3 tips to make hiring audit & assurance professionals easier

Audit professionals are often in short supply and this talent pool is frequently presented with many competing (often better paid) opportunities. Organisations need to embrace any advantage they can find to successfully attract & retain this key talent.

Acolyte has guided the talent strategies of some of the world’s leading accounting firms, generating unprecedented talent market data and insight. This information has shown us three ways organisations can improve their ability to fill these challenging roles.

1. Understand what motivates audit & assurance talent

Understanding what motivates Audit professionals is critical. Knowing what matters to them allows you to build a working environment & value proposition that they find appealing.

Auditors are professional, independent, and intelligent. They are naturally inquisitive and are excellent problem solvers. They are attracted to firms that offer exposure to industries and clients that enhance their experience and progression.

Other primary motivating factors are:

• Constant learning & support for development of skills
• A clear path for promotion/progression
• Mentorship from senior staff
• A collaborative team environment

Download this financial auditor talent profile to learn more about what motivates audit & assurance talent 

2. Defence might be the best form of attack

On average, only 48% of audit talent at top tier accountancy firms is retained post-qualification.

While this attrition of audit staff is expected, it is understood that maximising retention is key to ensuring that there are sufficient qualified auditors available to meet departmental objectives. Poor retention increases pressure on the organisation to find other sources of talent.

Higher retention rates are possible though. For example, RSM have achieved retention of 66% (See our full audit talent report for more details).

To try and maximise your retention you should evaluate what you are able to offer Audit professionals in each of these areas:

• Company & Culture
• Career & Development
• Reward & Recognition
• Office & Environment
• Responsibilities & Experience

Ensuring you can offer a role that appeals in each of these key areas may only shift your retention by 10%, but even this would likely still be of huge value.  

3. Look Overseas

The shortage of audit and assurance talent in the UK is undermining client delivery and impacting revenues. Traditional sources of audit & assurance talent are failing to keep up with demand.

Employers are increasingly looking to access the outstanding pools of talent available globally to meet their current talent requirements. On average, major accounting firms now source about a third of their audit talent from overseas.

EY, for example, now source 59% of their regional audit talent from abroad.

The most popular countries to recruit audit talent from are:

1. South Africa
2. India
3. Nigeria

Next Steps

For more information on how the top accounting firms are approaching the audit & assurance talent challenge – download this report.

If you are interested in help solving your audit recruiting challenges, book a demo of our solutions, or get in touch today.

*Acolyte Audit Talent Report