Hiring Update: July 2024 | Advisory, Hybrid, and Hiring Turnover

Sharing our perspective on the latest trends impacting talent acquisition in the accounting industry – Advisory, Hybrid, and Hiring Turnover. 

All content is 100% written by the real humans working here at Accountingfly.

 

Market Trends: Swiping Right On Advisory; The Harder Way to Hire Hybrid, Culture Fit is Hard

• Everyone Loves Advisory

  • More and more Accountingfly clients are looking to hire “financial whisperers”–candidates who provide meaningful business advisory services to firm clients.
  • These roles typically start at the Senior Accountant level and can grow into fractional Controller level and beyond. They typically require a foundation of both tax and accounting (financial statement review) experience and client skills.
  • Candidates love these opportunities! So, there’s a good match here between firm needs and candidate desires.
  • However, top candidates with these skills typically don’t stay on the market long, so it’s important to act decisively (or give yourself lead time) if you’re planning to hire in this space.

• Hybrid the Hard Way

  • The newest development in the RTO vs. remote battle: employers are asking new hires to start in office, then “earn” the right to work remotely.
  • This approach has advantages: it gives firms time to onboard, train, monitor, and integrate new hires.
  • And disadvantages: smaller candidate pool, longer hire times, and potentially lower quality candidates.
  • The best of both worlds: flexible hybrid. In-office onboarding and monthly or quarterly in-office days, with remote option the rest of the time. 

• Challenges of Hiring for Fit

  • Hiring for “culture fit” is trendy. It’s also hard. 
  • Recently, we’ve been hearing about hires made for “culture fit” that didn’t work out. 
  • A few things to consider about hiring for culture fit:
    • There are plenty of tools to assess candidates’ personality, but what about the employer side? How do you accurately assess your firm’s culture? This Journal of Accountancy article provides an interesting perspective on identifying your organization’s “culture type.”
    • Remember that culture fit is generally LESS important than other factors in employment outcomes. Hiring primarily for culture fit is “a bit like deciding whether to marry someone by asking them whether they like vanilla ice cream.”

Salary News: Starting Salaries for Recent Hires by Accountingfly Clients

Here’s a snapshot of recent hires by Accountingfly clients. Let us know if you want more data or details on market-rate salaries!

• Tax Director

  • CPA, EA, SIE, Series 6, Series 63, Series 82
  • 10+ years public accounting, including Big 4
  • Extensive complex tax and team (50+) leadership experience
  • Hired at $190k

• Tax Manager

  • CPA
  • 20+ years public accounting 
  • High volume, complex tax experience including review
  • Hired at $110k

• Accountant/Tax 

  • CPA candidate
  • 4+ years tax and accounting at public accounting firm
  • SMB client experience
  • Hired at $65k

• Accountant

  • Tech-forward professional with 10 years of public accounting experience
  • Full cycle accounting for 15+ monthly, 75 quarterly clients
  • 100+ returns/season
  • Hired at $74k

Meta-trend to Watch: Limiting Hiring Turnover Rates in Accounting

• Halting High Accounting Firm Turnover

• • Turnover is (still) a huge challenge for accounting firms. In their June 13 podcast, Rob Brown (Accounting Influencers Roundtable) and Jeff Phillips (Accountingfly founder and CEO) take a deep dive into the accounting industry’s turnover crisis.
  • A few key takeaways:
    • At firms with $20M revenue or less, annual turnover rate = 20%+.
    • Turnover is contagious–one person leaving puts more burden on other employees, which often causes those team members to leave as well. The net result is a turnover spiral, where a firm is never fully staffed, and turnover remains high.
    • Why do professional employees leave in the first six months (survey results)? 
      • Not clear on job responsibilities
      • Didn’t receive what they needed to do the job well
      • Lonely–not engaged in team
      • Work/life balance 
  • Listen to the full podcast or watch on YouTube for Rob and Jeff’s recommendations on limiting turnover, including a full question-by-question employee survey.

 

Working with Accountingfly

If you’re looking for pre-screened and interviewed candidates delivered to you without any hassle or upfront fees, learn more and sign up for Always-On Recruiting on our website.

We also are a lot of fun to work with. Click here to schedule a call or get more information.