By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp. — At the Monday night board meeting, the township board discussed the job listing for an accountant at the Township.
The recommendation was from the Woodhill group, who provided consulting services to the township, and the township auditor Ken Palka of Pfeffer, Hanniford and Palka. The purpose is cleaning up the current books for the township and maintain them moving forward.
“We don’t have any capacity left to help you, unfortunately,” said Colleen Coogan of the Woodhill Group. “We don’t have any capacity to step in here until January.”
The township has been actively searching for an accountant, but has yet to fill the position.
“It’s just really tough right now to find anybody for anything,” said Palka. “Our own firm is struggling to keep capacity to keep up with all the work.”
According to a 2021 trends report by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (CPA), the number of accounting graduates in 2019-2020 dropped 2.8 percent at the bachelor’s level and 8.4 percent at the master’s level. Hiring of new accounting graduates in 2020 was down 10 percent. Since the peak in 2012, the number of accounting graduates with a bachelors degree has dropped from 57,483 graduates to 52,481 graduates, a decrease of just over 5,000 graduates. The report also said that in 2020, only 16,128 new graduates with a bachelor’s degree were hired into a CPA firm, which is down since the peak in 2007 when 28,025 new graduates were hired. According to a recent estimate by the AICPA, almost 75 percent of the CPA workforce met retirement age in 2020.
While the township is not specifically looking for a CPA, the position would preferably need an accountant or bookkeeper with some governmental accounting experience, since most governmental entities use BS&A software.
“Knowing that Colleen did not have the capacity, I have called all of the surrounding CPA firms to see if they are familiar with BS&A and working with municipalities,” said Roselyn Blair, township clerk. “Out of all of them, there was really just one CPA firm that really sounded like it was worth something.”
According to the job description, the position responsibilities include creating, implementing and maintaining all aspects of the township budget and prepare all necessary financial reports and maintain all of the township accounting records. It would be a full time, salary position, with a wage range depending on experience. The range will be set by the board at an upcoming meeting.
“I think trying to find the job that we need done for the $60,000, which we’ve talked about in the past, that’s not going to happen for that amount,” said supervisor Jayson Rumball. “We’re not getting enough applications.”
Palka also explained that they could not handle the accounting for the township and continue to audit, but would help find someone right for the position.
“We really need to get somebody in here. Someone who truly understands the accounting, the debits and the credits, the meat and potatoes of everything,” he said. “As I’ve told Roselyn, we’d be happy to help you guys interview people, make sure they truly understand the accounting. We’d like to assist the township to do that, we can’t just come in and do basic accounting here, because then we’re not independent as your auditors.”
Anyone interested in the position can submit a resume, cover letter and application available at the clerk’s office to the clerk’s office at 395 Mill St., Ortonville, or by mail Attn. Roselyn Blair, P.O. Box 929, Ortonville, 48462.
Call 248-627-2851 with any questions.