More than 300,000 accountants and auditors left their jobs in the past two years, and there aren't a lot of people stepping up to fill those spots. The shortage of CPA's is affecting the entire industry and some local firms are finding it hard to find the right people for open positions.
"It's becoming more and more of a problem," said Mark Bailey, managing partner and founder of Excelsis Accounting Group in Reno. "It's always been a bit of a problem, but it's more of a problem now than it's ever been."
Recent retirements are a part of the problem, but Bailey says the perception of the professional as a whole has something to do with it as well.
"I think that our profession really has abused those at the entry level and discouraged them from coming into the profession," he said. "It's not uncommon for an accounting firm to require their lower-level staff, up to four or five years and even after that, to work 80 or 90-hour weeks."
That's something, he says, newer generations of workers aren't going to do. Even college enrollment in the field is down.
"I know at UNR they have an online master's program and it's only got 47 people in it; they want to add people to it," Bailey said.
For smaller firms, he said, there's also competition from national and international firms that can pay on a bigger scale.
"I'll interview someone and then, unfortunately, someone from San Francisco will hire them remotely and pay them based on the San Francisco wage scale, which we can't match," Bailey said.
Firms like Excelsis have been adjusting accordingly, trying to provide a better work/life balance for employees.
"What we've done here is we've restricted the clients that we take and we have a certain capacity for clients that we can fulfill," Bailey said. "And we stop at that point so we can provide the level of service we need to. We've also changed our approach to staffing and management; we allow our staff to work remotely if they want to, and we try not to work overtime because when you do work overtime, it kind of impairs the other aspects of your life."
He's also highlighting other sectors of the field that may sound more enticing to potential applicants.
"There's an awful lot of opportunity in accounting for consulting," Bailey said. "I do a lot of business valuation, litigation support, strategic planning, that kind of thing, which is much more interesting than posting debits and credits to a balance sheet."
