She answered a wide range of questions on the current and future state of human resources in public accounting.
What is the single biggest HR challenge currently facing your firm? I think it’s the same with every firm – recruiting and retention. Fewer people are going into accounting, and we’re not only competing with other public accounting firms, but with every other industry.
Where do you expect HR to be focusing most of its attention in the next two to three years? I think our focus isn’t going to vary too much from where we focus now – providing the best employee experience possible so that we can attract and retain top talent. If we focus on our culture, the retention stays strong. If we’re retaining our employees, attracting them is easier. It really all starts with culture.
What is the biggest issue or development related to compensation and benefits that your firm has faced recently? I think we pay competitively, and our benefits are in line or better than other firms our size. If there’s any issue, I would say people have worked very hard this last year and a half, and that was multiplied by needing more staff. We want to make sure we are rewarding them for that, and we have a way to do that through our incentive and other bonus programs.
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INSIDE Public Accounting (IPA) is a leader in practice management resources for the public accounting profession that include: the monthly practice management newsletter, the annual national practice management benchmarking reports, firmwide culture assessment and corresponding reports and training. IPA has assisted firms across North America grow and thrive since 1985.
