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Finding the Best Accounting and Finance Talent In a Gig/Remote Work World

Even before the events of 2020, the gig economy was surging and remote work was on the rise. But the last few months have placed those trends into a pressure cooker, accelerating them at a rate far beyond even the most forward-thinking predictions.

Some of the best accounting and finance talent had already gone remote, eschewing traditional work hours and stale coffee for the liberties of working from home through freelance and/or temporary gigs. And as businesses roll out their “return to the office” plans, other companies are leaning in entirely to the remote life, which will surely redefine what hiring needs and practices mean. 

These factors have created a challenging recruiting environment, forcing businesses to fight with competitors over an increasingly shrinking pool of accounting and finance talent.

But it’s possible to transform the gig/remote economy into an advantage for your company, harnessing it to actually improve the quality of accounting and finance work at your firm. You just need the right mindset—and the right partner.

Hire accounting and finance professionals faster and from a pre-vetted talent pool

Speed is often the most critical factor in accounting and finance recruiting. While, ideally, you want to acquire talent well before (or at the exact moment) you actually need it, even the most sophisticated talent pipeline and company timelines will frequently be thrown off course by unexpected events. 

When you sign a new client, they’ll want you to begin working for them immediately—and they don’t care that you’re still going through résumés to staff up or to replace workers who have left the company or are on leave.

The gig/remote economy offers the opportunity for you to sign talent faster—no protracted negotiations over salary and benefits, no fears that a competitor will snatch them away at the last moment—and put them to work when and for however long you need them. But it’s hard to do that on your own.

You should be able to plug somebody in to play right off the bat,” added Alex Loewenstein, head of CPA practice at Paro. “So you’re billing hours to clients immediately, you’re not training them, onboarding them, taking resources away to get them up to speed.” 

Working with a partner like Paro, you can find and acquire top accounting and finance talent at lightning speed—improving your service quality while reducing the recruiting burden on your organization. 

“I’d say 60 to 70% of our clients hire the first person we introduce them to,” said Jon Repka, vice president of sales at Paro. “We can cut a ton of time out of your recruiting process, allowing you to get up and running with top-tier talent very quickly.”

Another advantage of the gig/remote economy is the ability to expand your talent search beyond the barriers of your region. Here again, Paro can help—leveraging its network of the best remote accounting and finance talent to find the right person for you, no matter where they work and live.

Build your business with better accounting talent and financial expertise

The gig/remote economy allows you to source and hire a better breed of accountants and finance professionals. Because today’s remote workers can take on multiple clients, you don’t have to worry as much about losing talent to your competitors—they can work with both of you. And even when you do lose out on talent, you have a larger pool from which to find replacements. 

But while there are great advantages to having faster access to a wider range of talent, the gig/remote economy has also compounded the complexity of vetting candidates. As the haystack continues to grow, finding that needle is only going to get harder.

Working with Paro makes that job much easier. When Paro says they’ll only offer you the best accounting and finance talent, they mean it—just 1.5% of applicants are accepted into their network. 

“Somebody comes in, they apply, we review their resume. If they pass that step, we give them a competency test to evaluate their financial knowledge. They get through that, they speak to a couple of our folks, we do reference checks, background checks, and give them something in terms of a simulation to present to our team. Only after all that will we add them to our network,” Loewenstein said.

Perhaps an even greater advantage of the gig/remote economy is that it allows you to go beyond just finding great talent, making it easier to find the right talent for your firm or for a particular client or project.

In addition to its intense personal vetting process, Paro uses a sophisticated AI system to match applicants to your needs, helping you find someone with the ideal blend of skills. 

“Our philosophy is, ‘Never say no.’ Whether that means you’ve got a new project you’ve never taken on before or a service line you’ve never explored, through Paro you’ll get the confidence of knowing we’ll always say, ‘Yes, we can get that for you,’” Repka said.

Create long-term relationships with freelance/temporary accounting and finance professionals

One of the greatest threats of the gig/remote economy is the loss of teamwork. With your accountants and finance professionals working far away from each other and often through temporary engagements, collaboration between them and with your permanent workforce is an ongoing challenge.

While its primary function is to match your firm up with the right talent, Paro also serves in a consultancy capacity that can help you mitigate these issues—or even head them off before they become prevalent.

“We’re not going to take your order. We’re going to help you figure out what you need,” Loewenstein said. “We’re going to look at the goals of your engagement and help you figure out who you should really be looking for and what price point you should consider. And we’re going to connect you with them. That precision helps to create longer-lasting, more effective relationships priced at market value.”

Through its advisory function and white-glove commitment to service, Paro consistently goes beyond one-time placements for a single job, with engagements often blossoming into long-term relationships of mutual benefit. And that helps keep teamwork and collaboration alive at your firm.

Partner with Paro and make the gig/remote economy work for you

By leveraging Paro’s network of top-tier remote accounting and finance professionals, you can take advantage of the positive aspects of the remote/gig economy while mitigating its risks and negative impacts.

Whether you need a temporary bump in expertise to handle an acquisition, assistance due to employee turnover, additional bookkeeping help because of seasonality, or something else entirely, Paro will work with you to accommodate your specific needs. For a single tax preparation job, full CFO leadership, and everything in-between, Paro has you covered.

Get the accounting and finance talent you need to consistently win in an inconsistent world—today and for years to come. Connect with Paro now.

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