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Hartford area accounting firms say they are on a hiring spree to address a region-wide personnel shortage driven by heavy workloads, increased competition for talent, and professional burnout.
West Hartford-based BlumShapiro, the largest regional accounting firm in New England with over 400 employees spread out across five offices in Connecticut and Massachusetts, brought on 38 new accountants to start the year.
Marcum LLP added 50 new hires to its New England offices, including about 20 in Connecticut, while Whittlesey & Hadley recently hired six new accountants, including three that started this month.
“Accounting firms are definitely looking to hire; there is a huge need,” said Carl Johnson, BlumShapiro's managing partner.
While accounting has historically been an in-demand profession, a few changes in recent years have amplified competition among firms and corporations recruiting talent, said Mohamed Hussein, a professor and head of UConn's accounting department, which graduates over 100 accounting majors per year.
Greater workloads precipitated by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act created a need for more accountants, while the easing of requirements to become a certified public accountant in Connecticut has ramped up competition for new hires.
Under a 2000 rule change by the state's Board of Accountancy, prospective CPAs no longer need experience at a public accounting firm to earn their certification. Instead, the board now accepts two years work experience at public, non-public (private/industry), or government institutions, as long as there is supervision by a CPA. That is creating more competition from private-sector companies looking to recruit students right out of college.
“A lot of corporations like The Hartford, Aetna and Travelers, for example, are aggressively recruiting our students,” said Hussein. “They all have leadership programs that train students and help them to become certified public accountants.”
Most public accounting firms start new hires as associates and then advance them to seniors, supervisors, managers and finally to directors or partners, said Drew Andrews, managing partner at Whittlesey & Hadley, which is based in downtown Hartford.
A number of firms are experiencing shortages in senior and supervisory level positions, typically filled by accountants with three to four years of experience. That's when many accountants, industry experts say, decide to stay in or leave the field. And it's not uncommon for many younger accountants, particularly those working demanding hours at big four firms (Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young, and KPMG) to get burnt out.
“It's really unfortunate because some very talented people leave the field too early,” said BlumShapiro's Johnson. “If they would hang in there just a little longer, I think they would find that public accounting is an outstanding profession with great economic outcomes and work-life balance.”
Michael Brooder, partner-in-charge of Marcum's Hartford office, said his firm has historically felt the shortage in senior and supervisory positions so they have focused on grooming staff from within to take on those jobs.
Many firms say they have ramped up employee engagement and retention efforts so they don't find themselves facing future workforce shortages.
“We've really focused on getting the right people in at the entry-level rank who can grow with the firm and then provide them more focused training so that they can decide that public accounting is right for them and that our firm is the place for them,” said Andrews.
Another issue, Brooder said, is that it's harder to recruit a senior or supervising accountant from a competing firm.
Like Whittlesey & Hadley, Brooder said Marcum has enacted a strategy in which the firm hires more recent graduates for entry-level positions and engages in proactive retention strategies to keep them.
Offering flexible schedules and work-at-home options are among the list of employee-friendly strategies in place at Whittlesey & Hadley to counteract professional burnout, said Kathy McCarthy, the firm's director of human resources.
“It's about employee engagement and it's about giving people an opportunity to provide feedback,” said McCarthy. “The more you can engage employees, the better chance you have at retaining them.”
With 539 students currently enrolled in UConn's accounting program, Hussein said the school has seen steady growth in the number of accounting majors each year. Interest in the profession, Huessein said, has blossomed because of the significant availability of jobs.
However, there is also an accounting professor shortage being felt around the country that has restricted many schools' ability to enroll all students interested in the profession. That has also contributed to the industry's personnel shortage, Hussein said.
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