Why Remote Hiring is The Answer to Your Staffing Shortage

I wanted to address the number one question we get from CPA Firms clients: why is it so hard to hire into CPA firms, and give you the answer you need to hear, even if you don’t want to hear it. 

So, why is it so hard to hire experienced tax and audit into CPA firms?

Changes in the labor supply and in candidate preferences have fundamentally changed the talent market: CPA firms should expect it to be very hard to hire local, experienced talent for years and maybe decades.

Hiring in your market is no longer a reliable option.

There is no amount of money you can spend on social media, on advertising, on job boards or even with headhunters to fill local CPA jobs reliably.  We tried, believe me.  In building Accountingfly, we had access to every CPA in the U.S. and presented them with local career options. The trends in labor supply held true and it didn’t work reliably. 

Plan on 50% of your future tax and audit hires not living in your location

Letting your staff work from home locally doesn’t mean you are remote.  Hiring a CPA in another city or state…that’s remote.  If you stop caring where your staff works and make the internal changes to support remote hires, you can acquire better talent more quickly and at a lower cost.  

Why?  Going remote gives you access to a much bigger talent pool–you’re hiring the best candidates in the country, not settling for the limited pool of available candidates in your market.   Plus, you’re giving the ultimate perq in flexible remote work, which makes your job more attractive to today’s candidates.  

How does Accountingfly help?

We placed our first remote hire in 2015.  Since then we’ve placed hundreds of permanent and freelance CPAs at our client firms.  Our expertise can help your firm avoid the learning curve and solve your talent problems efficiently and cost-effectively.