WHILE MANY blue collar trades have already been gripped by the skills shortage, demand for accountants is outstripping supply at a local and global level, according to a global recruitment firm
WHILE MANY blue collar trades have already been gripped by the skills shortage, demand for accountants is outstripping supply at a local and global level, according to a global recruitment firm.
Driven by increased corporate governance and compliance requirements, Robert Half International urged finance teams to respond swiftly with creative and effective solutions to halt the shortage.
“Both SME and large companies within Australia are grappling with a host of issues ranging from a lack of technical skills available on the market to overseas competition, staff loyalty and retention and generational change,”said David Jones, managing director, Robert Half International.
The firm recently convened a roundtable of leading figures from the finance world in order to identify solutions to the current skills shortage within the finance and accounting industry, and released a white paper, The Global War for Talent and its Effect on the Finance and Accounting Teams in Australia, identifying a number of potential solutions.
The roundtable agreed that finding talented accounting professionals with strong technical and analytical expertise is proving more difficult at a time when increased regulation and corporate governance is putting further strain on the demand versus supply ratio.
Staff retention is a also major challenge and the question of how to build loyalty seems unanswerable at times, with many organisations finding they are losing not only talented staff but also substantial costs invested in their training.
The roundtable also said that the good reputation of Australian accountants is a two-edged sword, in that Australia is becoming an increasingly fertile recruitment ground for overseas companies. “I truly believe that travelling overseas is a good thing as it provides accountants with experience in different markets. The issue is that they are not returning to Australia,” said Mark Edghill, CFO, Crown Castle Australia.
“I believe staffing issues have been present in Australia for a long time and am unsure as to whether it is a trend or a fundamental shift in the employment market,” added Peter Roberts, CFO, Colonial First State Property. “Therefore I am very interested in looking at what motivates the new generations, and how culture and nationality impact a person’s loyalty to an organisation.”
Similarly, attracting talent is a more prominent issue within small to medium sized organisations which lack both brand recognition and resources. ”We have a small finance function with numerous positions to fill but a shortage of suitable candidates,” said Victor Cuthell, CFO, Burger King. This can be difficult with a limited number of senior positions to progress into, he added.
The roundtable agreed the pool of available graduates has reduced from five to ten years ago, driven by a cultural shift in the number of people doing accounting. With a UAI of 97 percent needed to obtain a place on a finance or economics course in a university, the industry is competing with other professions such as medicine and law.
Furthermore, the shortage of accountants is a big issue for the professional organisations such as CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. The roundtable suggested taking in graduates from a non finance and economics discipline and training them to professional accountant level through a bridging course and then the accounting exams.
Additionally, an organisation’s brand and reputation go a long way in attracting people and this is particularly beneficial for many larger companies. Smaller companies, with less brand recognition and resource, need to better communicate their culture, philosophy and vision to potential candidates at the interview stage.
Work/life balance is also an issue for many accountants. People want to be challenged but they don’t want to get burnt out, and the roundtable said the struggle is finding the right balance to keep staff interested while respecting lifestyle choices.
