Attracting and retaining professionals has been a challenge for accounting firms for more than five years. With the consolidators entering the market and gobbling up what the Big 5 hasn’t hired, it’s hard for smaller – even larger regional firms – to compete in a tight labor market.

A survey conducted by Accounting Principals, a full-service human resource solutions provider, concluded that staff accountants are the most difficult accounting professionals to recruit and retain today. Accounts payable personnel hang in the number two slot with senior accountants following in third.

About 230 U.S. companies participated in the survey. These companies look first to professional staffing companies for help recruiting these hard-to-find professionals and still use news classifieds.

To retain professionals, companies are trying everything from the traditional benefits such as health insurance, vacation time, and tuition reimbursement to more progressive perks like casual dress codes, child care allowance, and telecommuting.

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