accounting jobs Archives - MoneyThumb

If You Have Accounting Skills You Are In High Demand

Denise Grier — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 11:49:44 +0000

Something unexpected has occurred since the pandemic began and that is instead of people not being able to find a job, jobs are not being able to find people to work. In this article from NBC News, it's reported that the number of job vacancies soared to nearly 15 million by mid-March, but discouraged, hesitant, and fearful job seekers mean many positions are still unfilled, according to new data from online job site ZipRecruiter.

There are also plenty of good reasons for workers to still hang back, from ongoing concerns about the coronavirus to childcare and managing remote learning, to family obligations, to hold out for better opportunities. Economic impact payments, or stimulus checks, have also played a factor for some who are sitting out the labor market, some employers say. Factory owners and employers lament that the generosity of unemployment benefits and stimulus payments have some workers avoiding returning to work because they make more money not working.

While other industries are experiencing challenges with talent acquisition, they are particularly acute in the financial services sector. "About a quarter of CEOs said they had already had to cancel or delay a key strategic initiative in the past 12 months because the right people were not available to execute it," this PwC report on the state of millennials in the financial sector states.

Globally, accounting and finance roles (certified accountants, auditors, financial analysts) ranked seventh out of 10 positions that are the hardest to fill. In the U.S., accounting and finance roles ranked fifth out of 10 jobs that are the hardest to fill. This article from Personiv states the following:

81% of finance leaders say they have difficulty finding accounting talent
71% say recruiting is top of mind
50% say that lower-level talent is the hardest to find

However, there is a flip side to this dilemma, and that is the lack of range of talent accounting job seekers possess. Even though accounting firms are having a hard time finding potential employees with accounting skills, the applicants often only have basic bookkeeping and tax preparation skills, which is no longer enough to fill the needs of accounting firms. In our modern times, an accountant must be much more than a bean counter.

An accounting professional needs to have data analysis and other technological skills. The majority of accountants work in business and are required to handle a broad range of responsibilities beyond taxes, including financial planning, analysis, forecasting, internal controls, and decision support. They are expected to be trusted advisors who can interpret the numbers to direct corporate strategy. With the advent of AI and other automation tools, potential employees of accounting firms must also be very tech-savvy.

So what is the solution from both parties, both the applicant for an accounting job and the accounting firm seeking talent? This article from Forbes states, "employers can make greater efforts to offer internships, as well as on-the-job training, mentoring and professional development support for employees, and they can ensure accounting and finance teams remain current in their knowledge of the profession."

From the job seeker standpoint, accounting professionals must be dedicated to becoming more than “number crunchers” by developing their own leadership, technological, and business skills – which can be accomplished through a combination of continuing education, mentoring, volunteerism, certification, internships, and apprenticeships.

Still, even though there are challenges for both accounting firms and accounting professionals looking for a job, the fact remains that if you have accounting talent you are definitely in high demand. To polish up your resume, the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb suggests you take the above advice so that you can obtain the best possible accounting position. Just look at any of the advice you follow as great preparation for a successful future.

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Accountants Beware: Sitting All Day is the New Smoking

Denise Grier — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:30:37 +0000

One thing accountants all have in common is that we sit most of the day. That is just the nature of the beast. In fact, any office job usually includes sitting at a computer or desk for the greatest portion of the workday.

Accountants Beware: Sitting All Day is the New Smoking

From an article at Huffington Post, "Dr. James Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk. Levine has been studying the adverse effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles for years and has summed up his findings in two sentences. “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death."

Levine is credited with coining that mantra — “sitting is the new smoking” — but he’s not the only one who believes it. Researchers have found and continue to find evidence that prolonged sitting increases the risk of developing several serious illnesses like various types of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Another reason the smoking analogy is relevant is that studies have repeatedly shown the effects of long-term sitting are not reversible through exercise or other good habits. Sitting, like smoking, is very clearly bad for our health and the only way to minimize the risk is to limit the time we spend on our butts each day."

Now for the Good News

There is a solution for accountants and other office workers who sit all day. Unlike smoking, which Dr. Levine compares to sitting too much, you can still sit and do your job while avoiding all of the terrible health risks from this occupational hazard.

This article from Life Hack has 15 great tips to stay healthy even if your job requires long periods of sitting. A few of the suggestions from the article are listed below:

1. Take Hourly Breaks.

Hours of working at your desk can take a toll on you body. Taking breaks helps you improve focus, according to this 2008 study, so they can improve performance. But long stretches of work can be hard on your body. According to Scientific American, “Maintaining unbroken focus or navigating demanding intellectual territory for several hours really does burn enough energy to leave one feeling drained.”

Take short breaks to ensure you maintain focus and help from feeling mentally and physically drained after work. You’ll get more done and have more energy to stay active when you’re not behind the desk.

2. Stretch or Move in Place.

Stretching at your desk can eliminate stress and offers many health benefits, according to the Mayo clinic. If you’re unsure how, the ultimate “Deskercise” routine is a great place to start.

3. Skip elevators & take the stairs.

Are you walking 10,000 steps a day? According to this study, 10,000 steps is a good amount that healthy adults should be taking. That’s going to be difficult if you’re at your desk all day. So skip the elevators and take the stairs. Park in the spot furthers from your office. Take the “scenic” route when you head to your desk. And find as many extra steps as you can throughout the day.

Or, there is another solution to the problem of sitting all day. (Some humor here from the Onion and the movie Office Space.)

The movie, OFFICE SPACE, became a cult-classic and a big part of the reason is the infamous scene from above, where the main character, when confronted with the fact that he had missed a lot of work in his review meeting, stated, for calmly, "No, I wouldn't say I've been missing it."

In other words, you could do like he did and just stop showing up at all. In tandem with this particular silly idea is this hilarious piece from the Onion, (which most of us know is pure parody) Health Experts Recommend Standing Up at Desk, Leaving Office, Never Coming Back. Here is just a small sample of the piece, “We encourage Americans to experiment with stretching their legs by strolling across their office and leaving all their responsibilities behind forever just one time to see how much better they feel. People tend to become more productive, motivated, and happy almost immediately. We found that you can also really get the blood flowing by pairing this activity with hurling your staff ID across the parking lot.” Sparks added that Americans could maximize positive effects by using their lunch break to walk until nothing looks familiar anymore and your old life is a distant memory."

Just a simple reminder that keeping your sense of humor when you have an accounting or other job requiring lots of sitting is pretty important too. 🙂

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