Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) has recognised the inclusion of accounting and auditing roles in Australia’s Occupation Shortage List (OSL).
It has also identified certain gaps that still exist in the sector.
Jobs & Skills Australia’s recent publication of the OSL indicates a specific regional shortage of general accountants in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The list also identifies a need for management accountants in Western Australia, a nationwide demand for taxation accountants, and a shortage of external auditors across multiple states.
These include New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.
Additionally, there is a scarcity of internal auditors in every state except for New South Wales and regional Victoria.
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By GlobalDataCA ANZ claims to have been vocal for months about the “talent shortfall” in the accounting sector and is anticipating government action in terms of upskilling, training funding, and policy changes to address these issues.
The organisation has confirmed that the findings of the OSL are in line with its own survey results and feedback from its members.
CA ANZ Group executive advocacy Simon Grant said: “Accountants and auditors have suffered a prolonged skills shortage in Australia for many years now. 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% of respondents said their vacancy fill rates were below 67%. 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.”
Last week, CA ANZ expressed concerns about the Australian government’s proposed mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) guardrails for high-risk applications.
The organisation is concerned about the criteria used to define what constitutes a high-risk AI system, especially when it comes to AI tools used by accountants for data analysis.
