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Accounting/finance survey: Employees leaving for development opportunities

October 08, 2013

Hiring managers are more willing to negotiate salary but they should be considering employee development instead, according to Accounting Principals’ Workplace Insights Survey released today. The survey found 39 percent of hiring managers in the accounting and finance fields will negotiate salary but only 14 percent will negotiate employee development opportunities during the hiring process, even though 26 percent report most employees leave their companies because of lack of career development opportunities.

Other top reasons employees leave include a better work/life balance (21 percent) and the need for increased salary/compensation (21 percent).

Eleven percent of finance hiring managers were also willing to negotiate vacation time, 11 percent flex time, 7 percent device benefits, and 4 percent title.

“It was interesting to see that despite knowing that employees are leaving due to a lack of employee development, companies are not likely to negotiate around these opportunities,” said Jodi Chavez, senior vice president of Accounting Principals. “At the height of the recession, employees were more likely to stay put when they had a job, but now opportunities are much more plentiful. This shift should motivate employers to reassess their strategies to conform to the state of the new job market — which means retention should be top of mind.”

Other findings include:

  • 52 percent of finance hiring managers expect to increase pay in 2014, 41 percent expect to keep pay levels the same as 2013 and 2 percent expect to decrease pay.
  • 38 percent cited mid-level positions as the most difficult to fill, but only 8 percent believe the same is true of executive roles. 
  • 39 percent said their company has had a harder time retaining talent than it did in 2010.
  • 19 percent said their company will likely increase hiring finance and accounting professionals in 2014, 7 percent expect to decrease hiring, and 13 percent expect no change.

The telephone survey of 502 finance and accounting hiring managers within the United States was conducted from Aug.16 to Aug. 27, 2013.