The Global Accounting Shortage | BTalk

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Tony Cherbak

(Episode 426; 10 minutes 46) Have you noticed that there are fewer accountants these days? Where have they all gone? Companies cut hard in the finance department during the economic downturn, which means there's a lot of finance people out of work. Many of those who are left are overworked and overstressed.

Now the economic outlook is more positive companies are ready to take on more finance people, particularly to help with project work. For some accountants this might be the opportunity to switch from an in-house job to a career as a contractor. If you're an accountant now is the time to come out of hiding and make the most of the opportunity.

Although working on temporary assignments sounds like a fundamental attitudinal shift for a profession that I would have thought prefers the security of a permanent job. But, as Tony Cherbak, President and COO at Resources Global Professionals, remind us in today's BTalk, there's no such thing as a permanent job anymore.

So if you've got a career in corporate accounting, now might be the opportunity to make a change.

• Transcript

Phil Dobbie: Hello. I'm Phil Dobbie. This is BTalk. And, today, the global financial crisis is feeling much better now, thank you very much. That means time to ramp things up. But hang on. Where are all those people who look after the spreadsheets?
Well, there's a shortage of accountants apparently. Now some people might say look, is that really a problem? But yes, of course it is. And clever accountants, as we know, don't just report on the figures. They're a bit more proactive than that. They have a big influence on how a business operates or how projects are managed. So why this shortfall of accountants, first of all? Tony Cherbak is the president and COO at Resources Global Professionals. Now obviously, Tony, the financial crisis has had a bit to do with this. So how severe is this accounting shortage?
Tony Cherbak: Well, Phil, I think, you know, you're absolutely right. The global financial crisis had the effect of a lot of companies having to cut costs. Where they looked to cut cost is, you know, across an organisation. But it's certainly impacted the finance groups of many companies. So we saw an awful lot of layoffs in response to the global financial crisis. Companies cut so deep that now they're looking to outside help to try to help them get through their year-end closing of the books, reporting on their financial statements to the regulatory bodies. And in many cases they found themselves with a shortage, and they've had to look outside the company to get the help that they need to get through these times.

Dobbie: Right. And I guess also companies are starting to ramp up their activity a little bit now as well. And so I guess you do need finance experts to help with the numbers whenever you're looking at any projects. Otherwise, it's a recipe for disaster.
Cherbak: Absolutely. And what we've seen a lot of companies do to respond is, you know, they've tried to keep as much of their work in-house as possible, but that only lasts for so long. They've tried to take, if they cut, just by using just numbers by example. If they cut ten jobs and have five left, they've tried to take the work of those ten people and put it on the five remaining. And that can be done for a short period of time. But over a period of time people can only work so many 80-hour weeks before they've got to look to the outside for additional help.

Dobbie: Right. So these people who were working in the finance department who unfortunately lost their jobs, I imagine a lot of those are going to be looking for permanent gigs, aren't they? There's not going to be too many of them who are saying well look, I'm going to work on contract. Or do you think a lot have just accepted that that's the way of the world today?
Cherbak: Well, you know, again it kind of comes down to what really is the definition of a permanent job. A lot of times if employees think that they have a permanent job at a particular company, they have found very quickly that when times get tough that permanent job isn't so permanent.

Dobbie: Yes.
Cherbak: On the other hand, sometimes when companies feel that they've got a permanent workforce, when times get better and there's much more competition in the marketplace, they can see a fleeting group of people looking to do something better. So there are definitely I think a lot of people in the environment right now taking temporary or more flexible positions. And that's just the way of the world as we see it right now.

Dobbie: Right. But we tend to think of accountants as being people who like security, you know. They play it safe. The idea of saying well, okay, I'm out of work now. So what I'm going to do is choose what some might say is still a riskier path of almost becoming a hired gun. It takes a certain type of accountant, doesn't it really? I mean you need a particular type of personality if that's the road you're going to go down.
Cherbak: Yes. It's not for everyone. But what we see in our business particularly, and some of the consultants that we have in the business, we see somebody that is looking for a lifestyle change. They're looking to avoid corporate politics. And they're looking for a situation that allows them to control their own destiny. They still like challenges. They still like to be intellectually stimulated. And some of the project work that our consultants deliver to our clients is very fulfilling to them. They're helping a client solve a problem or solve an internal initiative, and then moving on to the next challenge. So the variety is very attractive. And trying to, having a say over what company that they work on I think is also very beneficial to them.

Dobbie: Yes. Bringing people in from outside for any business I think is always good, particularly for project work. Because you bring a whole range of experience which might not have been nurtured in your business. And I can see that applies for lots of particular professions. Finance I would have thought less so though, because I mean they're still numbers people at the end of the day. And a number is a number, isn't it?
Cherbak: Well, still, numbers people, they certainly have a background in technical accounting. But it's more than just finance. You know, oftentimes we think of finance as just closing the books and reporting on the numbers. But it's really much more widespread and diverse in terms of the projects that they work on. We're seeing many companies right now embark on global finance transformation projects. You know, the deals with changing their processes and their procedures.

Dobbie: Yes.
Cherbak: Maybe putting in shared services centres to try to take a little bit of cost out of the organisations. That seems to be a real trend right now, and it takes experienced finance people to work on those projects.

Dobbie: So they're becoming almost like systems people as well. Process people.
Cherbak: Definitely being introduced to varied skill sets. IT is certainly a big part of it. But again, if you have an experienced finance person. And, you know, we always tell our clients to hire talent first before experience. And a talented person can figure out virtually any discipline within a company, whether it's IT or whether it's just strictly finance and what they've been trained with in school.

Dobbie: Right. So clearly it's the role of the accountant is changing. It sounds like there are some real benefits in taking someone from outside. Because perhaps they will be a little bit more proactive in their approach.
Cherbak: I think the biggest benefit to clients is having intellectual capital-on-demand. They might have a particular project that is discrete in terms of its length and its ultimate goal. And being able to bring in experienced professionals on a temporary basis to do a project like that has the company avoid hiring a person full-time, including all of the benefits in their cost structure. And again they can, if they're doing it on a flexible basis, they can find exactly the right skill set that they need on a temporary basis. Whereas again, if you bring in people on a full-time basis you might have, it might not be as efficient in that particular case.

Dobbie: Right. Now if you are a trained accountant who's perhaps out of work or looking for a job. Or maybe someone who's just, you know, not enjoying where you're working now, if you went down this road of becoming a consultant I guess, are you going to make more money out of it? Or about the same? Or are you going to have to take a bit of a salary cut?
Cherbak: I think in many cases they can actually make more money. Because in a traditional, what you would consider a traditional permanent position, they're getting paid a particular salary and that salary is good for how many ever hours they work. So if they're working 50-60 hour weeks they're still getting paid the same. Some of these project accountants will go into a company and they will get a particular hourly rate. So it's somewhat instant gratification. They see the results of their labour every paycheck that they get. And if they're working 160 hours they get paid for 160 hours. As opposed to just the same salary no matter how many hours they work. So it can be very financially rewarding.

Dobbie: Right. Now companies like yours, I mean we're expecting quite a big bounce back, particularly in this part of the world, in the early part of this year. And I think the rest of the world is, you know, reasonably bullish for the second half of 2010. Do the accountants exist? Are they on your books, for example? Can you meet the demand?
Cherbak: We believe, you know, our company in particular is, you know, one of our strengths is whatever our clients need, whatever our clients come to in terms of project work. We have a worldwide network and we're pretty good at recruiting skill sets on a real-time basis if we don't have them currently in-house. We do have several consultants, a large group of consultants on our books. Again they get paid based upon the hours that they work for our clients. But we do give them benefits at the same time. So we've got a good stable of current accountants. And when we don't have the specific skill sets in-house, we're very, very good at recruiting them throughout our worldwide network on a real-time basis.

Dobbie: Right. So there's not a shortage of accountants. It's just there's a shortage of employed accountants right now. But they're still there. There's a stock of them waiting to find the right place. And the future for them might be a series of temporary assignments, is really what you're saying.
Cherbak: Yes, that's absolutely right. And again, as you mentioned at the beginning of our talk, Phil, it's not for everybody. But generally our people tend to be a little bit more experienced. They tend to have an average of 18 to 20 years of experience. They've been the corporate route. They've been with the Big Four. They don't like the politics and again, they're a little bit entrepreneurial. They like to control their own destiny. So that makes it attractive to that certain group of people.

Dobbie: Yes. Absolutely. Well, I mean I was horrified to hear that many accountants, you know, might actually be out of work. And I was wondering if there are charities that I can give to to help them. But it sounds like I don't need to bother. It sounds like there's a rosy future for them ahead.
Cherbak: I think one thing that when you're going through school, one of the paths that you can take if you decide to go into accounting, you're generally always assured of having good opportunities out there. Because in good times or bad times you either account for the profits or you account for the losses. So generally accountants are always in demand. Sometimes when we hit a big crisis like we just did, you know, there might be a temporary hit to that to the employment rate for the accountants. But they generally will bounce back quicker than other skills or other disciplines.

Dobbie: Right. Well, gee, that's a relief isn't it? Tony Cherbak, thank you very much for your time today.
Cherbak: Thanks a lot, Phil. It was a pleasure talking to you.

Dobbie: Right. Because I do worry about these accountants, you know. I think you've got to look out for them.