CFOs Plan to Maintain Current Staff Levels in Accounting and Finance

Results from the most recent Robert Half Financial Hiring Index indicate that staff levels in accounting and finance should hold mostly steady in the second quarter of 2012.

In a survey involving telephone interviews with 1,400 chief financial officers (CFO), 91 percent of respondents said they expect to maintain their current personnel levels in the second quarter. Sixty-nine percent answered that question the same way at the start of the year.
Four percent of respondents say they plan to add employees and 5 percent predicted staff decreases. The results were less positive in the South Atlantic region (Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.), where 11 percent of executives plan to reduce staff and 84 percent expect to maintain their current personnel levels.
The East South Central (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee) and Mountain (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming) regions were the most bullish on hiring, with a net 5 percent of executives saying they plan to add staff.

Ninety-one percent of executives said they were confident in their companies’ growth prospects for the second quarter, a 4 percent increase from the first quarter.
"As economic signs continue to improve incrementally in the United States, companies are hiring skilled accounting and finance professionals at a steady rate to meet demand," Robert Half International (RHI) Chairman and CEO Max Messmer said. "Staff reductions are trending downward as businesses seek to avoid weakening their bench strength at a time when growth opportunities are emerging."

Average Starting Salary Up for College Class of 2011

According to the Winter 2012 Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the college Class of 2011 earned a higher average starting salary than the Class of 2010.

Overall, graduates who earned bachelor’s degrees in 2011 began their first post-college job with an average salary of $41,701, a 2.3 percent increase over the average salary for the Class of 2010. Average salaries grew across several concentrations, albeit modestly for most.

Graduates in engineering and computer science had the highest overall average starting salary, while the latter saw the largest overall increase from 2010 at 4.1 percent.

The average starting salary for 2011 computer science graduates was $60,594, more than $2,000 more than the Class of 2010. Engineering graduates had the highest overall average starting salary at $61,872.

Class of 2011 business graduates, including accounting majors, saw their average starting salary increase to $48,144, a 3.8 percent increase.

CFOs Expect Financial Hiring to Increase in First Quarter of 2012

One-fifth of executives interviewed for the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index said they plan to have full-time accounting and finance employees in the first quarter of 2012, helping drive the third consecutive quarter of sequential growth.

Eleven percent of respondents forecast staff decreases, leaving a net 9 percent increase, up four points from the fourth-quarter 2011 survey.

The South Atlantic region — which includes Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. — had one of the highest net increases at 15 percent. Only the Mountain region — Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — had a higher net increase at 16 percent.

Although hiring plans are increasing, companies face problems in finding the right people to fill key positions. Nearly three-quarters (68 percent) of executives reported recruiting challenges, a 9-percent increase from the fourth quarter and a 27-percent increase from the third quarter.

"Competition for the best employees is intensifying, and, at the same time, these professionals are beginning to feel increasingly comfortable exploring new roles at other firms," Robert Half International Chairman and CEO Max Messmer said. "Businesses are still selective when hiring but understand they need to move quickly once the right candidate is identified."

NACE: Demand High for Accounting Graduates

According to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers looking to hire new college graduates express the highest interest in business, engineering, and computer science graduates, with more than half the employers who responded to NACE’s Job Outlook 2012 survey identifying those fields as their hiring focus.

NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes identified accounting as one of several “specific disciplines of targeted interest,” along with finance, business administration and mechanical, electrical and computer engineering.

The survey found that employers plan to conduct the majority of their recruiting in the fall, but appear cautious in their plans to hire Class of 2012 graduates, with many saying the bulk of their openings are related to attrition.

Many employers also indicated that they will reassess their needs on at least a quarterly basis,

Accountemps: Remote Work Arrangements on the Rise

Virginia companies are nearing the deadline to apply for a tax credit for employee telework expenses. According to a recent survey from Accountemps, the Commonwealth might be busy giving out those credits — remote work arrangements are on the rise.

In the survey, chief financial officers (CFO) were asked: “Have remote work arrangements (for example, telecommuting or working from a satellite office) within your company increased, decreased or remained the same in the last three years?” One-third of respondents said that such arrangements have increased in that time period, with 11 percent saying they’ve increased greatly and 22 percent saying they’ve increased somewhat. Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported no change.

“The prevalence of mobile technologies and wireless communication makes it easier for companies to support flexible work arrangements for their employees,” Accountemps Chairman Max Messmer said. “Although not all positions are suited to remote work arrangements, for those that are, this option can help give professionals more control over their schedules and aid in recruitment and retention efforts.”

Accountemps offered five key areas to monitor in order to engender more productive remote work arrangements:

• Communication. Employers should keep remote workers in the loop on the latest news in their department and across the company without relying solely on email. Employees should provide frequent status updates on key projects and look for opportunities to interact with their colleagues.
• Resources. Employers should ensure that offsite employees have the necessary resources to do their job, including remote network access. Employees should make sure their equipment is up to date and maintain productivity at in-office levels.
• Planning. Employers should establish expectations and guidance at the outset in order to effectively monitor working arrangements. Employees should anticipate potential employer concerns and be prepared to discuss how to handle them.
• Security. Employers and employees should work with information technology (IT) personnel to set up the requisite security protocols.
• Camaraderie. Employers should work hard to ensure remote workers feel connected to the group. Possible ways to do this are including them in team activities and recognizing their accomplishments in front of their coworkers. Employees should try to join team activities as much as possible, seek input from coworkers and volunteer to assist them when they need help.

For more information, read this article from Disclosures magazine by VSCPA member Clare Levison, CPA, on how to succeed with nontraditional work arrangements.

NACE: Average Salary Offer Up 6 Percent

According to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the overall average salary offer to Class of 2011 graduates has risen 6 percent over last year's average.

The average salary offer to a bachelor's degree graduate rose from $48,288 for the Class of 2010 to $51,171 for the Class of 2011, according to NACE's Fall 2011 Salary Survey.

The highest-paid major in the report was petroleum engineering. Graduates in that field had an average salary offer of $82,740, up 7.1 percent.

Business graduates saw their salary rise 4.6 percent to $48,805, while finance majors' salary rose 4.8 percent to $51,503.

NACE Survey: New Graduate Hiring Expected to Rise in 2012

According to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers are being cautious in their plans to hire new college graduates.


Employers who responded to NACE’s Job Outlook 2012 survey plan to hire 9.5 percent more graduates from the Class of 2012 than they did from the Class of 2011. But a large portion of those hires are related to attrition.

“Many employers say they are focusing on ‘replacement hires,’” NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes said.

Employers indicated that graduates of business, engineering and technology-related programs have the best hiring prospects.

CFOs Envision Improved Hiring Outlook for Fourth Quarter

According to the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index, chief financial officers (CFO) forecast an increase in hiring during the fourth quarter of 2011, with 12 percent anticipating adding full-time accounting and finance employees.

Seven percent expect staff reductions, leaving a net 5 percent of CFOs planning to hire, up four points from the third-quarter study and the highest projection in three years.

Ninety-one percent of CFOs expressed at least some confidence in their firms’ growth potential in the fourth quarter, with 55 percent of respondents saying they are very confident.

The index, from Robert Half International, is based on telephone interviews with 1,400 CFOs across the country.

Survey: 42 Percent of CFOs Say Employee Morale Has Improved

According to an Accountemps survey, 42 percent of chief financial officers (CFO) say that employee morale has improved at least somewhat in the last year.

The majority (53 percent) of more than 1,400 respondents said that there had been no change in employee morale over the past 12 months. Just 5 percent said morale had worsened.

“Companies have been taking steps to increase job satisfaction and boost employee motivation among teams that have been through a difficult few years,” Accountemps Chairman Max Messmer said. “Businesses that recognize and address the concerns of staff members during the extended recovery can instill greater loyalty over the long term.”

In the telephone survey, CFOs were asked,” How has employee morale in your organization changed, if at all, from 12 months ago?”

Tips for Part-Time Employees and Their Managers

A recent post on AccountingWEB details ways part-time employees and their managers can get the most out of their working arrangement. Deanna Cox, herself a part-time employee and college student, offers five tips for a successful part-time arrangement:

1. Prioritize projects with deadlines
2. Flexible hours
3. Necessary company meetings
4. Laser focus time
5. Redistribution of job tasks

Click here to read Cox's post on ways to make part-time work more productive. And click here to read "The Real Housewives of Accounting," an article from the July/August 2011 issue of Disclosures magazine where VSCPA member Clare Levison, CPA, discusses her own part-time work experience and how she made it work.

Guest Blogger: How Your Talent Management Programs Can Make You a Top Employer

By Sean Conrad
Halogen Software
 
Qualified, skilled accountants are always in high demand. To attract and retain top performing employees, your organization needs to distinguish itself from the rest. So how do you become a top employer?

If you look at some of the questions in a typical "top employer" survey, or even questions used to gauge employee engagement and satisfaction, some common themes emerge. Among other things, employees are looking for:

• clear direction
• the tools/authority/support/resources they need to accomplish their work
• feedback on their performance
• a sense of purpose or connection to the organization's mission
• a good relationship with their manager 
• opportunities for development and career progression 
• recognition and rewards for their performance

If you think about it, all of these needs can and should be addressed by your organization's talent management programs. But you need to ensure your organization adheres to best practices if you want to support employee engagement and retention. For example:

• Every employee should have a clear, up-to-date job description that they can easily access and consult. Their job description should align with their performance appraisal, and goals, so they are be fairly evaluated.
• Every employee should receive a regular performance appraisal, where their manager gives them feedback on their performance of goals and competencies. The performance appraisal process should also include coaching and development planning so performance gaps or learning needs are addressed. But most importantly, your performance appraisal process should foster an ongoing dialogue about performance between the manager and employee; the formal performance appraisal should merely summarize and capture the ongoing discussion so the employee is getting the ongoing feedback, coaching, direction and development they need to improve and succeed.
• If employees work on projects or engagements, they should receive feedback from the leader at the end of the project/engagement. This feedback should also be communicated to their manager and rolled up into their annual performance appraisal. This ensures the employee gets timely feedback from the person who most closely supervised their work.
• Employee should be given goals that are clear, specific and measurable. The old "SMART" (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) approach is still acknowledged to be a best practice; they ensure employees are set up for success. Every employee goal should also be linked to or aligned with a high-level organizational goal, so the employee has a context for their work, and sees how their efforts contribute to the organization's success.
• Employees should be given the opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge, skills and experience and prepare for career progression. They should discuss development needs and interests as well as career aspirations with their manager. Then their manager should work with them to put in place a development plans that include a variety of activities appropriate to their learning needs and learning style. High potential employees in particular should be identified and groomed for advancement. Investing in employee development is a key way for the organization to show that it values its employees and is committed to their long terms success. Development planning can be rolled into the performance appraisal process or managed as a separate process, but needs to be formally addressed.
• Compensation and rewards should be tied to performance so they are fair, and effectively recognize and encourage high performance. Recognition needs to come in many forms, not just monetary, and needs to reinforce organizational values and culture as well as high performance. 

By adopting talent management best practices like these, you ensure your employees are engaged, satisfied, and reaching their full potential. These really are the keys to being a top employer who can attract high performing employees with scarce skills.

Sean Conrad is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software, one of the leading providers of talent management software. For more of his insights on talent management, read his posts on the Halogen Software blog.

Average Starting Salary for Graduates Increases by Nearly 5 Percent

The average starting salary to the college class of 2011 is up 4.8 percent from last year, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

The overall average salary is $51,018, up nearly $2,500 from last summer, according to the summer issue of NACE’s Salary Survey. The average salary increased for the third consecutive quarter.

In comparison, all 2010 issues of the Salary Survey showed losses over 2009.

“The steady increases in starting salary offers we’re seeing this year is a good indication that the job market for new college graduates is gathering strength,” Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director, said in a statement.

Among the disciplines that saw their average offer change, more than 82 percent reported an increase in average offer.

Accounting majors saw a 2 percent increase in average salary to $49,671. Among other business disciplines, business administration graduates posted a 2.2 percent increase, economics graduates saw a 6 percent increase and finance graduates posted a 4 percent increase.

Survey: Students Likely to Accept Job Offer from Internship Employers

A survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) says that nearly two-thirds of students who completed an internship indicated they “definitely would” (36 percent) or “probably would” (26 percent) accept an offer for a full-time position from their most recent internship employers.

Out of those who responded to NACE’s 2011 Student Survey, 18.7 percent of students who had an internship said they would likely turn down an offer of full-time employment with their latest employers.

“Typically, if the intern’s work experience is substantive and the individual is engaged in meaningful work, chances are greater that individual will want to join the organization on a full-time basis,” NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes said. “If the work is more clerical or not related to professional goals, it is more likely the intern will reject the job offer and look for work elsewhere, regardless of whether the internship was offered by a for-profit, nonprofit, federal government, or state/local government employer.”

Student interns who would reject offers of full-time employment spent more than one-third of their time, on average, on clerical or nonprofessional tasks. Those who would accept offers spent an average of just over one-fifth of their time on such tasks.

Accounting Majors Lead Class of 2011 in Job Offers

Accounting majors are currently receiving the most job offers among college graduates in the class of 2011, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Winter 2011 Salary Survey indicates that private (first) and public (third) accounting positions are near the top of the list of top jobs for 2010-11 bachelor’s degree graduates.

Consulting was second, financial/treasury analysis was fourth and sales fifth.