It will take more than just higher salaries to keep accountants from leaving the profession, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the profession’s ongoing retention problem, according to the report, which was released Thursday and shows that retaining employees will require a multilayered strategy and a business model transformation to afford the high cost of retention. The report surveyed 449 accounting professionals in Pennsylvania and 300 accounting professionals nationwide.

“The expectations are changing. They’re not going to go backward,” Jen Cryder, CEO of the PICPA, told Accounting Today. “That’s going to make for a better profession because the needs of clients are complicated and diverse. The more that our profession can reflect that, the better.”

Retention is particularly important because the profession is facing serious challenges in getting young people to study accounting in college and to continue on to take jobs in public accounting after graduation.

The report grouped its respondents into two categories: “career changers” and “current talent.” Career changers include CPAs and accountants nationwide who have left their firm or profession within the past five years. Current talent includes Pennsylvania CPAs and accountants with three to 10 years of experience — a group with statistically high potential for leaving their firm or profession.

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Nearly 40% of career changers said a higher salary would have increased their desire to stay at their previous firm or in the profession. That figure is closely followed by:

• More flexible work options around hours and location (36%);
• Entry- and mid-level employees clearly valued by senior management (34%); 
• More balanced workload among staff (32%); 
• Better time-off packages (32%);
• Better benefits (30%); and
• More personalized support and focus on their individual professional development (30%).

When accountants leave, it is typically because of the collective effect of a number of factors, indicating there’s no silver bullet solution. Firms must instead adopt multilayered strategies that allow personalization to each employee.

Of course, retention isn’t cheap. But the report reminds firms that recruiting is even more expensive. (The average cost to replace or hire an employee is roughly 50% of a given employee’s annual salary, according to Thomson Reuters.)

In order to afford the cost of retention, firms must transform their business models. The report suggests firms start by examining these four areas: balancing pricing and billing with staffing and scheduling; ownership and governance; building a pentagon, not a pyramid; and investing in strategic planning.

Luckily for firms, over 57% of current talent say they want to stay in the profession, and 73% of that group say they would like to stay at their current firm. This indicates greater outside competition, rather than with other firms. It’s no longer enough for a firm to be more appealing than other firms; they need to be more appealing than the broader hiring market.

“When we look at those career changers and why they left, they were calling out the profession, saying, ‘You haven’t evolved,'” Cryder said. “It’s a good thing that professionals that are coming into the workplace today are saying, ‘I’m not interested in working 80 hours.’ It’s a good thing that they’re saying, ‘Let’s rebuild this model so that I can have a great life and a great career.'”