Industry Insights

Self-doubt is common in accounting, but it isn't always caused by an unsupportive workplace or Imposter Syndrome. Sometimes, it stems from a personality trait known as Apprehension, which can lead individuals to question their abilities, dwell on past mistakes, and avoid opportunities for career growth.

Pre-employment testing doesn't necessarily drive good candidates away. When used appropriately, it can help firms focus on stronger applicants, save time, and make more informed hiring decisions.

The blog looks at the “loyalty tax”, where firms pay external hires more than existing employees doing the same job. Big 4 Transparency’s 2026 data suggests the gap becomes more pronounced at senior levels, with external managers earning around $15,000 more and senior managers around $22,600 more than internally promoted employees.

The article explains why graduate recruitment requires a different approach from hiring experienced accountants. Graduates may have strong academic qualifications but often lack relevant work experience, making it harder to assess how they will perform in an accounting role.

The article highlights what more than 800 students, graduates, and early-career professionals find helpful and frustrating about today’s recruitment processes. The biggest theme is uncertainty. Candidates often don’t understand what employers are assessing, how decisions are made, what good performance looks like, or what to expect once they start work.

The blog emphasizes that pre-employment tests must comply with anti-discrimination laws to avoid legal and reputational risks. Following the EEOC’s best practice guidelines helps ensure that testing processes are defensible against any claims of bias.

The article argues that listening is one of the most important and often overlooked skills in accounting. While technical expertise is essential, strong listening helps accountants build trust with clients, become better managers and leaders, retain talented employees, and have more valuable advisory conversations.

The article compares AI’s impact on accounting to Spotify’s impact on the music industry. Spotify didn’t replace musicians, but it changed how they succeed: producing good music was no longer enough. Artists had to stand out, build an audience and develop stronger relationships with fans.

AI is changing how accountants work, but not the core skills that make them effective. Critical thinking, curiosity, professional scepticism, judgement and communication remain essential, with accountants still responsible for verifying information and deciding whether they are comfortable putting their name to the work—regardless of whether it was produced by a colleague or AI.

Accounting firms can make better people decisions by tracking five key HR benchmarks: promotion rates, staff turnover, employee feedback, leave balances, and hiring quality. Measuring these consistently helps firms identify problems in career development, retention, workload, leadership, and recruitment before they become costly.

Graduate recruitment is becoming more competitive, but the biggest challenge is not AI. It is the growing gap between what graduates believe happens during recruitment and what employers are actually doing. Graduates increasingly feel they are competing in a numbers game, submitting dozens of applications with little feedback. Many assume AI is screening and rejecting their applications, even when firms are reviewing them manually. This perception, combined with a lack of transparency, can quickly erode trust.

Many firms only uncover why employees are unhappy after they've decided to resign, when it's often too late to keep them. Stay interviews are a proactive alternative to exit interviews, giving managers the opportunity to identify concerns early, improve engagement, and reduce turnover. Rather than focusing on performance, stay interviews explore what motivates employees to stay, what frustrates them, and how leaders can better support them. They should be informal, begin early in an employee's tenure, and be held regularly.