Published July 9, 2020 – Once perceived as a detriment to an organization’s internal culture, productivity and long-term strategic value, outsourcing professional accounting and finance staff has become a viable strategy for growth and sustainability by addressing the growing challenges of talent acquisition and retention.  Although the trends are currently subtle, the message is clear.  Hiring and retaining key employees will become increasingly difficult over the next few years due to simple supply and demand principles.

As baby-boomers continue to age into retirement, the potential job gaps left behind may likely be harder and harder to fill.  The AICPA 2019 Trends Report that annually provides information on the supply of accounting graduates and the demand for accounting recruits, indicates that projected enrollments are down 4% from the highs of 2016.  Increasing vacancies and lower candidates to fill the roles equate to a higher level of demand and resulting competition for talent.  Higher demand eventually could lead to higher wages for less than “A-Team” recruits.  Add the cost of benefits, training and turnover, hiring the right people in the right roles could eventually become cost prohibitive.

Our Client Accounting & Advisory Solution (CAAS) provides a highly effective alternative to mitigate these ensuing challenges. Designed to accommodate any level of need, CAAS services include:

1. Full Scope Accounting Services – provides for essentially a virtual accounting department
2. CFO-Level Services – focus on strategic initiatives in collaboration with leadership
3. Controller Level Services – oversight of the accounting function and internal team
4. Accounting Staff-Level Services – temporary project assistance
5. Business Process Services – assistance in specific related disciplines of tax, assurance, IT wealth management, asset based lending and continuous improvement.

A search on LinkedIn for accounting positions in New York State as of the date of this writing lists 6,908 opportunities.   An emerging discipline of continuous improvement (lean/six sigma) yields 4,201 listings for the same region.  It should be obvious that there is no question the demand is high for accounting and related positions. Yet many of these jobs will go unfilled or worse, filled with the wrong or less qualified candidate.  This scenario all too often then results in a lose-lose situation for both the organization and the candidate who ultimately part ways and the costly hiring process frustratedly begins again.

CAAS provides a great strategy to avoid this frustration and unnecessary costs.  Consider filling your open position with a TEAM of professionals who are experts at their craft, engage standard processes to leverage efficiency and timely deliverables, and can be engaged for blended rates that are more typical of a full time hire with much less experience and qualifications.  Cross trained team members can seamlessly “cover” on any assignment so you are never again reliant upon one person.  Employee related issues often costly to manage such as scheduling, PTO, turnover, training and hiring now become non-concerns for you as those issues are now managed through CAAS on your behalf.

To learn more about how to get the right people at the right time, please reach out to any of our CAAS professionals.  They will be happy to show you how to transform operational functions in accounting and finance from cost centers to profit centers that drive business results!