Making Money from Accountancy Practices.
Probably the most stable and easy to work market.

The Accountancy Practice Market

Why accountancy practice recruitment is a lucrative sector. 

1. Inflation. Firms can't keep increasing staff salaries. So candidates get rises by moving.

2. Firms of a similar size do pretty much same thing makes transfers easy.

3. Shortage of candidates to go around.

4. Accountant drop outs are less than 3% in first year.

5.Competition relys on advert responses alone. No innovations, USPs.

6.In turbulent economic times the profession is secure and always has demand outstripping supply. Commerce and industry will seem attractive but actually pays less overall and if course often downsize. So easy to blow that option out.

7.Not perfect fits mean only skilled sales people thrive. CV pushers suffer in this market.

8.As salaries are good even 15% the lowest ever demanded is still good.

9.Accountants in practice are fee earners in commerce and industry they are overheads. All businesses strive to reduce overheads. And increase fee earners. So a lot easier to push a client on offering more salary.

10.The three month salary review technique works very well in this market on both clients and candidates.

 

Background on the Accountancy Profession.

British accountancy practices, laws and standards started with the setting up of ICAEW Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.  Scotland to this day has its own body.

Originally in a very class ridden society an aspiring accountant would sign ‘articles’ with a registered firm of Chartered Accountants.  They had (and have) to pass exams over three years and received no salary. So understandably it was only open to members of the Upper Class. There was no real middle class in those days. When qualified they have ACA after their name or sometimes FCA Fellow which means they have senior experience. This allows them by law to sign a set of accounts following a company audit.

Limited Liability companies were set up with usually Ltd after their name. This makes them a separate legal body to the directors or shareholders. A company can sue or be sued. This was a move to stop entrepreneurs becoming bankrupts and being put in jail for debts. This resulted in no one wanting to start a business.

In return for that Limited liability of debts a company had to make its annual accounts public at Companies House.  To verify that report and accounts as a ‘true and fair view of the state of the business’ they must have “An Audit” by an independent firm of registered Chartered Accountants. So great news for the profession. Accountants like other professional firms must trade as a partnership and cannot form a Limited company. This makes them fully and personally responsible for their professional advice.  Each branch of a practice is a different business enterprise owned by the Partners.

What is a Partner?

The Partners are the leaders and owners of an accountancy firm. (Note firm, they are not a company).  They usually have a profit share on the portfolio. A Partnership deal though can be anything the partners wish to write up. Very different to being a director or a shareholder of a company.  Partners are liable for debts any one of them incurs in the business.   

As the industrial age grew there was an increased demand for accountants but a very short supply of upper-class wealthy types.  Hence was born the Institute of Certified Accountants.  Here much the same training qualified personnel could sign an audit of a company but rules and salary more supportive of newcomers to the profession. Ironically the latter received a Royal Charter and are the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

They have ACCA or FCCA after their name.

It is effectively the same qualification as ACA but still a lot of snobbery about ACA being superior.

Later with factories developing became a whole new accounting need for costing and management accountancy. So was formed the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants. They qualify over three years and are called ACMA or FCMA. These people never work in accountancy practices and are found in commercial and industrial roles. Lage company accountancy departments are typically split into Financial and Management sections.

There is also an Institute of Accounting Technicians, a lower-level profession.  AAT.  Or MAAT.  Once qualified they cannot sign accounts, but they can continue with exemptions to become ACCA qualified.

There is also CIPFA Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants. These work entirely in government departments.

All commonwealth countries will adapt British qualifications, laws and standards. This is great because most of accountants in UK practice are Asian.
 

Job Roles in an Accountancy Practice.

3 and 4 are very difficult to find and we will only take them on with a one third retainer and at least 30% fee.

1 and 3 are plentiful and lucrative.
 

Accountants are well paid, so fees are high.
 

Recruit in Accountancy Practice Only

The easiest money is in Practice not Commerce and Industry.

Accountancy Practice is a Candidate led market. Commerce and Industry Accountancy is client led, so very different.

This means firms competing for candidates. Therefore, he who has the candidate as sole agency is king.

We are building clusters of Accountancy Practice (Chartered and Certified) firms by location. You do not have to attain clients.

We only want accountants with practice experience. Always for audit and general accountancy roles.

Similar size and sector of audits is important. You cannot go from auditing small firms to auditing the likes of BP, or vice versa. Also, some people have all their experience in a sector which has some unique operations. Charities for example is a big sector and quite specialist.

Paul Leppard is managing Success Moves Finance and Client acquisition and closing retained deals.

The UK Accountancy practice market is stable and lucrative, and we can secure regular placements in it. Paul has led on this and proved it. He will be managing.

Work the candidates not the client vacancies.
You nurture and build your own candidate community. Then when someone is ready to move. You always say just leave it with me I have contacts in all the firms in your area at a more senior level than most agencies. You get these candidates before they apply to ads. If they are already with even two agencies drop them.

Obviously for a GRIP or retained deal you work for the client knowing you have no concerns about competition.

Then it is all about.
1. Finding exactly what they will move for.
2. Set up. If I get you an interview that offers what you want will you do an immediate interview. Any think about it types drop them. You MUST get sole agency. Two agencies halves their value.

3. Be sensitive to
a) Tire kickers. Those using you for free to negotiate a better deal with their boss. Or just check their value
b) Those who are already paid more than they are worth.

c) Unemployed. Best type of candidates they will interview immediately and take offers.

d) Less than perfect candidates. Second best as most agencies will ignore them.

4. Move very fast.

5. Blow out a move to commerce and industry.
“Ooh very high risk now. Profession is secure and you can always transfer your skills to another firm.

How to get practice accountants coming to you.
1. Give them time on phone with career advice etc even if not moving now.

3. Capture emails for a newsletter.
4. Offer to review their cv for free but only with sole agency. You tweak it to match client. Emphasising what they want.

Target working on at least 6 candidates at a time.

Client side.
1. When calling emphasise urgency. This good guy will be gone by Monday. How about tonight.
2. Learn quickly which clients.
A) Have a boss that sells himself and his firm well.
B) Offers quickly.
C) Offers premium salaries.

3.Working from home policy. Popular with candidates but difficult due to confidentiality of client papers.
 

Sources of Practice Accountants.

Networking is key.  Persuade one person to refer their friends and repeat process 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 34, 68, etc.  Good networkers are masters at getting people they call to let them into their networks.

Excellent but consider that if someone is applying to your advert, they are looking at other adverts and poor chance to have sole agency. The company gives priority giving advert credits to our Partners who take more action.

We have advertised for over ten years on CVL for Accountancy practices jobs and all the CVs of people who applied are still there.  Ring them and ask them how they are doing.  Much better chance of getting candidates at early stages considering a move and therefore sole agency.

a) Connect and build a network on LinkedIn.

b) Join groups which will have Accountants in and message them directly. Candidates often post their CVs in groups and ask if anyone has the job they are looking for.

c) Post free jobs on Linkedin.

d) Pay for premium services, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite or Recruiter Professional are the three worth considering. (In any month you bill the company will reimburse this.)

d) Post a blog on Linkedin about Practice Accountancy career opportunities.

We can buy this in, but we need to be convinced it is going to be worked regularly and thoroughly. We can also use this and employ a telemarketer support to make first contact for anyone who is clearly delivering results.

Talking to anyone in your grape vine of contacts you will pick up when a firm is in trouble, relocating or has a bad boss. Or a company that says they have enough recruiters and does not want to use us.  Search on Linkedin for staff in these firms and approach them directly.

Networking vs Selling

Selling is ringing a candidate and asking them if they would like a better job with more salary and convincing them of the merits of a move now.

Networking is the art of making a new friend and giving them free career advice relevant to them at the time. To win credibility and trust and encourage them to refer and recommend you to their contacts and give you information about anyone in their current firm. And if the current firm is in fact recruiting and some insider facts about working there. Soon you build a community of trust, and you are increasingly approached by accountants selling advice long before they are active on the job market. Most struggle with networking as not instant gratification.
 

Selling Your Candidates

Because there are more vacancies than candidates the market lends itself to a skilled salesperson selling the benefits of a not perfectly matched candidate. Someone who is willing to learn the skill shortage area.  Someone that is not ideal but lives local and can start immediately with a keen attitude. Someone who is not qualified but got relevant experience. The money goes to the sensitive and skilled persuaders who can talk them into the candidates you have rather than endlessly looking for their ideal profile.
 

The biggest earners are.

Candidate Interview Essential Questions Checklist