In a recent AFR article, Deloitte has issued a mandate “forcing” Deloitte Australia’s employees and partners to be vaccinated in order to return to the office. It’s certainly a highly charged and contentious issue, with other overseas recent news indicating a New York healthcare provider fired 1,400 employees who refused to get vaccinated, and another article confirming teachers may be …
Australian accounting firm owners: 5 key issues to consider when bringing staff back to the office
While Australian is working towards vaccination rates that allow a re-opening of businesses, state and federal borders, there’s still many longer term changes that will need to be examined and considered. The best indicators we have of a post-covid future is to consider those countries that have reached acceptable vaccination rates (as determined by their authorities) and have re-opened partially/fully …
Australian CEO’s looking offshore to resolve skills shortages
It was recently reporting that the CEO’s of Australia’s biggest companies are struggling to hire IT specialists, engineers and teachers because of locked borders and skills shortages. At the same time, the 260,000 shortfall in overseas students who have failed to arrive due to locked borders has led to falls in rentals for student accommodation of up to 25 percent …
Worklife balance after Covid – the shorter working week back on the agenda for Australian accounting firms.
One of the longer term Coronavirus affects is likely to be a rethink of the previous office benefits that have likely languished over the past year or two: free yoga, lunchtime breakout rooms for mediation, onsite chefs, fusball tables, bean bags. Likely many accounting firms have seen any benefits fall by the way side as less important as employees are …
Australian domestic accountants relocating to remote areas may face pay cuts of up to 25%
More recently we’ve seen Australian businesses grappling with vaccination requirements and whether mandatory vaccinations can or should be implemented in the workplace. And it seems there is no ‘one size fits all” solution to the issue, with working conditions ranging from manufacturing operations with large workforces operating in static factory like conditions, Trade service people (like removalists) moving through the …
Old school way of accounting doesn’t work in the digital age
Apart from the incredible workload that has descended upon Australian accounting firm owners as a result of the raft of recent legislative changes and support initiatives, at the same time there has been the rush to digital. It’s been quite a rude wake-up call for Australian accounting firm owners during the WFH (Working from Home) period, and still many accountants …
Smaller Australian accounting firms taking advantage of ad-hoc offshore resources from quality outsourcing providers
In Australia, the coronavirus pandemic virus variants coupled with vaccination lethargy and ongoing lockdowns is prompting a major rethink on the importance of outsourcing as Australian accounting firms look for new ways to be more competitive in an increasingly disrupted world. Many firms are struggling with assisting their clients through the raft of legislation changes and support by the government, …
Australian compliance salaries rising by over 20% due to shortages of skilled accountants
The AFR recently released the starting recruiting salary for a university graduate at $65-68k. What is interesting about this number is the prior week we’d been talking to a partner of a 3 partner firm down in Melbourne, who said there was a general problem with finding staff during these coronavirus times. That is, people are less likely to move …
Is keeping Australian compliance jobs in Australia the way forward?
This week we were chatting with an accounting firm owner who commented “I don’t offshore”. What’s interesting is this position normally involves one of three different issues: I’m concerned about the security I’m concerned about what my clients might think I prefer to keep jobs in Australia This week we’ll touch on the third issue, which seems the most complex. …
Border closure equals higher labour costs. What you need to do now.
Closed borders could be an ongoing issue and this is likely to drive up wages. At the same time, many companies are moving quickly to implement technology to reduce costs and reliance on high cost labour. The RBA recently indicated the border could remain closed for up to two years, which means changes to labour shortages won’t be changing for …
