If you’re struggling to find great candidates, you’re not alone. Bloomberg recently reported that there are 340,000 fewer accountants than there were in 2019 as senior accountants retire. 720 firms reported a 30% increase in errors as a result, and grueling hours and burnout are taking their toll on accounting professionals trying to keep up.

It’s no wonder that younger workers aren’t drawn to accounting.

How can you make your firm stand out? Take a creative approach to hiring. That might look like hiring an undergrad working towards their certification, or upskilling your team to help AI do some of the work for them. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to help your team deliver their best work with a strategic approach to upskilling.

Stagnant wages and skills shortages in accounting

With entry-level wages stagnating between 50-60k, accounting is becoming harder for young grads to justify getting into. Median salaries aren’t making up for the time, effort, and student loans that they need to take on in order to get certified.

For accounting firms, that means there’s a few options:

Hire undergrads, and train them to help them accumulate the hours they can count towards their certification.

Raise entry-level salaries to attract certified candidates, and emphasize the value your firm brings when you’re crafting job descriptions.

In both cases, offering on-the-job training can help. It’s either a way to fill the skills gap for a less experienced candidate, or part of the value you can provide to CPAs. Best of all, upskilling can help retain your current workforce and boost their productivity at the same time.

Identifying the skills gap: choose a direction for new skills

As new technology enables more sophisticated advisory services, accountants need to stay ahead of the curve to keep up with clients that expect high-touch service. Accountants with data skills can leverage machine learning, RPA, and AI much more efficiently, which is one of the reasons why data skills are becoming much more valuable. 

But the training you decide to start with will depend on the direction you want your firm to take over the short and long term:

To increase the productivity of your current workforce, start with data skills.

AICPA found that 99% of accounting firms see data skills as essential for new hires, including descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. These in-demand skills can help accountants advise clients based on data that pinpoints the cause and likely future outcome of financial decisions.

A basic understanding of how to work with AI can also help your team reduce the time they’re spending on rote tasks such as data collection and expense reporting.

To boost your firm’s value for larger clients, try advisory skills.

Advanced taxation skills are a must, along with an understanding of business intelligence and ERP software.

For accountants that already have the technical skills they need, training soft skills like communication, public speaking, and critical thinking can help them advise clients with a more professional touch.

Addressing the skills gap: choose a mode of delivery

Recruiting agency Robert Half notes that upskilling doesn’t necessarily have to be financial aid for formal training. If you’re upskilling someone who already has their certification, consider:

• Virtual training: online platforms like Alison have basic accounting training, or you could opt for Google certificates for data analytics courses. These courses are great ways to offer flexible learning options during downtime.
• Microlearning: if you’re looking to upskill your whole team, you could consider embedding microlearning documents into relevant ProCharted work items. This approach can help employees learn the exact skills they need as they work without cutting into their productive time too much.
• One-on-one learning: pair workers with peers or mentors that can identify skills gaps and upskill your workers on an ad-hoc basis. This is great if you have a team member you trust with a deep understanding of the industry.

A cost-benefit analysis of different courseware and learning methods can help you make the right decision.

Make your firm more valuable to your next hire

Beyond skills training, there are a few other ways to make your firm more attractive to your next hire. First, take a collaborative stance. New CPAs and undergrads come with fresh knowledge about the profession that you can use to help take your firm to new heights.

Second, prioritize empathy. There’s been a recent shift in expectations, with new hires demanding workplaces that are respectful and considerate of work-life balance. Think about hiring more than one new staff member if your team is constantly working overtime, and actively seek out feedback to improve the employee experience.

Finally, reduce the admin load on accountants. New hires don’t want to be chasing information from team members and learning complex software in order to do their jobs properly. Instead, user-friendly practice management tools like ProCharted can give them all the info they need in one place so they can start doing their best work right away.