Shortage of accounts staff

[JoDolce]

This probably belongs on another thread, but where have all the accountancy staff gone? I can understand the reasons for a decline in staff in NHS, hospitality. It's not the most exciting job in the world but it's not a bad paid role, some businesses allow wfh, you don't get abuse from the public. I just can't understand where all the staff have gone since covid, there never seemed to be such a shortage of staff pre-covid

I am an accountant, I have formerly worked at a fairly senior level and I often get job alerts on LinkedIn for relatively senior level jobs, most positions have hundreds of applicants, the market seems very competitive from the job seekers perspective.

I am however not looking for senior jobs, I am winding down until retirement and have looked for very junior part time roles. These seem quite easy to find.

Everyone is leaving in droves! It’s madness. I work in tax and our ABS team are hugely struggling with resource this year.

I think a lot go into accountancy, get their exams paid for and go into more financial roles. I also think perhaps there are less graduates going into accountancy. The first few years are pretty rough - long hours doing thankless tasks for actually a not that great salary in comparison to other industries. Tech seems to be the industry everyone wants to get into.

The salaries offered in accounts don’t add up nowadays. I was looking and they were offering £21k for an accounts assistant? That’s basically minimum wage now but they wanted them to have AAT level 2 and working towards level 3. Until the salaries improve there will be a shortage.

https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2023/mar-2023/accountants-reject-regions-as-recruitment-crisis-deepens

It's boring, stressful, crap pay and conditions, and still has major "diversity" issues.

Fewer grads entering the profession, and an exodus of qualified people.

you don't get abuse from the public

There speaks a person who's never done payables.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain I stand corrected there! I've been in Accounts Payables for a few years now, so I can see where you're coming from. I mean you don't get the same sort of abuse from the general public as say those in hospitality or NHS.

Try collections, or then again maybe, don't. It's savage. 😨

Oh definitely not that sort, thank goodness. And there's always the option to put the phone down and claim to have been cut off if they do kick off.

I used to sit opposite the credit managers at exjob. What a thankless job soul sapping job. Couldn't do it myself, which was why I preferred AP. Granted I spent a lot of time on the receiving end of collections, but I could handle that.

Following with interest! My team under recruited graduates for years so we now have serious problems at qualified and manager level. We’re now spending a lot of effort trying to retain current graduates whose cultural expectations are just very far from what a career in the Big4 usually looks like so they leave anyway. That effort then takes away focus on manager and senior manager level and there’s no attempt to consider what might attract/ keep people at those grades in practice vs industry. I often wonder what I’m doing myself to be honest when I could get a similar role in a bank on an equivalent/ slightly better salary with a far better pension, maternity package etc. Interesting times ahead for sure.

That effort then takes away focus on manager and senior manager level and there’s no attempt to consider what might attract/ keep people at those grades in practice vs industry.

Yup. No attempt whatsoever. Just exploitation.

@Crikeyalmightey I've done that too, as a temp job during covid in 2020. Still got a bollocking by the bitch of a finance manager(whole other story) for not collecting enough money. Most places were shut & not answering phones or emails. I was straight back in ap as soon as I could, after "being released" & have been in the same role for 2 & half years, so I know it's not me
Tbh I've done auditing in the 80's & 90's & would rather stick pins in my eyes as its so boring; I found practice to always be lower paid than industry so I never went back to it after having children. But it seems to be a widespread shortage across all levels I think, more so at the clerical side. I feel I could just walk into another job tomorrow if I wanted to

A lot used to be those from other Commonwealth countries in my experience. Then visas etc came along, and the impact of Brexit on the value of the pound.

Firms locally seem to have stopped recruiting graduates and taken on school leavers on apprenticeship schemes instead. This has pushed salaries down at entry level.

I've just been handed a role I am qualified for but not at all experienced in because of the skills shortage locally so frankly I'm not complaining (although I'm working very hard right now!)

Hated the culture of practice and from colleagues still there (big 4), where we used to put up and shut up, the millennials just walk. And good for them!

Ha I’m in collections but have taken on other roles within the team. If I only did credit control I would have gone loopy by now.

My company has outsourced a lot of stuff to a company in india so part of my job is filtering their queries now. AP is dire and everything is going to pot haha

The pay in Practice is awful, that's why I went into industry.

But industry still isn't great at the lower levels especially in Norfolk where I live - circa £35k for a PQ management accountant preferably with a lower level qualification like AAT. It's a lot of work until you start making the kind of money that makes it worthwhile.

Shame really because I love it which is the only reason I stuck it out.