Industry Insights

Firms apply far more rigor to buying software or equipment than they do to hiring employees—even though hiring mistakes often carry greater long-term costs. The blog argues that hiring should adopt the same “trust but verify” mindset as procurement, using more systematic, evidence-based methods to reduce risk and improve outcomes.

The author reflects on choosing accounting at a young age and argues that the profession is widely misunderstood and undervalued. While often seen as dull, accounting is actually a diverse and dynamic career involving problem-solving, strategy, communication, and work across many industries.

AI is rapidly reshaping accounting by automating routine tasks like transaction coding and reconciliations. As a result, accountants are shifting from “doers” to “reviewers,” responsible for interpreting and validating AI-generated outputs. While AI improves efficiency, it can still produce errors that appear correct, making human oversight essential. This shift makes curiosity a critical skill.

Performance reviews aim to be objective, but even well-designed processes can introduce bias. One overlooked source is self-assessments done before manager evaluations. Research shows that women—especially women of color—tend to rate themselves lower than men. When managers see these self-ratings first, their own evaluations are influenced downward due to anchoring bias.

When reviewing assessment results, it’s natural to focus on the outcomes — skills, ability, and personality insights.These are valuable and play a key role in hiring decisions. But there’s another part of the process that often doesn’t get the same level of attention — and it can make a meaningful difference: the proctoring report.

A recent LinkedIn post by Queensland recruiter Christine Foggiato highlights a costly hiring mistake that many accounting firms face. A CA-qualified accountant with eight years of experience moved from an $85,000 role to a $130,000 senior position, but was let go after just five months due to underperformance.

Hiring accountants is meant to be objective, but research shows that first impressions—based on faces, voices, and even names—often influence decisions before real skills are evaluated. 

AI is transforming accounting by automating much of the technical work that traditionally trained new accountants, such as reconciliations and preparing accounts. While this increases efficiency, it also removes the hands-on experience that historically helped professionals develop judgment, pattern recognition, and a deep understanding of financial information. Without spending years working through the numbers, future accountants may enter advisory roles earlier but lack the experience needed to interpret business context and ask the right questions. As a result, the profession may face an “experience gap,” where professionals are skilled at using AI but less familiar with how financial data is built and understood. To address this, firms will need to intentionally redesign how accountants develop—through mentoring, real business exposure, and critical thinking about financial insights—ensuring that human expertise continues to complement advancing technology.

Although only 2% of accountants reach partner level, research from the BDO Alliance USA Emerging Leaders program shows there is no single “ideal” personality type that determines leadership success. Emerging leaders were not significantly different from the broader accountant population; they were simply slightly stronger in areas like calmness, self-confidence, and teamwork, while tending to score lower in emotional stability — particularly resilience under pressure.

Many organizations assume that bigger bonuses lead to better performance. However, research suggests the link isn’t that simple. For accounting firms, the takeaway is clear: bonuses may change behavior, but they don’t necessarily improve results. They can undermine intrinsic motivation, fuel internal competition, and fail to lift high performers.

Performance conversations are a normal part of leadership — uncomfortable but necessary. However, before addressing underperformance, leaders should first reflect on their own role in the situation. Performance is shaped by clarity, workload, support, alignment, and leadership — not just individual effort.

Hiring offshore accounting staff carries the same risks as in-office hiring—but often with higher hidden costs. A bad hire leads to lost productivity, rework, frustrated managers, and strained client relationships, and these issues can be amplified in remote settings.