Industry Insights

As businesses face a growing demand for experienced and reliable financial guidance, accounting firms are striving to offer more advanced, personalized services such as Virtual CFO and Virtual Controller. Find out how to make sure new and existing hires have the knowledge and experience to offer these services to your clients.

Recent studies have actually put the financial cost of a bad hire in third place for its negative impact on an accounting businesses, behind lower morale and reduced productivity. “Stanley” was recently hired by an accounting firm in Los Angeles. His resume showed the experience he’d had with a reputable medium sized firm in a staff accountant role. He was personable and confident at interview, and was hired. The cracks showed within days...

Its no secret that we are operating in a candidate's market. Become an employer of choice and get your firm noticed by prospective employees. Not only will your workplace attract top talent in this candidate short market, but you'll improve retention of current staff, and create more efficient business systems as well. Discover the key principles and practical advice in this weeks blog post.

With the rapid emergence of AI in our daily working lives, we wondered what would happen if we got ChatGPT to sit our CPA Public Accounting Test. You'll be surprised with the results!

As we move away from the traditional office towards a hybrid and remote workplace, it is important to understand the potential benefits of personality testing in this new environment. Personality tests can be used to assess role suitability, identify work styles, and support career development and hiring. 

A successful public accounting firm needs staff that are engaged, enthusiastic, and passionate about the work they do. To make sure you have the best possible employees, it's important to create an online presence that inspires potential employees and encourages current employees to stay with your firm. Here are a few tips on how to promote your public accounting firm to both staff and prospective employees.

Last summer I listened to a podcast on the AFO Wealth Management series where Amber Setter was interviewed. Amber is the Chief Enlightenment Officer for Conscious Public Accountants - a professional coaching firm that teaches accountants how to grow their careers without losing their souls. The team was carefully curated with the accounting profession in mind. 

From developing your team to making your own tough decisions, being a manager naturally comes with a lot of stress. The days when you can sit back and relax are rare. Instead, you may find yourself rushing from one project to the next, sometimes working with employees who are unpleasant, unmotivated, or disengaged. Here’s how you can deal with all the stress and keep your career and your life on track.

Giles Pearson, Director here at Accountests, explains how important it is to get the hiring process right the first time, and introduces the new Bad Hire Calculator tool, available now on our website. Use the calculator to work out exactly how costly it can be to your business to fix the issue of hiring the wrong candidate.

How’s that personal development plan for your bright young star going? Tough isn’t it? What about the one for the team member who thinks they should be promoted faster than is justified by their performance. Ouch! How about an accountants specific personality profile that comes complete with a personal development plan roadmap? Sound good?

The knock-on effects of unfilled vacancies on existing staff were largely expected by employers, but in reality are alarming. Shorten the time to hire new staff to avoid losing candidates to competing job offers and increase the wellbeing services offered to staff. Accountests can assist in shortening the time to hire new staff with our ‘fast & thorough’ techniques for getting you ahead of candidates competing jobs offers.

A recent UK survey of senior HR people revealed that whilst 53% of them ranked talent shortages as the biggest threat to their businesses continuity, only 19% felt they were ready to face the challenges of acute staff turnover and candidate scarcity.