How Tax & Accounting Firms Address Staffing Challenges
When talent is in short supply and forces current staff to work long hours year-round, those staffing challenges can be felt throughout the firm. The talent war impacting the tax and accounting profession wages on. Finding and keeping qualified talent continues to impact firms.
Here are ways top tax and accounting firms address staffing challenges.
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Contributing Factors to Staffing Strain
Understanding the contributing factors is the first step to addressing the challenges surrounding staffing. The demand is high for skilled professionals, but the supply can’t keep pace as firms compete for the best candidates. Some of the factors impacting the challenges firms face regarding staffing include:
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Pandemic Predicament
The pandemic created challenges as tax and accounting professionals were suddenly forced to work remotely. Employers found it necessary to adapt to the situation with technological solutions like the SafeSend Suite to automate tax processes and make the experience easier for both staff and clients as the demand for digital skills accelerated.
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“The trickiest part of the pandemic was our clients. SafeSend Returns allowed us to deliver to them, they could just review, e-sign, and get it back to us.” – Virginia Dennerlein, Director of Operations, Sax LLP
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Shifting Generations
Fewer Millennials and Gen Z are entering the tax and accounting profession—and they don’t have the same expectations as the baby boomers who continue to retire. Incoming employees have a lower level of loyalty to a single employer and place a higher emphasis on work-life balance and career development. This generational shift reflects a priority shift that technology addresses.
Automate your tax process with the SafeSend Suite and save time across the tax engagement process to provide staff with a healthier work-life balance. There is no longer a need to work excruciating hours when they can complete tasks quickly with the help of automated solutions, so they have time to rest and refresh.
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“I could expect to work 80-hour weeks on deadline weeks, and I don't come anywhere near that now. Now the admin team is working closer to 45-hour weeks because of SafeSend.” – Melody Young, Administrative Operations Manager, BMSS Advisors & CPAs
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Skills Gap
Tax and accounting professionals must constantly update their skills and knowledge as new technologies, regulations, and client needs continue to emerge. Bridging the skills gap between what employers need and the skills that employees possess—or can acquire—is a key factor in gaining an advantage in the staffing struggle. Top firms find the simple, straightforward automation solutions in SafeSend Returns, and other tools available in the SafeSend Suite, helpful in reducing errors and trimming tech stack as they level up their tax engagement strategies.
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4 Leading Ways Firms Ease the Staffing Struggle
The challenges in recruiting and retaining talent have a considerable impact on both firms and employees in the tax and accounting profession. Top firms are taking steps to diminish complexities and relieve staffing pain points.
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1. Focus on Retention
Firms feel the ripple effect of the higher turnover rates as their reputation, productivity, profitability, and client satisfaction are often negatively impacted. Implementing automation solutions eliminates repetitive tasks and reduces the heavy weight the admin team shoulders, creating a more suitable work environment for current staff.
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“SafeSend Returns saved our administrative team countless hours allowing them to help out in other areas of the firm and have time back with their families.” -- Benjamin Kramer, Senior Manager of IT Services, Friedman & Huey Associates LLP
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2. Balance Cost Increases
Firms are spending more to entice and retain talent with higher salaries and bonuses, more robust benefits, and better training. They also invest in talent by developing current employees and accommodating a remote work environment.
One way firms balance these cost increases is to reduce their tech stack and the costs associated with multiple vendors. Consolidation is beneficial for the bottom line, and firms find the single-source automation solution of the SafeSend Suite replaces multiple software packages. Simplifying processes for staff and providing a single, familiar, intuitive experience for clients is a win-win.
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“The SafeSend Suite had a big impact on our tax department workflow. We went from three or four electronic methods of delivery to just one very clean, streamlined process.” – Rob Morris, President, Robert W. Morris & Company P.C.
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3. Enhance Quality of Work
When staff is stretched thin, compliance issues or increased errors and delays can result in weakened client service which has a ripple effect throughout the firm. Firms adopting the SafeSend Suite automation solutions address client touchpoints across the tax engagement which eliminates data entry errors and streamlines workflow.
The SafeSend Suite dashboard tracks e-sign documents simplifying compliance and audit department processes. When you automate your tax process, staffing strain is reduced, work quality is increased, and client service is elevated.
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“The dashboarding piece of both SafeSend Signatures and the SafeSend Suite itself is a huge help. We can find all our consents by year, in 30 seconds.” – Russell Goldberg, Partner, Withum
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4. Seek Proven Solutions
Top firms leverage technology, foster culture, and offer flexibility to overcome staffing challenges and succeed. These strategies can help firms attract, retain, and develop the best talent in the market.
They also use the SafeSend Suite to support their efforts. The powerful functionality helps relieve staffing strain by reducing tedious tasks, paring down tech stack, and saving money as they gather the information needed to get tax ready, and assemble and deliver all the documents necessary to finish and file. Every client touch point across the tax engagement in addressed:
The talent war is a reality that the tax and accounting profession cannot ignore. Top firms leverage technology to their advantage—especially when looking for ways to alleviate the burden manual tasks place on their staff.
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About SafeSend?
SafeSend’s mission is to solve real-world firm problems through innovative automation technologies. We help tax and accounting practitioners work more efficiently and serve their clients better, while making their lives easier and work more enjoyable.
SafeSend offers several foundational automation software solutions within the SafeSend Suite?. Our flagship product, SafeSend Returns?, is a multi-year winner of the CPA Practice Advisor Technology Innovation Award and has redefined the way accounting firms assemble, deliver, and capture e-signatures from clients for completed tax return packages. Visit safesend.com to learn more about our technology solutions.
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