In Pursuit of Profit
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 As a business grows, staffing requirements increase as well.
For smaller companies, each incremental hire becomes less critical because there is a wider system to support new employees. However, while the company is in its infancy every hire is vital.  Every day we talk with people who aren’t sure if they should hire an accountant full-time or use a part-time accounting service. As an accounting provider helping them to answer this question is something that we really take pride in doing because it allows us to assist small and mid-sized business leaders in a way that’s truly meaningful to the future of their organizations.
We’re going to walk you through the types of questions we ask and information we provide when having this kind of discussion with business owners and hiring managers to get you thinking about which resource will best fit your needs. If you would like to speak to someone about your specific business needs, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation today! Let’s dive deeper into understanding how a fractional accounting role differs from a full-time accountant and when you need which to achieve your business goals! 9/25/2024 What does an Interim Accountant Do? Imagine the following scenario: Your accountant has turned in their notice and now you need to find a replacement. You’re not confident that you’ll be able to find someone new for the role before they leave. Now you’re left with an important decision to make – do we bring in a temporary accountant to fill the gap or do we juggle those accounting duties ourselves while we hurry to find a replacement and hope the new accountant can catch us up when they get hired?
In our line of work this is more than a hypothetical scenario – it’s a narrative we hear every day from clients! Let’s dive into what an interim accountant does and why bringing one in can help your company when it’s experiencing an accounting transition.  As a recruiter with over 45 years of experience, we asked Perry Paden to give his thoughts and opinions on some topics that are currently facing the accounting industry. Here’s what he had to share when we sat down to talk with him…
Q: There has been so much ongoing discussion about the talent shortage in accounting, how has this changed in the last year or so? Perry: “It’s simple. It really has not changed tremendously. Among accounting and finance professionals there’s a shortage of talent – period. Recent data tells us that there are over a million accountants employed in the US currently, but the accounting profession is expected to fill out over 130,000 positions every year until 2031. That’s a gap that’s going to cause problems!” 5/27/2024 Is Remote Work Hurting Accountants? When done wrong? Yes. But when done right, it doesn’t have to negatively affect them.
In recent years most of the workforce has gotten used to working from home. However, that doesn’t mean that their employers have gotten wise about how to best manage these remote employees. Too often companies are leaving the management of remote skilled employees up to the employees themselves by failing to invest in their ongoing development and facilitate the kind of true collaboration that lifts them up.  Time and time again we have clients come to us expressing regret over their accounting hiring decisions. They say things like:
“…We hired what we could afford and the person we brought in is totally underqualified…” “…We’ve had so much turnover in the role – we just can’t keep anyone, and we don’t have the budget to get someone who will stick around…” “…We simply can’t find what we’re looking for these days at the price we’re willing to pay…” “…We put off hiring because we didn’t want to spend the money before, but now we’ve waited far too long and we need to find someone immediately!..” The lesson here is clear – trying to cut costs with accounting hiring is always going to cost more in the long run! Let’s look at why hiring a “cheap” accountant is actually more expensive than hiring a good accountant and how you can improve your hiring strategy.
So, what can you do to prepare yourself for the wave of turnover that may be coming?
When they hear about this trend most employers will go into “fix it” mode and ask what they can do to keep their accountants from bolting soon. Unfortunately, at this point there’s probably very little that can be done to keep them long-term. If the year-end bonus they just got wasn’t enough persuasion, any sort of incentive you throw at them is likely just going to delay the inevitable. (Plus, the quality of work they do and passion they bring to the role is only going to suffer further if they already have one foot out the door.) Instead, your best bet is to get ready for what’s coming next. Take the steps now to be prepared in case your accountant leaves so that you’re not scrambling during tax season to find and onboard someone new.
However, employers can do their part to reduce the accounting exodus by recognizing the warning signs of accountant burnout and taking the right steps to find help. Companies that prioritize the needs of their accounting team can not only help keep accountants in the pipeline, but also increase their own revenue and profitability.
Find out what kind of red flags to be on the lookout for that indicate accounting team burnout, as well as how you can offer your accountants the support they need to thrive in their roles.
However, you can’t guarantee that the process will go this well. Sure, you can communicate that you expect employees to bring this kind of tact to the transition, but you cannot control their timing or actions during the process (and sometimes neither can they depending on the circumstances involved!). Instead, you need to have a formal succession plan in place to safeguard the business against the kind of disruption that can happen when an accountant leaves unexpectedly.
The time to get ready is now! Plan for your accountant’s departure before you need to do it so you can be properly prepared.
No matter what the specific scenario is, they always come to us with the same two pain points: cost and fear of making a mistake.
Every decision-maker we talk to is juggling concerns around price (“How much will accounting services cost?” and “Is there room in the budget for outsourced accounting?”) and purchase anxiety (“How do I know what to look for in an accounting company?” and “What if I chose the wrong accounting provider?”) Unfortunately, sometimes we see these concerns derail the research process and the organization chooses to take the “I’ll do nothing for now” approach. Trust us when we say that is never the right solution! If you were at the point of looking for outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services, there was a reason why and that reason will not simply disappear because you feel overwhelmed by your options. If your team is stretched too thin to keep up, does not have the experience needed to do a good job, or has a new situation that they need help with (like an expansion or audit), you need to get someone in to help right away. So, let’s discuss what you should be on the lookout for and how to know when you find it: |
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