Give your accountant a hug — you may not find another one
There’s a shortage of accountants. That’s not news if you’re an accountant like me. I’ve been recruiting and hiring accountants for almost 30 years and there’s been many ups and downs throughout that time. However, we’re now in a tough part of a challenging cycle.
The number of graduating accounting students in North America is down overall. There’s been no shortage of articles and studies to confirm that simple fact. But why? Well, it appears the ancient profession is not all that appealing to many youngsters today. Some of the factors that often appear as issues when dealing with recruiting youngsters into the profession are:
There are elements of truth in many of the issues above, but it’s fair to say that, overall, the accounting profession is a challenging and rewarding career. I’d certainly recommend it — and do — to many youngsters. Is it easy? Nope. As most know, the road to success is filled with challenges.
In Canada, accountants dominate the practice of taxation, especially in the area of tax filings. Frankly, if there were no accountants (yes, an exaggeration), the entire tax filing system and the vast majority of the tax advisory availability would collapse. Canada — like many other countries — relies heavily on accountants to ensure its tax administration systems work.
Canada over the past few years has released a host of incomprehensible new tax legislation. Recent examples include the split income rules, restrictions on the use of the small business deduction, massively complex restrictions on the ability to deduct interest and a host of changes to taxing foreign sourced income.
In addition, there have been several significant reporting changes, including expanded reporting for foreign income verification
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