OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Whole Person Retention: When It’s Not Just the Money

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Thirty-eight ways to retain personnel.

By CPA Trendlines Research

A survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs has come up with some disturbing data.

The survey report almost seems to spin bad news into good. When CPAs in Pennsylvania who have three to 10 years of experience were asked how strong is their desire to stay in public accounting, 56.7 percent rated their desire at five (out of seven) or higher.

MORE: Global Trends Show Many Dissatisfied CPAs | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction | Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | 3 Ways to Raise the Bar for Your Business | Accountants’ Advice: Be Careful, Quick, Creative … and Lean | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future
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Is that good news or bad? If about half of CPAs are reasonably happy with their jobs … what about the other half?
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Global Trends Show Many Dissatisfied CPAs

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unhappy man moping in front of screen

Do talent stats bode well for your firm?

By CPA Trendlines Research

Accountants are unsettled. Some are even afraid. So says the report Global Talent Trends 2024, issued by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a globally recognized professional accounting body), based on data from 9,889 finance professionals in 157 countries.

MORE: More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff? | CPAs Needed to Help Small Biz Adopt AI | Survey Shows That Tech Remains the Great Divide | Will Unclogging the Accounting Pro Pipeline Kill Mobility? | Accountants Bullish on Income

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The statistics depict an industry sector on the move and ready to move. Only 57 percent of respondents across the industry, which includes a broad spectrum from academia to large corporation to accounting firms large and small, are working full-time in an office. But only 8 percent are full-time remote.

And wherever they are, a lot of them aren’t very happy.
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Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board

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More than 85% of those surveyed who have a high desire to stay in public accounting responded that their firm actively
supports their career development.

 

Time is a concern, and so is performance.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The pipeline of incoming accounting professionals isn’t exactly gushing these days. To the contrary, it has slowed to an inadequate dribble.

The scarcity of qualified professionals makes talent retention more important than ever. It’s far easier and less costly to keep current people on board than to attract and onboard new people.

MORE: Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction | Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future | Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?
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But what do they want? What keeps them happily at their current job?

Well, for one thing, money.

But these days, that’s not enough.
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More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads

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Some 88.7% of top firms rate problem-solving skills among the most important criteria in hiring new college grads. Technical skills rank fifth, at 67%. (NACE)

Firms that overhired in the COVID-19 boom are now trimming their ranks.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Despite widespread concerns in the profession about a talent shortage, the largest accounting firms in a new survey are cutting back on their hiring of new college accounting graduates by 16.1 percent this year.

MORE in STAFFING & RECRUITING: Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction | Payroll Leads Job Gains in Tax & Accounting Sector |  Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? |  Letting Staff Go After Tax Season? Bad Idea |  Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?

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Reflecting broader economic uncertainties and budgetary constraints, half of all the biggest firms surveyed are gearing down for a recession, marking a sharp turnaround from the hiring spree sparked by a global pandemic that forced industries across the globe into transformational change, often staffed and driven by the biggest accounting and consulting firms.

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Employee Retention Is Easier Than Attraction

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four people seated around table

Five conclusions from a new report.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The accounting talent pipeline problem isn’t going away. It isn’t even improving.

But it isn’t hopeless.

MORE: Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | 3 Ways to Raise the Bar for Your Business | Accountants’ Advice: Be Careful, Quick, Creative … and Lean | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future | Accountants Bullish Locally, Bearish Nationally | Top Performers Lead in Leverage, Culling, Outsourcing | Auditing Standards ‘Yellow Book’ Updated | Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist | Revenue Up at 59% of Accounting Firms … and More Good News | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?
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A recent report from the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs points out that, though the problem is big and the obstacles many, CPA firms can, with enough effort, hold on to the talent they’ve got.

And retaining talent is a lot less expensive than trying to attract it.
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