What Every Business Should Know About Hiring Skilled Accountants

In today’s vast economic landscape, every business can benefit from having a talented accountant on their side. Whether you have someone on your team full-time or you bring in a freelancer during busy periods like tax season, it’s essential to have a professional who knows their stuff when it comes to taxes and finances. 

Some companies might think they can manage their finances on their own with the rise of AI and tax software, but the truth is, accountants bring a unique value that technology just can’t replace.

If you’re on the hunt for an accountant to join your crew, you definitely want to find the best fit. But figuring out what makes an accountant truly “the best” can be tricky, especially if you’re not super familiar with the finance and accounting scene.

To help you navigate the process of hiring skilled accountants, here’s a friendly guide to everything you should keep in mind when looking for CPAs.

Let’s begin!

Key Takeaways

• Understanding how to take help from professionals 
• Looking at the skills you need the most 
• Discovering the best aspects of an interview 
• Discussing how to hire the right accountant

Find Help in Hiring From the Professionals

If you’re just on the hunt for an accountant to hop on your team or to handle your taxes, it’s totally fine to try a few different people out. If someone doesn’t vibe well or does a messy job, you can easily find a replacement without it hurting your business too much.

But when it comes to hiring someone to lead your accounting department or step into a CFO role, the pressure’s on. You really can’t risk bringing in a candidate who lacks the necessary skills for such an important position.

The hiring process for higher-ranking positions is sometimes too involved to complete in-house, so experts recommend working with an executive search company. The professionals at StevenDouglas explain that firms like theirs use a vetting process developed over 40 years of experience to go through local and national markets. That way, they can guarantee that a CPA or CFO has the right skillset for a leadership position.

For a lower-ranking position, an executive search company may not be the right fit, but you can still outsource the hiring process to a recruiter or HR consulting firm specializing in accounting and finance. They will know how to vet candidates to make sure only the ones with the right skills are called for interviews.

Interesting Facts 

This infographic shows the availability percentage of jobs in the accounting sector

Identify Which Skills You Need

Every accountant worth their salt is a skilled accountant. However, not every accountant has the right skills for your business. A candidate can be very good at what they do, but not be a good fit for your business because they have a very different skillset from what your company demands.

In order to streamline the hiring process for both yourself and prospective candidates, it is essential to delineate the specific skills your organization requires from an accountant prior to formulating a job listing. This approach ensures that only suitably qualified candidates will submit applications, and it provides a mutually agreed-upon set of criteria that can be utilized to assess potential hires. The absence of clear criteria can complicate the process for all parties involved and may lead to dissatisfaction during the recruitment phase.

Make it clear that you are hiring an accountant for your business. Business accounting and personal accounting are two very different things. Someone who has years of experience helping personal clients file their taxes will not necessarily be the best accountant for your business.

Common skills that most business accountants need to have include financial reporting, budget forecasting, and an understanding of business plans. If it’s your first time hiring an accountant, look at listings for similar companies to see what skills they require from candidates.

Tailor the Interview Process to the Position

One common mistake businesses make when recruiting is using the same interview process for all positions. Since every position requires different skills and competencies, you need to adjust the interview process to the position you are hiring for.

Technical competencies are very important to modern accounting since a lot of financial work is done using different spreadsheets and programs. Besides a traditional interview, where you gauge a candidate’s work experience and company fit, add a technical test where you can evaluate how well they perform in a mock work setting.

Although businesses want to thoroughly evaluate each candidate before hiring someone, be careful not to stretch the interview process too much. Skilled accountants are in high demand, and you don’t want to lose out on a qualified candidate because your recruiting process took too long.

Interesting Facts 

The median annual salary for accountants and auditors in the U.S. is around $78,000, with higher earnings for specialized roles like Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Most roles require a bachelor’s degree, and certification can improve job prospects. 

Hiring the Right Accountant for Your Business

Before beginning the recruitment process for a skilled accountant, tailor your job description and interview process accordingly. You want to find someone with the right skills to fit into your company, which means adjusting your hiring process.

For higher-ranking positions, the stakes are higher. The best option is to outsource recruitment to an executive search firm that has experience hiring CFOs and other finance officers and knows how to find the right candidate. 

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