Freelance Staffing: Recruitment 2.0 for Accounting Firms

Accounting Talent Podcast

Is your accounting firm struggling to find talent? Could freelancers be the solution you've been overlooking?

Rob Brown interviews Jeff Phillips, CEO of AccountingFly, about the critical role freelancers play in winning the war for talent in the accounting world. Jeff reveals that a staggering 30% of the labor force now identifies as freelance, and this trend is rapidly reshaping the landscape of knowledge work, including accounting.

Jeff introduces the concept of the "talent stack," a new approach to building modern accounting firms. This strategy involves compressing the traditional organizational pyramid and supplementing core full-time staff with offshore talent and freelancers.

Jeff also discusses three types of freelance arrangements: interim, fractional, and project-based, each serving different needs within accounting firms. Throughout the conversation, Jeff addresses common concerns about hiring freelancers, such as maintaining brand consistency and data security, while offering practical solutions to mitigate these risks.

Key Takeaways:

✓ 30% of the labor force identifies as freelance

✓ The "talent stack" concept for modern accounting firms

✓ Three types of freelance arrangements: interim, fractional, and project-based

✓ Mitigating risks when hiring freelancers through clear expectations and SOPs

✓ Freelancers as business owners seeking to build their brand and deliver excellent work

Quotes:

"You can't win the race for talent without hiring freelancers." - Jeff Phillips

"Your new talent stack is a combination of central full-time people who might be in the office or might be remote, supported by project-based freelance interim staff." - Jeff Phillips

SHOW DETAILS HERE

You can watch this specific episode on our YouTube Channel here: https://youtu.be/8q_TRj7-k6Q

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This is the Accounting Talent Podcast, dropping every Thursday to accounting professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space. If you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.

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Thanks to our sponsors:

ACCOUNTINGFLY. Accountingfly connects employers with top U.S.-based accounting talent through a variety of services including dedicated searches, Always-On Recruiting, and freelance placements for seasonal or temporary needs. They specialize in remote accounting recruitment, recognizing early on the significant advantages that remote work offers to employers, job-seekers, and their own operations. They pride themselves on their track record of matching the right candidates with the right opportunities and building a robust team of industry experts. Additionally, their partnership with Going Concern—an esteemed source for accounting news and insights—further enhances their ability to stay on the cutting edge of remote recruiting by tapping into a natural pipeline of job seekers.

TOA GLOBAL. TOA helps you hire elite talent for your accounting firm. Join thousands of leading firms empowering their teams with job-ready outsourced accountants & bookkeepers. They work to unlock your firm’s potential with strategic accounting outsourcing services. The "TOA Global Difference" is simple - build a flexible, scalable outsourced accounting team to align with your firm now and as you grow. Crush the talent crisis and outsmart your competitors by adding highly skilled accounting professionals to your firm faster. Permanently increase your firm’s capacity with a dedicated outsourced accounting team in weeks, not months. Access elite professionals and discover a hidden pool of elite accounting talent ready to enable your firm’s growth with additional capacity. Build a dedicated team of highly skilled outsourced accountants and bookkeepers for your firm today.https://toaglobal.com

If you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.