The Retention Of Newly Qualified Chartered Accountants In A Large Financial Services Company

Considering the increasing shortage of newly qualified chartered accountants in South Africa, this study focused on investigating factors that influence newly qualified chartered accountants to either leave or stay with their employing organisation. This study was conducted at a financial services organisation situated in Cape Town, which like all other financial institutions, would like to decrease the exit of newly qualified accounting professionals and ensure that skilled employees remain within the organisation. • Participants in this study completed an open ended written questionnaire (N =19) and were then interviewed (N = 19) about the factors that determine whether or not they would leave the organisation. The following five reasons were identfied as the most important: bureaucracy (lack of autonomy); career possibilities; good line management; organisational culture; work-life balance. Retention strategy policies that were meant to assist with employee attrition were not effective in achieving the retention of the newly qualified chartered accountants. The main reason for the lack of graduate retention was that the policies were not properly communicated to the employees. The findings of this study indicate the necessity for the financial services organisation to do a rigorous reassessment of their retention policies and to put processes in place to decrease the exits of talented and knowledgeable employees