The biggest reason behind the high turnover rate in the accounting and bookkeeping industry is that firms are always on the lookout for talent. Since the focus on retention is comparatively less, most CPAs and accounting firms find it hard to retain talent. That’s why retention of positive and motivated staff is paramount.

Employee retention strategies help accounting firms, CPAs, and even fintech startups boost productivity, promote higher levels of engagement, achieve positive work culture, increase revenue, and decrease transitions and employment gaps – all of which are critical for business growth and sustainability.

But the question is how exactly to retain top accounting talent. In this blog, Finsmart Accounting – an offshore accounting firm trusted by CPAs for outsourcing to India – will share useful employee retention strategies to boost employees’ job satisfaction and hold onto valued workers in 2023.

Are you ready to learn about them? Let’s go!

#1 Get serious about training and mentoring 

A lot of accounting firms and CPAs say that their staff is as important as their clients but the bleak reality is that only a few walk the talk. Many talented employees leave an organization when they feel that there are limited opportunities for learning and career advancement.

Therefore, get serious about training and mentoring your employees. By this, we don’t mean showing how you did it but rather displaying what they can do. Adopt a university-style approach to employee training.

Enable and encourage the professional growth and development of your existing employees by giving feedback, sharing experience, and providing career support. These simple actions will increase employee satisfaction and talent retention.

#2 Be transparent 

Transparency is important for long-lasting business relationships but it’s equally critical for modern accountants and bookkeepers. A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity among accounting staff. According to Paychex, nearly 90% of workers believe that it is appropriate to demand transparency regarding growth and opportunities.

Therefore, accounting firms and CPAs should show the staff how their work impacts the organization. Here are ideas you can work with:

• Let them know how exactly their career path appears to be in your company.
• Hold an Ask Me Anything session once a month to let employees share questions they wouldn’t normally have a chance to ask.
• Involve them in decision-making.

When your employees will feel they are being treated fairly and honestly, they’ll stick around and go the whole nine yards for your accounting firm. Simple yet effective employee retention tip. Isn’t it?

Accounting Seat from Finsmart has done wonders for hundreds of accounting firms in the USA. Check out what this accounting firm has to say about us:

#3 Give regular feedback 

Ken Blanchard once said, “Feedback is the breakfast for champions”. We 100% agree with this! Feedback promotes professional growth among the accounting workforce. With timely feedback sessions, employees will learn what exactly they ought to work on for company and career goals. Feedback can boost your staff’s morale and imbue a greater sense of job satisfaction in your organization.

Most accounting firms and CPAs either conduct employee surveys once a year or make the feedback practice part of their annual performance reviews. Trust us, both ways aren’t adequate to keep existing talent engaged and happy. We suggest giving regular feedback instead. Not only will it allow you to help improve employee retention in your practice but also help your team of bookkeepers address issues before they turn into a problem.

Helpful strategies to expand accounting business

#4 Recognize employees 

Just like most workers, bookkeepers also need recognition to stay motivated, inspired, and productive. A simple way to recognize your in-house accountants and staff is to send them a handwritten THANK YOU note or candid email. A simple yet effective employee retention tactic!

Thanking an employee publicly during a meeting can also do wonders. Using this talent retention strategy, you will motivate team members who haven’t yet been recognized for their work and contributions. If you have the budget, monetary rewards are great motivators. If you don’t have a big one, then, go for performance certificates or ‘star of the month awards!

#5 Establish a great communication

One of the most important employee retention strategies for accounting firms, CPAs, and startups to consider in 2023. All of us are familiar with the discrepancy between what is said and what is heard, whether it is between colleagues or employee-manager.

Don’t believe us? Let’s say you asked your employees to turn in accounting data for a client by Friday. It may seem like an example of good communication but in reality, your workers might think that they have to deliver the data by 5.00 PM when you actually need it by 10.00 AM on Friday. This mismatch of deadlines is caused by poor communication.

Poor communication between management and its employees leads to an unpredictable work environment, weak collaboration, professional conflicts, and also low morale. Establish great communication and write out project descriptions in detail. Check-in regularly with employees and ask how things are. If there are any workplace concerns, set aside time each week and address them properly.

#6 Training and development 

Since we told you to recognize your employees and provide regular feedback on their performance, it also makes sense to support them with career growth. Make arrangements to support everyone interested in attending accounting conferences and virtual events. Assign a mentor to every new team member so that they become familiar with the company ethos and work processes easily. Put simply, we are asking you to invest some time and money in their training and development.

When you help your employees grow professionally and build leadership skills, their confidence at work will be bolstered. This confidence will then translate into better company performance and a low retention rate.

Useful tips to scale up accounting business during peak tax periods

#7 Flexible work arrangements 

Even though most accounting firms and CPAs have re-opened offices after the pandemic, workers have seen the practicality of the work-from-home model. Completely doing away with WFH may irk some accounting professionals. Don’t believe us? According to a survey conducted by FlexJobs, 57% of employees prefer to leave their job if their company wouldn’t offer them a remote work option.

Offering remote work options can benefit CPAs and accounting companies that want to retain top talent. Don’t want to allow your employees to work from home on a permanent basis? No problem. Try a compressed workweek and flextime. These options will help lessen the pressure on your team and boost employee retention.

Employee retention for CPAs and accounting firms

Above are some useful employee retention strategies for accounting firms, CPAs, and finance startups to consider in 2023. Always remember that an unhappy employee with jump ship at the most convenient time without considering business needs. So, it pays to work on employee engagement and well-being.

The aforementioned strategies will help you retain finance and accounting talent, create a positive workplace culture, improve manager-employee relations, and avoid a high turnover rate.

Got any queries to ask? Send them to info@finsmartaccounting.com and have them answered by our experts.

Also read:

Everything covered about FaaS accounting

Ensure data confidentiality and security for offshore accounting clients

Statutory compliances in payroll

Useful tips for raising funds for startups

Accounting and payroll services for Indian entities

Accounts payable and receivable services in India

The post 7 Employee Retention Strategies for Accounting firms and CPAs appeared first on Finsmart Accounting-international.

In this blog, Finsmart Solutions will share tips to keep in mind while outsourcing accounting services to India for your business or CPA firm. Read on to discover agency hiring ideas that will help you switch to outsourced accounting and bookkeeping. Let’s get started:

Tips for outsourcing accounting services in India

#1 Identify requirements

Requirements will define the goals of your accounting outsourcing and help bring the best of its utility and benefits. If your CPA bookkeeping and accounting needs aren’t clear, you might end up picking the wrong engagement model while outsourcing accounting services to India. Or you may end up hiring the wrong accounting resources!

Therefore, our first and foremost tip for businesses is to identify your accounting and financial requirements. Ask yourself why you need to outsource accounting services. Is it because:

• You don’t want to pay a full-time accountant’s salary

• You are spending a lot of time on accounting functions and are unable to focus on other critical business aspects.

• Your bookeeping or accounting firm is growing rapidly and you need fast scalability for financial functions

• You want to minimise errors, automate payroll management, and benefit from modern accounting technologies.

Pick a notebook and list down your reasons for outsourcing accounting services in India. This will give you a better perspective on your outsourcing needs.

#2 Be clear about expectations

They say when the WHY is clear, the HOW becomes easy. This means that when you are clear about your expectations and scope of work, your outsourced accounting and bookeeping partner will be in a better position to address your business goals and recommend correct accounting solutions.

Want a robust reporting system for your accounting firm? Ask your potential accounting vendor about the same. Want accounting for CPAs help on an hourly basis? Mention the same in the very beginning. Be open about your business accounting goals and tell potential service providers what exactly you are trying to achieve while outsourcing accounting services in India.

#3 Decide engagement model

Accounting outsourcing companies across the globe work with multiple engagement models. Below three are the most popular:

Dedicated accounting seat: In this engagement model, the accounting and bookkeeping team works dedicatedly for you.

Hourly accounting seat: In this engagement model favoured by small businesses, business owners get access to specific hours of accounting support.

US tax sheet: This engagement model brings support for tax return preparations and filing.

At Finsmart, we specialise in the ‘bookkeepers on subscription’ engagement model. While vetting outsourcing accounting partners in India, the USA, or anywhere in the world, we also recommend putting your trust in stringent paperwork!

#4 Choose expertise, always

Even if you have rightly chosen outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services in India, there will be a lot of pricing options to choose from. And let’s be honest here, engaging an experienced team of accountants and bookkeepers that will bring professionalism and prompt support to the table won’t come at super low pricing.

If you are hiring an accounting team in India for monthly support, paying anything between 1500 and 2000 USD is practical. An hourly accounting seat in India on the other hand will cost anything between 15 and 20 USD per hour.

Partner with an established outsourcing accounting company in India to get the best expertise.

#5 Experience and reputation

This is one of the most important tips to consider while outsourcing accounting services in India. Since you will be spending a lot of time and resources on accounting outsourcing for your business or CPA firm, signing an agreement with the company won’t be enough. You have to make sure that your offshore accounting vendor has vast experience and an unmatched reputation.

Going through the websites of shortlisted accounting outsourcing vendors is a good place to start. Read online reviews to get a reasonable idea of their market reputation and discover references as well. Ask for client references to double-check expertise and professionalism.

#6 Confirm data security

Jodi Rell once said, “At the end of the day, the goals are simple – safety and security.” She is 100% right even in the accounting sense. Ensure that your partner outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping company in India has customer data safety and security measures in place to protect critical business and financial data. This is super crucial for CPA firms.

Discuss security measures in place and technologies being used for accounting and bookkeeping. For example, “what procedures are followed to keep track of the location and propagation of my clients’ accounting data” is a good question to start the data safety conversation.

#7 Good communication

Lack of communication causes unmet expectations and lots of errors. Therefore, it’s important that all the critical business aspects are communicated clearly. India is a popular accounting and bookkeeping outsourcing destination because English is widely spoken by local financial professionals and most CPA firms across the globe prefer the same.

Having it all in writing will also greatly help in avoiding miscommunication. For every day or weekly communication, use modern communication and collaboration tools to keep everything streamlined. This is how truly global CPA and accounting firms function!

Outsource accounting services to India

Above are some useful tips and ideas to keep in mind while outsourcing accounting services in India. Hiring an offshore accounting company for your business or CPA firm generates great value, especially when your business goal is to optimise accounting operations and reduce overhead costs.

Yes, the outsourcing process is going to take some time, but we are certain that with patience and thorough research, you will arrive at the best choice for your business or accounting firm.

Got any queries to ask? Send them to info@finsmartaccounting.com and have them answered by our accounting experts.

Check out these services as well if you operate or want to scale in India:

Outsourced payroll services in India

India entry services for global MNCs

The post Outsourcing Accounting Services to India? Here are 7 Things to Keep in Mind appeared first on Finsmart Accounting-international.