Why Seasonal Offshore Talent Is the Key to Accounting Agility
For Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and accounting firms, the months between January and April mark the busiest and most stressful period of the year, hands down. Tax season brings a surge in workload that can overwhelm even the most well-prepared firms. Mid-to-large size organizations in particular face a difficult balancing act: ensuring they have enough staff to handle seasonal peaks without overspending on salaries during the slower months.
We all know the chaos of not having enough help during busy season, but the traditional solution (hiring more full-time, in-house accountants) often inflates overhead expenses and causes task reshuffling when busy seasons subside. Some firms don’t mind, but others are looking for a better solution.
Good news – a middle-ground approach is emerging: in-house staffing for minimum capacity during the year, then supplementing with seasonal help through flexible offshore staffing services like Southwestern Talent during peak periods.
Let’s dive in.
The Q1 staffing challenge hardly needs to be explained. The AICPA’s 2023 survey of CPA firms reported “staff shortages” as one of their top challenges, especially during tax season. And we all know busy season often requires teams to work long hours. Research shows accountants average 55–80 hours per week during tax season, compared to 40 hours off-season.
Hiring additional full-time staff for the busy season means those employees may be underutilized for eight months of the year. This drives up overhead, reduces profitability, and adds pressure to keep everyone billable.
On the other hand, not having enough staff during tax season results in:
So clearly, neither overstaffing or understaffing is a desirable solution to the problem.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the average annual wage for accountants and auditors is $90,780. Hiring multiple full-time staff at this rate just to cover seasonal demand can cost firms hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
On the flip side, trying to plan annual staffing with razor thin margins can lead to high stress and burnout for the quality team you are trying to keep. We all know the consequences for understaffing and skating too close the staffing line.
So let’s look a bit at the third option – using full-time, offshoring staff to make up for seasonal gaps. Services like Southwestern Talent allow firms to hire vetted, trained accounting professionals on a short-term basis, ensuring the firm can scale up quickly without carrying excess payroll year-round. This leads to online scalability during tax season and a lower baseline overhead, which is a win for everyone.
Well, the U.S. is experiencing a CPA shortage, with accounting graduates declining by 7% from 2016 to 2021. Many firms simply can’t find enough full-time talent when they need it, as everyone is generally looking for more help in January. Seasonal staffing allows firms to access experienced international professionals through staffing services that specialize in accounting talent.
And tax season isn’t the only time firms see spikes. Mergers, audits, and regulatory deadlines can all create unexpected surges.
Example:
Consider a mid-sized accounting firm with 40 full-time employees. Their baseline workload requires about 35 staff year-round, but during tax season they need 50. Pretty typical, right?
Under the traditional model you could:
By contrast, utilizing a flexible staffing model you could:
Savings: Over $850,000 annually, while maintaining capacity and avoiding burnout.
For most CPA and accounting firms, the best time to evaluate staffing is clearly not during January through April, but well in advance. September through November is the best window for reassessing workload projections, identifying staffing gaps, and securing the right mix of full-time and seasonal professionals. By this point, firms have the benefit of reviewing year-to-date activity and can forecast the upcoming tax season with greater accuracy. This timeframe also ensures that leadership has enough lead time to make budgetary decisions and implement recruiting strategies before the rush begins.
Waiting until December or later often leaves firms at a disadvantage. Competition for qualified seasonal staff intensifies sharply as other firms and industries (such as finance and auditing) ramp up their own hiring. Additionally, firms that lock in seasonal talent early can invest time in proper training, ensuring that temporary staff are seamlessly integrated into workflows when peak demand hits.
1. Vetted Professionals – Southwestern Talent provides firms with pre-qualified South African accounting professionals who can step in immediately, with globally recognized credentials through SAICA.
2. English Proficiency – Excellent English skills as compared to other offshoring solutions in other regions like Asia.
3. Competitive Pricing – Many firms enjoy cost savings even greater than mentioned above, due to the global exchange rates and the quality of international talent compared with U.S. salary levels.
The traditional staffing model, hiring full-time employees to handle seasonal peaks no longer makes financial or strategic sense for many firms. If you’re interested in learning more, let Southwestern Talent know how we can help. We’re happy to schedule a complimentary call to see if we would be a good fit for helping you get the right professionals at the right time and right price – right when you need them.