april2022 - 8

STAFFING
How Firms Can Retain Top Talent During
the Labor Crunch
Commentary by Richard Lavina
TODAY'S ACCOUNTING WORLD faces an unprecedented
challenge: How can firms scout and retain top talent from a
perpetually shrinking pool of accounting professionals while
avoiding undue burdens brought by inflation?
What's happening as it relates to
the accounting industry is that we're at
a supply crunch. Inflation makes hiring
accountants out of college more expensive
as past incomes quickly become outdated
because new graduates are looking for
higher-paying jobs.
The way accounting firms are built
today is no different from one set up in the
90s, where you have a managing partner
on top and interns/first-year staff at the
bottom. Everyone along the way wears
multiple hats and does different types of
work. At accounting firms, services can
be separated into two categories: advisory
and compliance. As far as commodities
go,
passing along the rising inflation
rates to commoditized services such as
tax returns, could drive business away.
Within the accounting profession's
present landscape, we are seeing more
and more frequently that talented
college students wishing to enter the
workforce are looking for positions at a
much higher salary than before. Unless
prices are raised, accounting can become
less lucrative.
That's not to say all entry-level staff
starts by asking for higher salaries,
but that's where most of the crunch is.
Traditionally within accounting firms, the
work divided amongst the staff is part of
a broader relationship. Give work to lower
staff, they learn to work and progress
upward and take on more responsibilities.
The cycle continues each year with new
staff replenishing the previous group as
they progress through the firm's ranks.
When graduates enter the job market,
their eyes might wander toward the most
lucrative opportunities, and their attention
trickles down. Accounting firms, for
that reason, can find themselves stuck in a
difficult position. Given the current inflation
we're facing and the supply of young,
talented college graduates that would
replenish the employee hierarchy are
looking elsewhere for higher-paying jobs,
it becomes harder for accounting firms to
support interns and first-year staff.
Bookkeeping and tax preparation are
services that need to be done. However,
you can't cut bookkeeping and taxes
because you might lose clients and
revenue. So, what do firms do in this
position where they can't raise prices
on essential services to increase salaries
across the board?
There is no indication that inflation
will slow down in the near term. Models
indicate that it will take years before
inflation slows to a reasonable rate. As
such, the cost of living continues to surge
nationwide. In the meantime, alternative
staffing solutions are ideal for firms looking
to free up compliance work to allow
staff more time to provide value to their
clients and the firm.
Alternative staffing solutions are
effective in that they grant firm access
to a fractional workforce that can clear
bookkeeping and tax work quickly and
affordably. As the supply crunch tightens,
we feel this will be a bigger player because
fewer people will get into the accounting
profession.
It's where outsourcing services step
in to help. Firms are at a bottleneck
where they can't raise the prices of
bookkeeping and tax services to match
inflation because customers won't return.
It's a sacrifice to the bottom line that is
ineffective. By providing firms with an
outsourced workforce that works at
8 APRIL 2022 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
a lower rate, firms have access to tax
professionals who spend their free time
completing these commoditized services
without the same firms having to hire
full- or part-time employees.
Firms can then deploy their staff's
time on other value-added services
such as consulting. Doing so leverages
their staff more efficiently and taps
into the firm's ability to grow because
the outsourced work is no longer taking
up their staff's time. It's the solution to
increase revenue without worrying about
inflation increasing prices and driving
business away. ■
Richard Lavina is CEO and co-founder of
Taxfyle.
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april2022

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