steps into your outreach practices.

1. Broaden your pool of candidates

To succeed, accounting firms must understand that a fundamental paradigm shift has occurred. There are no longer strict rules that define who a public accounting professional is or should be. The post-pandemic, post-capitalist economy requires firms to think beyond accounting basics.

The types of possible job candidates a firm might target include not only recent accounting graduates or experienced accounting professionals but also people with other educational backgrounds and professional experience, retired professionals, underrepresented groups, paraprofessionals, flex-time professionals, and interns.

Firms offering accounting support with big data; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors; and building compliance frameworks are increasingly in demand by clients. Ninety-three percent of firms surveyed in the “2023 state of the tax professionals report” reported their clients are looking for more advisory services — an area firms can tap into while expanding their recruiting criteria.

Incorporating diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) programs into the recruiting and retention processes is another way to bolster the pool of candidates traditionally considered for the firm.

Consider partnering with local chapters of national affinity groups dedicated to increasing the number and visibility of accountants and finance professionals from all ethnicities. Examples include the National Association of Black Accountants Inc., the Association of Latino Professionals for America, and Ascend.

Targeting people interested in accounting earlier in their academic careers is becoming more common. Establishing and promoting scholarships builds trust in communities and raises the firm’s visibility as a desirable workplace. Hosting recruiting events at colleges and offering high school internships or co-op placements helps develop a stream of interested candidates.