Auditing and accounting talent shortage continues to make employers toss and turn, according to a global survey of more than 4,100 accountants and 2,300 auditors.
More than 90% of accountants and 95% of auditors surveyed find it either challenging or extremely challenging to hire skilled talent, said software provider Caseware recently when releasing survey results.
When it comes to talent retention, more than 85% of accountants and 90% of auditors said it is either somewhat or extremely difficult.
With unemployment rates at historic lows, it’s not surprising that auditing and accounting talent shortage is a hot issue, said David Osborne, CEO at Caseware.
“Companies seeking top talent need to employ innovative strategies to address this challenge, such as improving compensation, implementing more flexible work policies and adopting technologies that allow staff to work more creatively and efficiently,” he advised.
Survey highlights
- Nearly 35% of accountants cite finding the right talent among their three biggest practice management issues over the past year, compared to just 14% of accountants who cited it last year – making finding talent the fastest-rising industry challenge.
- Auditing and accounting shortage aside, top management challenges cited by accountants include new ways of working such as communicating with clients in a virtual world (40%), using new technologies (38%) and adjusting to working remotely (35%).
- Auditors pointed to moving from manual to digital processes (38%) and adopting new audit technology (36%) as the main issue.
- Almost 70% of accounting firms expect their rate of technology adoption to increase over the next two years, while more than 80% of internal audit teams are already employing cloud technology.
- While nearly 80% of accounting firms use client collaboration tools, almost 52% said their client engagement process is only somewhat efficient.
- 74% of accounting firms plan to adopt new cloud technologies over the next two years.
- 56% have adopted business intelligence software to advise and guide clients on their finances and risk factors, while 30% say they are planning to invest in it.
- More than 60% of auditors said the amount of advisory services they provide has grown over the past year.
- Analytics is a critical operational tool for more than 55% of internal audit teams.
- Nearly 42% of auditors said their most significant internal pressure is to prove their value to their organisation.
