Public accounting firms pour funds into employee training to buck talent crunch

Training hours jumped by 36%.

Public accounting firms are pouring more funds into training their staff in order to buck Singapore’s persistent talent crunch, a survey by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and SAP revealed.

The survey showed that average training hours per employee for local public accounting firms have increased 36% year-on-year, from 30.3 to 41.4 hours.

Public accounting firms also reported a lower employee turnover rate, from 33.3% last year to just 23.3% this year.

“This signifies that these firms are beginning to focus more on employee training and development to capitalise on their current talent pool to boost productivity amidst the labour and talent crunch that Singapore is facing,” said the report.