Industry Insights

The blog emphasizes that customer questions often reflect wider concerns—many people share the same questions. This week’s focus was on a client who had experienced a failed hire for a remote tax senior position and wanted to avoid repeating that mistake.

The blog highlights the growing challenge of talent churn in accounting firms and emphasizes the urgency of addressing it. At Accountests, the team is collaborating with the Accounting MOVE Project, the Center for Accounting Transformation, and CPA Trendlines to support a study that aims to provide accounting firms with insights on how to reduce turnover and foster better workplace cultures.

Restructures often carry negative connotations—job cuts, uncertainty, and a demoralized workforce. However, a staff-centered approach can transform this process into a positive one, improving engagement, reducing turnover, and increasing ROI.

A common question employers ask when considering personality testing in hiring is whether candidates can “cheat” by presenting an idealized version of themselves. With the stakes of a job or promotion on the line, it's natural for some individuals to try and tailor their responses to align more closely with the desired profile—even if it doesn’t reflect who they truly are. The good news is that whether this is detectable depends on the test being used. Some personality assessments can flag when a person is answering in a way that’s overly polished, evasive, or inconsistent. These insights help employers determine if someone is being authentic in their responses or trying to game the system—allowing for more informed, meaningful conversations during interviews.

When a client urgently calls asking for help reviewing resumes for a key finance hire, it can feel risky for the accounting firm—especially when there’s no obvious benefit and plenty of downside if things go wrong. A poor hire could reflect badly on the firm if the candidate lacks the technical skills needed, even though the firm’s involvement was informal.

In leadership and high-accountability roles, especially within professional services, Drive and Motivation are key indicators of long-term success. These traits, though essential, are often difficult to measure objectively during hiring or development processes. The Accountests Personality Profile Questionnaire (APPQ) offers a robust solution by assessing Drive and Motivation through the Big-5/OCEAN personality model. It helps employers pinpoint candidates who are not just capable but also intrinsically driven to succeed.

A comprehensive onboarding process begins as soon as a candidate accepts a job offer. It involves careful planning and execution to ensure a seamless transition into the company. The blog outlines an eight-step onboarding checklist.

In public accounting, hiring the wrong person doesn't just lead to financial loss—it causes partner stress and harms team morale. Drawing on 25 years of experience, the blog introduces a Bad Hire Calculator, which helps firms quantify the true cost of hiring mistakes based on specific internal practices (e.g., use of recruiters, firing timeline).

The author recounts a time during a hectic work period—managing a large team, under intense deadlines—when they were told to "just find another body" to help out. With no time to spare, they selected an internal employee based purely on availability and a brief chat with their manager (who was all too eager to let them go). The result: a hasty, unstructured hiring decision with lasting regret.

This blog emphasizes the importance of creating a standout first impression to attract and secure top accounting talent, even when the job itself is similar to others on the market. It outlines three simple, zero-cost steps to set your firm apart.

The accounting industry faces a major talent gap, with too many open positions and too few qualified professionals. Retention is becoming as crucial as recruitment, but some firms are pulling back from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts due to political pressures. This move risks alienating key talent, particularly women and underrepresented professionals, who are already underrepresented in leadership roles.

The Staffing Strategies report from the Center for Accounting Transformation highlights key challenges and solutions in closing talent gaps within accounting firms. While many firms acknowledge burnout due to high workloads, they also believe they maintain strong team collegiality. To address staffing shortages, firms commonly rely on hiring, offshoring, demand management, and technology.