Accounting jobs crisis doesn’t add up

A flood of migrant accountants, coming to Australia to plug an acute skills shortage, has provoked a debate between accounting firms, the government and universities about why so few of them are finding work in the profession.

Top accounting firms say migrants can lack language skills and local knowledge, despite many of them having levelled charges of parochialism and even prejudice against the firm’s hiring practices.

“I think there is a slight bias,” said Deborah Ralston, treasurer of the Australia Business Deans Council, which represents universities that teach accounting. “It would make you weep to see sometimes how narrow-minded we can be.”

The federal government has commissioned a wide-ranging review of its skills migration program, and a parliamentary inquiry yesterday began hearings into recognition of migrant skills amid concerns the policy is not delivering the desperately needed workers.

Accountants have become a focus because they are poised to become the biggest single professional migrant group. Official figures show the number of accountants accepted by Australia as skilled migrants leapt by almost 50 per cent to 6768 last years, and early signs are it will raise again this year as the federal government boosts its overall skilled migrant intake by 20,000.

But even as accounting firms say they struggle to find enough qualified workers, professional groups representing accountants end up unemployed or in unrelated jobs.

“There may be a gap there in the whole system of migration,” Sheena Frenkel from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia said.

Research by Bob Birrell and Virginia Rapson, for CPA Australia, this year highlighted the difficulty migrant accountants – who last year formed the second – largest professional migrant group after IT specialists-have in finding work.

Their analysis of 2001 census data showed 75 per cent of Australia – born accountants were in related or professional work and migrants from English – speaking countries had similar employment rates.

But only 52 per cent of those who came from non-English speaking countries were employed in these fields and 19 per cent were unemployed.

The CPA report, Migration and the Accounting Profession in Australia, released in June, noted the concerns of racial or cultural prejudice on the part of employers but it found the major hurdles were migrants’ language difficulties and employers’ reluctance to accept their qualifications and experience as equivalent to those from English – speaking countries.

International students make up about half of all accounting enrolments at Australian universities, Because accounting qualifications are deemed to be in –demand, they score bonus points towards their migration application, almost guaranteeing them a skilled migrant’s visa.

But Professor Ralston, the professor of finance at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said she was astounded how difficult it was for competent graduates with foreign accents to find jobs.

Ernst & Young head of recruitment and mobility kate Herbert cited concerns about the background of overseas student accountants. “Overseas students may be very focused on academic results at university and do not get the sort of broad experience we are looking for,” she said.

There was also a problem with hiring international students on the firm’s annual graduate recruitment drive, in that they could not apply for visas to remain in Australia until after graduation.

“We only recruit graduates who have permanent residence,” she said,

While Ernst & Young sponsored the migration applications of more experienced accountants, it never came close to reaching a limit on their number that had been agreed with the Department of Immigration.

A KPMG spokes women said the firm’s intake reflected the range of people in the university graduate population. “At an experienced – hire level, we are taking on overseas candidates in growing numbers,” she said.

Beverley Jackling, associate professor of accounting at Deakin University , who is researching the job prospects for international students enrolled in accounting, said they “ could not get a look-in” with any of the big four firms.

“You just wonder whether there is a bit of prejudice,” she said.

However, Professor Jackling said many students were not interested in working in accounting but chose the course simply because it helped their visa application.

“They are using the accounting major to lever for permanent residency,” she said. “I don’t think they are doing much to fill gaps of skilled accountants in Australia.

“Employment outcomes for these migrants is not as good as we would have hoped,” CPA Australia’s manager of accreditation, Hayley Nicholls, said. “We feel there should be more done to help their transition to work.”

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, CPA has called for government support for “transition to employment workshops” to help migrant accountants boots their chances of finding professional work by improving their communication and generic skills.

Despite concerns about their employment, the organizations that assess foreign accountants’ qualifications for their migration application- including ICCA and CPA – have noted a steep increase in recent months in the number of applications.

ICCA had received double the number of applicants in June –July as during the same period last year. India, china, the UK and South Africa were the main source countries.