Staff shortages also stymied the growth of Sydney-based firm Murchisons – which increased revenue by 12 per cent last financial year – director James Murchison said.
“Our growth was limited by available new professional staff and staff retention during the year.”
Successful recruitment in the later part of last financial year had eased pressure a bit, he added, but the firm was still “carrying a considerable backlog of work into the new year”.
Shortages were felt across the board. At the top end of town, open roles at the big four consulting firms have roughly halved since mid-2022, according to LinkedIn job ads, but still surpass 500 per firm.
Mid-tier firms had vacancies averaging in the double digits – BDO have about 100 unfilled positions, for example, while Grant Thornton has 87 and William Buck 60. Almost every other Top 100 firm also had at least a handful of open roles.
Thomas Hopper & Partners has had a specialist recruiter trying to fill a senior management role for more than 12 months and was paying staff 10 per cent above what the big four accounting firms offered in a bid to attract talent.
“We have been under resourced all year and unable to fill vacant positions in each of our three offices, despite advertising and engaging recruitment agencies,” the firm’s managing partner Steven Dadich said.
Clients were “very understanding” of issues caused by the shortages – especially when absences were due to COVID-19 – but he worried about the consequences of ongoing understaffing to his workforce.
“Fatigue due to long hours and continuous high workloads eventually cause inefficiencies.”
Financial controller of Melbourne accounting firm Blaze Acumen, Andrew Hogan, reiterated these concerns: “Staff turnover contributed significantly to business disruption and delays in being able to meet client and ATO deadlines,” he said.
Mr Hogan said that he anticipated the firm would rebuild its staff numbers in 2023, but that there had been “a notable lack of available resources for professional staff” throughout Victoria.
Staffing woes top client concerns
Clients struggling with their own staff shortages also added to the strain as they turned to their accountants to help fill gaps.
“We are seeing continual requests from clients for the secondment of staff to fill their vacancies at the very same time as we are struggling to recruit sufficient skilled candidates,” head of Lombardi Partners, Norman Elliott, said.
The firm was the third-fastest growing of the Top 100 last financial year, with revenue jumping 62.4 per cent to $7.4 million, but Mr Elliott said that retention and recruitment of staff as “all levels across the business” was a significant challenge.
Nearly 70 per cent of the Top 100 accounting outfits said that staffing – whether struggles to fill roles or cost pressures from having to drastically increase salaries to attract and retain workers – was the biggest issue currently facing their clients.
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“Recruitment, the war on talent – whatever you call it, even our clients are finding the hunt for talent and accessing skilled labour is keeping them awake at night,” Hood Sweeney managing director Marisa Riccio said.
Brentnalls chairman Matthew Holden added: “Labour supply issues are the number one, two and three issues keeping our clients awake at night. It seems to be industry-agnostic and limiting growth aspects of otherwise aspirational businesses.”
Clients’ staffing concerns for clients were “two-fold”, Ulton managing partner Mark McLean also warned, as business owners juggled workforce shortages with financial strain from pressure to increase wages.
Correction: This article originally referenced Murray Nankivell & Associates offering pay 10 per cent above the big four instead of Thomas, Hopper & Partners. This has been corrected.
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