Staffing Woes: The 404 Talent War
2004; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 198; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)Human Resource and Talent Management
Resumoword on the street is Hold onto your staff any way you can. Employees are being lured away with promises of greener pastures, which translate into workplace flexibility and money. Sounds like an old story, but there's a new twist: Section 404, Sarbanes-Oxley's guidance for managing internal controls, is fueling the fire. The war for talent is heating up, says Leslie Murphy, managing partner--client services, Plante & Moran, a regional firm in Southfield, Michigan. Our professionals are being heavily recruited and receive numerous calls from headhunters seeking experienced CPAs. ante on referral bonuses has increased as much as $7,000 at some Murphy says that Sarbanes-Oxley, especially the extra requirements imposed by section 404, has put a tremendous talent pressure on CPA firms that audit public companies. In fact some of these firms are turning away business and letting go of smaller public clients, increasing opportunities for firms of all sizes. This new demand, however, is causing an immediate staffing shortage. The phenomenon is a double-edged sword, she says. opportunities for public accounting firms are endless as long as you hold onto your staff. Rule 404 is a huge human resources concern for public companies and their auditors, agrees Chuck Landes, AICPA director of audit and attest services. From the senior to the manager level, experienced CPAs are needed to document and test internal control systems as rule 404 becomes effective. Companies need extra CPAs to implement and manage section 404's guidance over internal controls, and CPA firms need to adequately staff their client engagements. result is a Rubik's Cube effect on staffing, with companies hiring people away from CPA firms and firms hiring away from one another. Local, regional and national firms are actively recruiting to handle the extra compliance work and staff new business. William E. Balhoff, audit and consulting director at Postlethwaite & Netterville, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, notes that Rule 404 has given more work to our profession with the same number of staff to go around. Adding to the crisis, says Lauren Malensek, chief human resources officer of the regional firm Clifton Gunderson (CG) in Peoria, Illinois, is the fact that the baby boomer generation is getting ready to retire. Experts such as Bruce Tulgan, author of Generational Shift: What We Saw at the Workplace Revolution, predict a shortage of workers. By 2006, Tulgan estimates, two experienced workers will leave the workforce for every new worker who enters it. Attracting and retaining qualified staff is not a new concern for firms. In fact it has been their top management concern for several years, but keeping that talent trained, motivated and inspired is another matter altogether. Skimming the surface of employees' needs on an ad hoc basis might not be the best approach. In a PCPS survey of top talent conducted in 2000, 88% of respondents called respect for work/life issues the no. …
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