Australia faces an accounting drought

There is a reason why you may be having trouble recruiting a highly skilled accountant. An Australian Bureau of Statistics report has found over 1,400 accountants left Australia to work aboard on a permanent basis last year.

Experts are warning this 'brain drain' will continue as more accountants are poached overseas because of their knowledge of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which has already been introduced in Australia but is still being implemented in other countries.

It seems our accountants' advance knowledge of the IFRS makes them highly desirable to overseas employers, a situation that is ultimately driving up the cost of accounting services for Australian businesses.

This overseas movement of numbers men and women is being compounded by the fact that many older accountants have chosen to retire rather than learn the new IFRS system.