Pay increment has always remained a major point of discussion in accountants office. As compared to 2 years earlier, senior accountants are getting approx 50% increase in their salaries, while the juniors are getting 25% more. The salary range is continuing to increase and seems like there is no slow-down.
In the aftermath of COVID situation, most of the professionals are preferring shorter commutes and flexible work situations. As a result, there is a trend of shifting of people to smaller cities. Accounting firms are increasing the pay of their staff so as to avoid labour shortage and secure their continuity.
Is higher pay the right solution during labour shortage?
Higher pay is not considered as the right but a short-term resolution. Accounting leaders have predicted that the shortage for workforce is going to persist for the next 4-5 years. Now, taking this into account, small and mid-level companies will not be able to offer expected increase in pay for long.
Furthermore, due to wage and other inflation, job switching is on the rise and people are opting for companies that pay higher. This results in understaffing and overload on current staff that leads to stress and even more people quitting.
What is the option then?
Outsourcing can ease staffing issues. For the unversed, outsourcing is taking a service from third-party which is being done internally by the company.
Outsourcing allows you to create instant teams providing productive work in a short period of time. It also frees the existing staff from routine compliance work enabling them to learn/employ themselves at client facing roles. This itself builds up job satisfaction in the existing team helping firms to retain them for a longer period.
It also allows accounting firms to access wide range of expertise across a spectrum of businesses.
End Result: Improved business efficiency and business continuity with costs savings.
A few tips for Outsourcing
- Outline the scope of the job to give you a fair idea of the cost
- Get an outsourcing agreement signed
- Identify KPIs. Ensure that both parties agree on work-performance standards
- Set a procedure of ending the agreement – the process, duration and more.
Sapphire outsourcing is one of the early adopters of cloud computing. Apart from using all cloud-based accounting systems such as SAGE, IRIS, QuickBooks etc, Sapphire has developed its own enterprise software platform to manage workflow & increase productivity & customer satisfaction. Sapphire is pioneer in adopting new technologies to help you achieve digital transformation in your accounting department. Get in touch with us for enabling digitalisation in your business.
