Skip to content

Rethinking Your Firm: A Strategic Guide to Modern Accounting Workforce Models

The Urgent Need for Change

The accounting profession is at a crossroads. High turnover, rising salaries, and a shrinking talent pool are making it harder than ever to maintain a stable, high-performing in-house team. Recent statistics indicate that 83% of senior leaders reported an accounting talent shortage in 2024, and the workforce has 340,000 fewer accountants than it did five years ago. Replacing a staff member can cost as much as 50–60% of their annual salary, and that’s before you even think about the operational disruption and loss of institutional knowledge.

Talent, and all the issues surrounding it, is one of the biggest problems that a lot of firms are facing… figuring out how to adjust to the new workforce, the new opportunities, the new challenges that it brings is pretty enormous.”

Dan Hood

| Editor-in-Chief

Rethinking your workforce strategy is no longer optional; it’s a necessity for long-term success.

This guide is designed to help you rethink your workforce strategy and leverage the power of outsourcing and fractional accounting with practical advice, real-world examples, and actionable steps to help your firm thrive.

Section I:

Understanding the Talent Crisis

CPA firms are facing a perfect storm of workforce challenges thanks to three main trends:

Talent shortage

The pipeline of new accounting professionals has thinned. In fact, the workforce has seen a reduction of 340,000 accountants compared to just five years ago, and that’s compounded by 75% of active CPAs approaching retirement.

This demographic shift, coupled with increased competition from other industries, has left many firms struggling to fill vital roles. Nearly 640 U.S.-listed companies have flagged accounting staff shortages as a material weakness in their operations. Rizza De Guzman, lead director for firm client services and management advisory committee alignment officer at Scrubbed, understands the concern. She recently noted, “From my perspective, the most significant pressure is the increasing mismatch between the demand for skilled accounting professionals and the supply. We all know nowadays that there is really a decreasing supply of accounting professionals.”

High turnover

Turnover rates are a persistent concern, with one in six accounting firms grappling with an annual turnover rate of more than 20%. This churn hits the bottom line, with the direct costs of replacing a staff member ranging from 50% to 60% of the employee’s annual salary.

Rising salaries

The demand for skilled accountants is driving up compensation, with accounting managers now commanding salaries of $173,000 and rising. The difficulty in finding experienced professionals remains the biggest challenge for many firms.

The impact on your firm is real: recruitment costs, operational disruption, and limited access to specialized expertise. It’s no surprise that CPA firms are beginning to take a closer look at their staffing strategies.

Section II:

The Evolution of Accounting Teams

The conventional in-house staffing model, while historically effective, often struggles to provide the flexibility and scalability required in today’s unpredictable economic climate. It can limit a firm’s ability to quickly scale up during peak seasons or access highly specialized expertise without significant, long-term overhead.

Client needs are also evolving as more clients opt for project-based engagements over traditional recurring engagements. This highlights the need for more flexibility than in-house teams are used to.

As a result, the days of relying exclusively on full-time, in-house staff are fading. It’s time to rethink in-house accounting, and firms are increasingly turning to hybrid, outsourced, and fractional models to meet their workforce needs.

Hybrid teams

Combine in-house staff with remote professionals, regardless of location. This model gained traction during the pandemic and is now a standard practice for many firms.

Outsourced and fractional models

Outsourcing involves delegating work to trusted external partners who become an extension of your team. Fractional accounting provides part-time or project-based experts who integrate seamlessly with your firm, offering critical support for both day-to-day operations and strategic financial initiatives, essentially becoming an extension of your practice.

Section III:

The Core Value Proposition: Why Now is the Time to Adapt

Embracing an outsourced or fractional model offers a compelling array of benefits that address the needs of modern CPA firms:

Agility and scalability

Outsourcing allows you to effortlessly expand or contract your team in response to client demands, seasonal fluctuations, or new service line opportunities. This eliminates the need for reactive hiring or difficult downsizing.

Access to expertise

Bringing on fractional or outsourced teams means you gain immediate access to highly experienced professionals, often with Big Four-level backgrounds, in specialized areas like complex financial reporting, tax strategy, compliance, or industry-specific nuances, without the full-time salary commitment.

Tap into Specialized Expertise

You don’t have to have every expert in-house—and it may not make sense to even try to hire internally for every specialty. When you outsource, you gain access to experienced professionals who are up to date on the latest regulations, tools, and best practices. Firms like Scrubbed offer dedicated teams who understand the nonprofit landscape and can help you navigate complicated financial challenges.

Cost optimization

Your firm can significantly reduce overhead by minimizing expenses associated with full-time salaries, benefits packages, recruitment fees, and ongoing training. You pay for expertise only when you need it.

Enhanced stability and retention

Outsourcing provides a way for you to mitigate the impact of high turnover within the profession. Outsourced accounting teams, like those at Scrubbed, boast impressive retention rates (e.g., 96%), which ensures that your firm can rely on consistent, knowledgeable support.

Focus on core competencies

With experts handling your accounting and finance tasks, your internal team has more time to concentrate on high-value advisory services, client relationship management, and strategic growth initiatives.

Operational efficiency and risk mitigation

A major benefit of outsourcing is the opportunity to streamline financial processes, improve reporting accuracy, and bolster compliance efforts, even during periods of rapid change or growth.

Criteria Traditional In-House Outsourced and Fractional
Cost Higher: Full salaries, benefits, recruitment, training Lower: Pay for expertise when needed, reduced overhead
Scalability Limited: Difficult to expand or contract quickly High: Easily scale up or down based on demand
Access to Expertise Restricted to available internal talent or expensive hiring process Broad: Access to diverse top-tier specialist professionals
Talent Retention Lower: Susceptible to industry-wide turnover Higher: Stable teams with impressive retention rates
Flexibility Less agile, rigid structures More agile and adaptable to evolving firm and client needs

Section IV:

How to Build More Flexible Teams

As you’ve seen, a fractional professional or outsourced accounting team can significantly improve your CPA firm’s efficiency and client satisfaction. However, you need to think strategically to ensure you choose the most effective partner to enhance your firm’s capabilities.

The first step is to Identify areas where your firm could benefit from additional support, particularly in those areas where your in-house team is stretched thin or lacks specialized expertise. Typical tasks include routine bookkeeping, payroll processing, specialized tax consulting, and financial due diligence.

From there, you’re looking to choose a partner with the required expertise in your industry and service lines who also meets your standards for quality and data security. Selection criteria and considerations include:

Expertise and specialization

Consider whether the proposed partner’s services align with your clients’ needs and the specific areas in which your CPA firm operates. For instance, are you looking for help with complex accounting transactions with the need to keep ahead of regulatory updates, or is your focus more on a particular industry or corporate finance reporting? Selecting a partner whose expertise matches the specialization you need means that you’ll get resources with the right fit onto your team faster than hiring an in-house expert and ensures a seamless experience for both you and your clients.

Compliance and regulatory knowledge

Ensure the outsourced firm is well-versed in relevant regulations, accounting standards, and tax laws relevant to your clients. Partnering with a team that understands the complexities of federal, state, and local financial regulations as they apply to your clients allows your firm to provide more strategic advice that helps clients take advantage of any credits and deductions.

Technology and tools:

Evaluate the outsourced firm’s technology infrastructure and tools. Compatibility with your CPA firm’s systems and secure data exchange mechanisms are crucial for efficient collaboration. Your outsourced accounting partner will help your clients embrace modern technological solutions that ensure smooth workflows and enhance their overall productivity.

Data security and risk management:

With sensitive financial information at stake, robust data security measures are non-negotiable. Ask your potential partner to explain the data protection protocols they have in place to safeguard your clients’ confidential information and how errors and security issues will be handled. Prioritize firms with a strong commitment to data security and client confidentiality.

Risk management may also be something you’d like to consider for your clients. A strong outsourced partner can help you identify risk, conduct due diligence, and implement mitigation strategies for your clients.

Scalability

Consider the outsourced firm’s capacity to scale its services as your CPA firm grows or when working with clients who have varying needs. Scalability ensures flexibility and allows your firm to adapt to changing demands seamlessly, bringing on additional support when you need it and scaling back when you don’t, with no impact on quality.

Reputation and references

Research the outsourced firm’s reputation within the industry. Seek client references and testimonials to gauge their reliability and performance. A positive track record with other clients whose size, approach, or specialization is similar to yours will indicate their ability to deliver high-quality services consistently.

Communication and collaboration

Look for partners who align with your firm’s values and communication style. Successful relationships are built on trust and collaboration. Transparent, timely, and comprehensive communication is essential to building that trust as well as keeping on top of workloads.

Cost structure

Understanding the cost structure of the outsourced firm is crucial. Ensure it aligns with your budget and the pricing model is transparent and fair. Clarity about costs from the start prevents unexpected financial surprises down the line.

Cultural fit and geographic location

A shared commitment to professionalism, integrity, and exceptional client service is crucial for a successful partnership. Additionally, depending on your services, remote collaboration can help by effectively creating a 24-hour working day. This can help you service your clients more quickly and efficiently.
How BryMar CPAs and Advisors Increased Efficiency and Scalability with Scrubbed

Case Study: BryMar CPAs and Advisors

BryMar CPAs and Advisors, a firm facing the pervasive staffing shortages within the accounting profession, identified the need for a strategic solution. Their partnership with Scrubbed provided a powerful example of the outsourcing model in action. Scrubbed seamlessly augmented BryMar’s team with skilled professionals who integrated directly into their workflow. This collaboration empowered BryMar’s senior staff to redirect their focus towards higher-level, advisory-centric work, significantly enhancing their client service capabilities. The engagement also allowed BryMar to leverage Scrubbed’s specialized expertise in the nonprofit sector, a crucial area for their firm. This success story underscores how strategic outsourcing can bridge talent gaps, improve operational efficiency, and elevate client service.

Section V:

Making Outsourcing Work

Outsourcing is not a set-it-and-forget-it solution. As Dan Hood puts it, “There’s no question that this involves some rethinking and some reorganization and it’s not necessarily a light lift.” But it is worth the effort.

For CPA firms, the real value of working with external teams comes from treating them as an extension of your own so that they can provide tailored support and insights to improve your practice. The most successful firms recognize that building a strong, collaborative relationship with outsourced partners is just as important as selecting the right provider.

Tips for strengthening the relationship:

Start by making sure your external team feels included

Invite them to join training sessions, team meetings, and even social events. This helps foster a sense of belonging and encourages open communication, making collaboration smoother and more effective. When new team members join, give them the same onboarding experience and support you would offer an in-house hire. This not only helps them get up to speed quickly but also signals that they’re valued members of your organization.

Regular communication is key

Set up weekly or monthly check-ins to keep everyone aligned, and schedule quarterly reviews to take a deeper look at performance and address any challenges proactively. From the very beginning, be clear about roles, responsibilities, and how communication will flow between your teams. This clarity helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures everyone knows what’s expected.

Create opportunities for informal interactions

Virtual coffee chats or team-building activities help your teams connect on a personal level, not just a professional one. And don’t forget to celebrate successes together. Recognizing wins, big or small, helps build morale and reinforces the value of your partnership.

Scrubbed’s Rizza De Guzman highlights the significance of trust and quality in your relationship with an outsourced partner. “It’s not just about cost,” she says. “It’s also about building capacity without compromising quality.”

For more insight into choosing a partner, working with your outsourced team, and measuring success, check out our CPA services FAQ.

Section VI:

The Future of Accounting Teams

The accounting profession is expected to continue evolving toward greater specialization and value-based services. Firms will increasingly rely on niche experts and advanced technology to deliver specialized services to clients.

Greater specialization Integration of technology and AI Flexible models as core strategy
Firms will need to offer more specialized services to meet niche demands from clients. Automation and AI will play a larger role in team structure and workflow. Hybrid, outsourced, and fractional models will become central to firm strategy.

I think the major shift is towards greater specialization and a more value-based approach to work,” she says. “Firms will increasingly rely on a mix of in-house experts, external consultants, and, of course, integrating AI or technology to deliver specialized services to clients. So, this requires firms to be more flexible in how they structure their teams and manage their workflow.”

Rizza De Guzman

Lead Director for Firm Client Services

Conclusion: The Time to Act Is Now

The challenges facing CPA firms are real, but so are the opportunities. By embracing flexible, fractional, and outsourced accounting solutions, you can reduce costs, access top-tier expertise, and position your firm for sustainable growth. The firms that act now will be the ones shaping the future of the profession.

Ready to Rethink Your Accounting Workforce?

Schedule a free consultation to explore how Scrubbed can help you build a more agile, cost-effective, and high-performing team. Visit scrubbed.net or contact us to learn more.