"We are hiring" sign photo by Eric Prouzet on unsplash.com

Given the complexity of the modern tax code, business owners are well-served having an accountant around.

That is if they — or rather CPA firms — can find one.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2031.

In that period, 136,400 CPA job openings are projected for accountants and auditors each year.

Several factors are making CPA positions hard to fill, including accountants leaving the industry or retiring.

As demand grows for these financial experts, local CPA firms are facing challenges in meeting their hiring needs.

CPA and away

At Michael & Company, CPA in Fresno, President Bassim Michael said he has found it difficult to find qualified workers. And it’s not so much a pandemic thing. The problem goes back four to five years.

Michael attributes the problem to the complexity of the tax code. It simply calls for more competency and education.

“Tax returns are requiring more people with skills, and it’s hard to find people with that skill,” Michael said.

There are also less people entering the field — and more are retiring.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 300,000 accountants and auditors quit their jobs in the last two years.

It takes a special kind of person to do this type of work, Michael said. When first starting out, CPAs do a lot of hard, stressful work without the best compensation.

He said it might be several years before CPAs command the highest salaries for their role, with many weighing other career opportunities with better pay.

Once they have the experience, many start their own firms or join larger firms, working their way up to partner status.

To help meet their staffing needs, Michael said he has been hiring remote workers from other parts of the country and even abroad.

An evergreen trend is CPAs leaving firms to go work as accountants for private companies, which usually offer larger compensation packages.

“You don’t really start earning large salaries until you’re at a manager level or a partner, so it does take some time versus if you have a CPA license and you get two to five years’ worth of experience in the industry and then go into private accounting and make a pretty good living,” Michael said.

CPA firms are notorious for making it difficult to strike a work-life balance, or “work, no-life”, quipped Michael. To remain attractive to potential candidates, he makes it a point to give workers remote-work flexibility.

A private account

On the recruiting end for financial professionals is Fresno’s Stardom Employment Consultants, founded by President Lorenzo Ramirez in November 2021.

Their clients include ag, food processing, manufacturing, construction and health care.

Because every company, no matter how big or small, needs accounting services, Ramirez said, every region will have a demand for accountants.

Ramirez said that on the CPA side of the accounting sector, there has always been shortages of workers.

“Even the best firms that can keep employees still have the challenges of keeping up with the career trajectory of the individual. If the person wants to climb the corporate ladder fast — doesn’t want to stay in public accounting forever or become a partner — CPAs are always going to have that turnover,” he said.

Many leave after experiencing a particularly stressful tax season, with some firms stretched thin year-round, Ramirez said.

To compete with private companies, CPA firms offer health and wellness programs and other benefits, retirement programs, bonuses and commission on top of base pay.

The pandemic did have an impact on salaries, with more people working remotely for companies outside of California.

“It did take a talent pool out of the Valley, because people are going where the money is at and the flexible schedules,” Ramirez said.

Large, out-of-state companies are hiring remote workers from the Central Valley, paying them slightly more than local companies, he said.

To be more attractive to employees, private companies should reconsider their compensation base and bonuses — and compare it to companies in other major U.S. cities, Ramirez said.