As the Demand for Accounting Professionals Increases, How Do You Keep Your Business Moving Forward?
AcctTwo is not just the overall Business Partner of the Year as a reseller and implementation partner for Intacct's best-in-class ERP software. We also provide Business-Process-as-a-Service (BPaaS), known to some as Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), where we take on part or all of a midsize company's finance and accounting function. As the COO at AcctTwo, I've spent a great deal of time building our BPaaS team, and I can tell you from experience that finding and keeping great accounting talent is no easy task. A quick search on the internet will tell you that it's not just my problem - it's an industry trend.
The Journal of Accountancy recently presented the results of a survey of accounting firms to establish the main challenges those firms are struggling with. For firms with 2 or more accounting professionals on staff, the #1 concern across the board is either finding or retaining qualified accountants. The article compares the battle going on between firms to recruit talent with HBO's Game of Thrones!
According to industry staffing firm, Robert Half, the unemployment rate of accountants sits well below the national average. This means it's a job seeker's market. College grads have more jobs to choose from, and current professionals are more likely to leave for greener pastures than ever before.
The Institute of Management Accountants published a white paper on the state of accounting faculty at universities in America, stating:
"The shortage of accounting faculty in the United States (U.S.) has been a topic of significant concern within both the accounting profession and academia..."
A shortage of professors leads to larger classes. At a time when the accounting profession is experiencing intense changes in regulation and technology, a short supply of qualified faculty to teach future professionals and a declining opportunity to instruct students in a one-on-one setting sounds like a bad combo.
So we've got a high demand for accounting professionals, not enough qualified applicants to go around, and problems on the supply side with universities not providing quality instruction to future applicants. Becoming an accountant has never been a better idea, but hiring a good accountant has never been tougher.
So we at AcctTwo have been through this process. We've worked hard to build a strong team with the skills necessary to run the back office of any midsize business. We have CFO and Controller resources on staff, AP and AR clerks, GL specialists, etc. And I mean specialists: we don't ask our staff to be jacks of all trades (masters of none). AR specialists work AR for all of our clients. This leads to a more streamlined and experienced staff. It also leads to a happy staff. Our clerks and accountants get to work in multiple industries with companies of many sizes, and they know what's expected of them. There's a clear career path to learn new skills.
Instead of battling for new accounting talent and hoping you can retain that talent, I'm simply suggesting there's a better way to run your business. In the same way that software has moved to the cloud and to a Software-as-a-Service model, we're seeing more and more businesses move back office functions to the Business-Process-as-a-Service model.
Consider letting AcctTwo shoulder the costs and effort of recruiting, hiring, training and retaining a finance and accounting staff. We'll process your transactions, close your books, and provide you with incredible insight into your business via custom reports and dashboards. Contact us to find out more.