There’s a Major Accountant Shortage. Time Tracking Can Help

Does it seem like your accounting firm is getting fewer new hires than ever? 

Many industry sources point to a severe accountant shortage — but what can you do about it? 

In this article, we’ll dive deep into the apparent CPA shortage and help your firm mitigate it with time tracking. 

Is there a lack of accountants?

Yes. We’re facing a global shortage of experienced accountants — despite robust demand for accounting services. 

For instance, trade associations estimate a shortage of 60,000 accountants in the UK over the next few decades. 

Similarly, US-based firms are also struggling to find entry-level accountants. According to the New York State Society of CPAs, fewer candidates took the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) exam in 2022 than at any time in the past 17 years. 

This lack of new CPA candidates isn’t surprising, considering that the number of students graduating with accounting majors is dropping just as quickly.

Since the accountant shortage is undeniable, the question is — what’s behind this lack of new talent? 

What’s causing the accounting talent shortage?

Unfortunately, there are many reasons why accounting firms aren’t attracting new talent easily, including:

• Lack of work-life balance — Ironically, the shortage of new accountants has led to worse working conditions for existing professionals, who are working longer hours to complete all accounting tasks on time. 
• Retiring baby boomers — Around 75% of the members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants were at retirement age in 2020. To make matters worse, the pandemic also ushered in a wave of early retirements. 
• Low starting salaries — Compared to those who go into tech or finance, accounting graduates earn 20% less from their starting salaries. 
• 150-hour rule for students — CPA candidates must graduate with at least 150 credit hours, which often means additional costs (including another year of tuition). 
• Rise of new accounting software — The appearance of QuickBooks, TurboTax, and similar programs in the late 1990s initially reduced demand for low-level accounting jobs. New artificial intelligence software may cause a similar disruption.
• Lack of popularity — Accounting jobs have always been perceived as “boring” or “uncool” in popular culture. 

As you can see, the accounting profession is in the midst of a perfect storm of problems that make recruitment more difficult. 

Let’s see what your firm can do to navigate and overcome hiring issues. 

How can your firm overcome the CPA shortage?

The first step to solving your accountant shortage is to recognize that the problem is broader than you think. 

Unfortunately, most factors contributing to the CPA shortage are beyond your control. 

Long-term solutions to these issues require a concerted effort from:

• Accounting trade associations, 
• Other employers, and
• Relevant educational institutions. 

It’s likely that you, on your own, can’t change the lack of hype about accounting in pop culture or influence demographic trends that drive retirement. The same goes for changes to education requirements for the CPA exam. 

The good news is — other accounting firms are affected by the same issues. 

You don’t need to (and can’t) address every factor contributing to the lack of new talent. 

It’s like outrunning a bear. You don’t have to be faster than the bear — you just need to be faster than the other guys running from it. 

In other words, focus on being more attractive to the small pool of available accounting hires. To achieve this, you need to:

1. Offer more competitive starting salaries, and
2. Provide a better work-life balance than other firms. 

If you can’t afford higher salaries, double down on improving your staff’s work-life balance. 

How can you improve your staff’s work-life balance?

Before making any improvements, you need to know what’s causing your staff’s poor work-life balance. 

A global 2023 survey conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) provides 2 important insights:

1. Long hours and workplace stress are the main reasons why young people aren’t going into accounting, and
2. 87% of accountants want to work remotely.

In contrast, only 12% of accountants work remotely full-time. 

The reason for such low numbers is obvious to any employer. Remote workers are harder to monitor, making it difficult to maintain productivity. 

On the other hand, remote work is a major incentive for new accounting talent. Eliminating the time, stress, and expenses associated with a daily commute results in a healthier work-life balance.

And there are ways of solving the productivity issue. 

For instance, you can use non-invasive time tracking software to ensure accountants maintain their in-office performance even when working remotely. 

Time tracking tools help you track productivity 

With the right time tracking software, your CPAs can remotely log their hours in online timesheets or track time automatically via a simple timer. 

Our time tracker, Clockify, goes beyond basic time tracking features to help you manage a productive, satisfied remote team. 

Clockify uses your team’s time logs to automatically generate visual reports. For instance, the Team Dashboard menu helps you stay on top of KPIs and see what your team is doing every single day. 

You can also use Clockify’s Schedule menu to set each employee’s maximum work hours. From that screen, you get to assign and manage everyone’s tasks via a simple drag-and-drop function. 

As a result, your accountants will never be overworked — cementing your firm’s reputation as a company that respects their employees’ time. 

Attract new accounting talent — with Clockify

To attract quality talent even during a chronic accountant shortage, Clockify helps you:

• Track everyone’s hours easily with a simple timer, 
• Avoid overworking employees by evening out the workload, 
• See what each remote team member is working on in real-time, and
• Schedule and assign tasks quickly in a drag-and-drop interface. 

To top it off, you and your accounting staff don’t need any experience with productivity software or time tracking to use Clockify effectively. 

Don’t let other firms swoop up all the scarce accounting talent — use Clockify to offer your employees the best work-life balance without sacrificing productivity.