To attract the best employees, you need to be an automated firm
In the past few years, recruitment has been a major challenge for accounting firms.
A skills shortage that existed even before the pandemic has been magnified since, as businesses in most industries struggle to attract new staff.
Reports in August this year showed a 33% decrease in accountancy job candidates between May 2022 and June 2022 and a 36% drop year on year between June 2021 and June 2022.
Smaller firms, in particular, are finding it difficult to meet client demand due to staff shortages, while larger firms benefit from their ability to offer higher pay, as well as development opportunities with cutting-edge technology.
But for forward-thinking firms that are open to shaking up the traditions of the profession, there are still great opportunities to attract new staff. A key area to consider is automation.
Save costs and pay more
One of the main advantages of automation in accountancy is the potential to save money by improving efficiency. Increasingly, the manual, routine tasks traditionally required in entry-level accounting roles can instead be carried out by software – freeing up time for employees and saving on staff costs.
This should also allow for greater productivity within a shorter space of time, making your work more profitable.
The more you can streamline your practice’s costs, the more you can offer in salaries to prospective employees. And in a challenging economic climate, with costs rising, competitive pay is what many candidates will be looking for.
Make the job more rewarding
By freeing employees – and junior staff in particular – from repetitive jobs like data entry, you can change the nature of those roles, getting employees involved in varied and strategic work much sooner in their careers.
We often talk about the ways automation can help accountants to focus on higher-value services with a significant benefit to clients. And to ambitious professionals, the opportunity to carry out this kind of work could be a good reason to join your firm.
You should also have more time to invest in those employees, so they can develop their skills as they work with you.
Appeal to younger generations
As more of Generation Z enters the workforce, accounting firms need to be ready to adapt and appeal to this new audience.
These job candidates will have grown up using technology and will naturally expect more work to be possible through software.
Younger generations also tend to be more interested in the culture of the businesses they apply to. More candidates are looking for flexibility and autonomy in how and when they work – above all, many people value an employer that trusts them to get the job done.
Using software to manage your firm means you can offer that flexibility, enabling collaboration as a team from remote locations. By using practice management tools, you can get an overview of your employees’ workload and assign tasks without micromanaging.
AIRPA joins the dots between your accounting software so you can run a fully automated firm. Find out more with a free trial.