Recruiting qualified staff emerges as top concern for accounting firms

The accounting industry stands at the doorway of rapid changes in its landscape. There has to be, thus, a new set of emerging challenges which these firms increasingly face around the world. The 2024 PCPS Survey has identified finding qualified staff as the most pressing issue for any accounting firm having more than two staff members. It has even overshot some traditional threats, like client retention and regulatory compliance, and it has emerged as a greater cause of concern in this profession.

Why Is recruiting qualified staff a top concern for accounting firms?

In the recent PCPS Survey, a staggering 78% of respondents claimed that finding quality staff was their most pressing issue. There are several reasons behind this:

Talent shortage: A shortage of talented professionals has been a factor in the accounting industry for a few years now, and while demand for more often high-value financial advice and services is on the rise, the number of qualified accountants coming through hasn't kept pace.

Increased competition: Firms are competing against one another, but also against corporations and technology companies who offer lucrative positions for accounting professionals.

Changing skill sets: The role of accountants is changing. Above routine bookkeeping, accountants need expertise in such areas as data analytics, regulatory compliance, and strategic advising. It is hard to find candidates with this broad skill set.

What are the implications for accounting firms?

This may have various ramifications on accounting firms that are not able to hire good staff.

Operational Efficiency: Short-staffing may lead to over-working of staff, which will lead to the loss of overall efficiency and, more significantly, the possibility of errors during operations.

Client Satisfaction: Shortage of staff means there can be delays in rolls out of its services to their clients, hurting client satisfaction and retention, damaging the firm's reputation, and its bottom-line.

Growth Limitations: Too few people in staff means a firm may not be able to accumulate new clients or launch new services thus restricting its growth.

What are the key statistics from the 2024 PCPS survey?

The 2024 PCPS Survey, enclosed herein, provides a detailed examination of the pain points of the accounting firms. Following are some of the statistics.

• 78% of the respondents believe that recruiting qualified staff is the major issue.
• 65% said retaining existing staff members was a major problem.
• 58% said managing workload compression was a key difficulty.

Issue	Percentage of Firms Citing as Top Concern
Recruiting Qualified Staff	78%
Retaining Existing Staff	65%
Managing Workload Compression	58%
Keeping Up with Regulatory Changes	52%
Enhancing Client Relationships	48%

How are firms addressing this challenge?

To mitigate this talent gap, various measures are being taken by the accounting firms.

Improved Recruitment Efforts: More expenses incurred on the process of recruitment, making the offer of better remunerations, along with benefits and even flexible working hours, for attracting talents that are in the industry.

Upskilling Existing Employees: The majority of the firms are focused on training and development of their existing employees to prepare them with the necessary skills that will enable the fulfillment of their clients needs.

Outsourcing: Despite the need to do more with less, routine tasks still have to be dealt with. Thus, some firms find it sensical for them to outsource these routine tasks in order to free up the in-house team to tackle more complex client work.

What role does Staffz play in solving this issue?

Staffz has a mission to help accounting firms to overcome staffing challenges and build the right offshore team for your accounting firm quickly and efficiently, saving time and resources while ensuring that they get access to highly skilled professionals.

By offering a range of services tailored to the specific needs of the accounting industry, Staffz can assist firms in overcoming their staffing challenges.

In conclusion, the 2024 PCPS survey suggests that recruitment of qualified staff is one of the major challenges that accounting firms face today. Firms may effectively handle these challenges by comprehending the ramifications and developing strategic solutions to ensure continued growth and success.

FAQs

Q1. Why is there a shortage of qualified accountants?

A1. It is attributed to a combination of factors that include the increasing complexity of accounting roles, higher demand for accounting services, and insufficient growth in the number of accounting graduates.

Q2. How can accounting firms retain their staff?

A2. Firms can retain the staff by paying competitive salaries, among other benefits, and facilities that give opportunities for progression in the career. Opportunities like progression in the career and a good working environment help a lot.

Q3. What are the benefits of outsourcing accounting tasks?

A3. Accounting firms may effectively deal with their workload, decrease their cost of operation, and let go of the staff who are then set free to do tasks of higher priority.