Philadelphia, PA (November 09, 2005): The image of the accounting profession can often seem a grim one for young professionals and college graduates today: five to 10 years spent working long hours on often-grueling audit assignments before getting the chance to sink their teeth into more diverse work on the road to a possible partnership. It´s an image accounting firms need to dispel, says Debbi Ballard, Recruiting Manager for CBIZ Accounting, Tax & Advisory Services´ East Region.
"The worst-kept secret in the accounting industry is that the demand for accounting professionals outstrips the supply," she says. "There is an acute shortage of people, so accounting firms today need to create a culture that people want to join."
That´s exactly what Ballard is doing at CBIZ, one of the nation´s top 10 accounting providers, with nearly 5,000 employees in more than 150 offices nationwide. Thanks to stronger compliance requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the surfacing of corporate scandals, accounting firms are in need of more experienced professionals. Colleges are enrolling record numbers of accounting majors, but the accounting firms still face a talent vacuum in the area of professionals with three to 10 years of experience. However, CBIZ has found a way to meet this challenge-by offering not just competitive salary and benefits but also a more interesting, diverse, flexible and entrepreneurial career path within the firm.
"When an accounting professional has worked for three years doing the same financial statement over and over again, and closing the same set of books, they become very frustrated," says Ballard.
Many accounting firms today try to lure new employees with the promise of high salaries and benefits like free gym memberships-which few overworked employees will have the chance to use. CBIZ understands that in order to avoid burnout, young accounting professionals today need diversity and opportunity.
"At CBIZ, we utilize employees in many different ways so no one gets pigeonholed into one area," says Ballard.
CBIZ, which caters to the middle market-companies of between $25 million and $250 million in annual revenues-offers an experience that differs vastly than that offered by Big 4 accounting firms. Indeed, the former allure of the "prestige" of Big 4 accounting appears to be waning in favor of quality of life issues with the younger generation of professionals.
At CBIZ, experienced young professionals have the opportunity to reach partner level without waiting a lifetime-with the added bonus of strong growth opportunities and a broader work exposure, says Ballard. "One of the biggest reasons why people leave their job today is that they perceive no growth opportunity-and CBIZ has successfully addressed that."
Advancement, quality of life, financial compensation, diversity of work and a formalized mentoring and development program are what attract recruits to CBIZ, says Ballard. In addition, professionals who join CBIZ at the six to seven year mark are instantly groomed to make partner in a relatively short amount of time, she says.
And what employees often lack in today´s workplace is information on how they can reach their goals. CBIZ offers frequent communication and evaluations-such as quarterly performance appraisals, rather than annual ones-designed to give their accounting professionals a road map of exactly what they need to do to get ahead.
"We are not just an audit factory," Ballard stresses. "At CBIZ, our emphasis is not on what our recruits can do for us, but how we can invest in their future-by offering more interesting work, excellent training and mentoring opportunities, better work/life balance, quarterly (instead of yearly) performance appraisals, and more."
Debbi Ballard can further discuss CBIZ´s recruiting efforts and how the accounting industry is responding to the labor shortage of experienced professionals. To make arrangements for an interview, contact Joseph Anthony (JoeA[at]GregoryFCA.com) or Stephanie Schneck (Stephanie[at]GregoryFCA.com) at 610-642-8253.