(800) 931-6557
(800) 931-6557
ASP
  • Home
  • Services
    • Accounting
    • Accounting FAQ
  • Recruiting
    • Services
    • Recruiting Team
    • Our Process
    • Recruiting Podcast
    • Top Candidates
    • Recruiting FAQ
  • Openings
  • Locations
    • Oregon >
      • Oregon Accounting
      • Oregon Bookkeeping
      • Oregon Team
    • Washington >
      • Washington Accounting
      • Washington Bookkeeping
      • Washington Team
    • Colorado >
      • Colorado Accounting
      • Colorado Bookkeeping
      • Colorado Team
    • Texas >
      • Texas Accounting
      • Texas Bookkeeping
      • Texas Team
  • About
    • Clients
    • Testimonials
    • Inclusion at ASP
    • Resources
    • Submit Resume
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Payments
  • Home
  • Services
    • Accounting
    • Accounting FAQ
  • Recruiting
    • Services
    • Recruiting Team
    • Our Process
    • Recruiting Podcast
    • Top Candidates
    • Recruiting FAQ
  • Openings
  • Locations
    • Oregon >
      • Oregon Accounting
      • Oregon Bookkeeping
      • Oregon Team
    • Washington >
      • Washington Accounting
      • Washington Bookkeeping
      • Washington Team
    • Colorado >
      • Colorado Accounting
      • Colorado Bookkeeping
      • Colorado Team
    • Texas >
      • Texas Accounting
      • Texas Bookkeeping
      • Texas Team
  • About
    • Clients
    • Testimonials
    • Inclusion at ASP
    • Resources
    • Submit Resume
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Payments

​In Pursuit of Profit

Read our expert article below or sign up to get articles sent to your inbox.​

4/19/2021

Comments

What to do When Your Accountant Gives Notice

 
what to do when your accountant gives notice
Your accountant just gave notice, what do you do now?

Hopefully, your accountant gave you more than the obligatory two weeks, but regardless of what the timeframe looks like, the steps are the same:
  1. Try to ascertain why they are leaving
  2. Work on hiring a replacement
  3. Handoff information
  4. Part on good terms
  5. Remove system access

​Time is of the essence in this situation, especially if it coincides with a closing period or tax season, so you should get started immediately!

​Understand Causality
Hiring a new accountant should be your top priority, but before you hastily post a stock job description online or start calling your colleagues for recommendations, pause for a moment to try to understand why your current accountant is leaving.

Ask for feedback even if you know the reason has nothing to do with your company because former employees (or those on their way out) will typically be more honest than current employees since they have nothing to lose. The information you gather will help inform your hiring of a replacement.
​
Determine if there was anything you could have done to keep them, such as offering:
  • Better benefits
  • A more competitive salary
  • Greater opportunities for advancement
  • More flexibility (schedule, location, etc.)

When posting the job opening pay particular attention to anything your former accountant mentioned as an impetus for leaving to avoid ongoing turnover issues or a reduction in the applicant pool. (For instance, remote work has become a requirement for many office employees these days, which means that if the role does not allow for this option, the applicant pool can shrink dramatically.)

Start Looking for a Replacement
Begin looking for a replacement right away to avoid a gap. Customize the job description for the current role instead of just reusing the job description you posted the last time you hired an accountant. Incorporate the feedback you receive from your current accountant and make changes to the job description as needed throughout the process if you determine that you need to refine your expectations for the right candidate.

If you plan on using an accounting recruiter, start the conversation as early as possible in the process to speed up hiring. The sooner a recruiting company can be brought up to speed and given your desired characteristics in a new accountant, the sooner they can begin looking for the perfect candidate for the role.

Include your accountant in the hiring process, if appropriate. Your accountant can help define the intricacies of the role to write the job description and screen applicant resumes while looking through the critical lens of an industry professional. If possible, set up interviews with top candidates while your accountant is still with the company so they can help conduct the interviews as well and give their input on who would be the best fit.

Ideally, you will be able to bring in a new accountant before your accountant leaves so that they can train their replacement and transfer any relevant information to set up the replacement for success and minimize the effect on the business.

Initiate a Transfer of Knowledge
Whether a replacement is hired before your accountant leaves or not, ensure your accountant transfers account logins and ownership, as well as other knowledge to make the transition smoother.

The more ingrained your accountant is in the overall financial matters of your company, the more important this step will be. In smaller businesses, accountants can play a bigger role in the overall management of the company than their counterparts at larger organizations, making this a more involved process.

Avoid the kinds of headaches that can result when key personnel leave the company and inadvertently take critical information with them. The last thing you want to deal with is being locked out of a bank account or your accounting system. Remember, account ownership transfers can take time when waiting on banks or other financial institutions to confirm and authorize changes.

Preserve the Relationship
Former employees can either contribute to building up a brand’s reputation or tearing it down, which makes treating employees well as they transition out of the organization a key HR strategy. This is an even more salient point in tighter professional circles, like those that finance and accounting professionals are a part of, because there tends to be increased information sharing about employers.   

Obviously, if your accountant is leaving the company on bad terms preserving the relationship may not be possible. However, if your accountant is leaving due to a circumstance that is outside of your control or to pursue a better opportunity, staying civil will benefit you both. Your accountant may be instrumental in filling their old role or making future hires by drawing on their own professional network.

Remove Access
As a reminder, any time an employee leaves, regardless of what the circumstance is, their access to systems should be revoked as soon as their employment ends. This is not a point that specifically applies to accountants, but it bears repeating because having unnecessary users increases your security risk even if no one has any malintent because one of their logins could be compromised. And, in instances where former employees do have bad intentions, being quick with removing access closes that door before any harm can be done.
​
Need help finding a staff accountant, senior accountant, accounting manager, or senior accounting manager? We can help! Contact our recruiting team to start the process on hiring a new accountant right away. 
Comments

    SUBSCRIBE:

    DOWNLOAD:

    The Ultimate New Business Formation Checklist

    DOWNLOAD:

    Accountant Evaluation

    Categories:

    All
    Accountant
    Accounting
    Accounting Systems
    Artificial Intelligence
    Audit
    Bank Reconciliation
    Benefits
    Bookkeeper
    Bookkeeping
    Brand
    Budgeting
    Business Analysis
    Business Trends
    Career
    Cash Flow
    Change Management
    Checklist
    Closing The Books
    Colorado
    Community
    Contracts
    Controller
    Depreciation
    Ecommerce
    Economy
    Finance
    Fraud
    Government
    Hack
    Hiring
    HR
    Infographic
    Internal Controls
    IRS
    Laws
    Leadership
    Legal
    Local Economics
    Manuals
    Market Trends
    News
    Nonprofit
    Online Bookkeeping
    Oregon
    Outsource
    Payroll
    Payroll Taxes
    Planning
    Procedures
    QuickBooks
    Record Keeping
    Recruiting
    Recruiting Market Reports
    Remote Workforce
    Reporting
    Restaurants
    Risk
    Sales Tax
    Scam
    Security
    Small Business
    Social Media
    Software
    Startup
    Statistics
    Strategy
    Taxes
    Technology
    Texas
    Time Management
    Washington State

    Archives:

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    June 2015
    February 2013
    October 2012
    November 2011
    May 2011



    RSS Feed

Services

Accounting Services
Recruiting Services

​

Company

About
Oregon Team
​Washington Team
Colorado Team
​Texas Team
Clients


Support

Contact
CC
FAQ
​Resources
​Blog
​

ASP

Your resource for accounting & recruiting services. Serving Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Denver, Lakewood, Aurora, Dallas, Frisco, Fort Worth, and more.
Contact us today for a free,
no-obligation consultation:
Toll Free (800) 931-6557
WA (425) 492-1901
OR (503) 473-0122
​CO (720) 572-8211
TX (214) 396-7403

[email protected]
© COPYRIGHT ASP - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 A CFO Selections Company
Privacy Policy
Photos from Pricenfees, Debbieallendale