CA ANZ welcomes acknowledgement of accountants shortage

Chartered Accounts Australia ANZ (CA ANZ) has accepted the inclusion of several components of accounting and auditing on Australia’s Occupation Shortage List (OSL), but has highlighted some remaining gaps.

According to the (OSL) published by Jobs & Skills Australia earlier this week, there is only a shortage of general accountants in Western Australia and the Northern Territory; a shortage of management accountants also in WA; a shortage of taxation accountants nation-wide; a shortage of external auditors in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, WA, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory; and a shortage of internal auditors in every state except NSW and regional VIC.

“Accountants and auditors have suffered a prolonged skills shortage in Australia for many years now,” CA ANZ Group Executive Advocacy, Simon Grant FCA, said.

“While we are pleased to see tax accountants and auditors included on the List, we are disappointed to see some critical accounting occupations missing, including management accountants and general accountants.

“We have multiple member surveys which demonstrate that these occupations are also experiencing a skills shortage. We surveyed nearly 450 members in January and February this year, and more than 80 per cent of respondents said their vacancy fill rates were below 67 per cent.

“We also surveyed Australia’s six largest professional services firms in May this year, and found hundreds of vacant roles for external auditors, general accountants and management accountants.”

CA ANZ said it had been promoting the issue of such a “talent shortfall” for months and was looking forward to seeing the upskilling and training funding and policy changes to address it.

CA ANZ also confirmed that list was “consistent” with its survey results and comments from members.

“CA ANZ will continue to advocate for its members to ensure the skills shortage does not have an adverse effect on the profession and Australia’s economy,” Grant said.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Jobs and Skills Australia to ensure we have a strong accounting, audit and finance skills base to support our nation’s economic sustainability.”