Temporary & contract accounting recruitment solutions
Seeking finance staff on a temporary basis? Need short-term accounting help with a peak in workload or other projects?
Partnering with Richard Lloyd gains you access to over 80,000 skilled and experienced accounting professionals. Our dedicated temporary division is continuously in contact with a pool of immediately available accounting talent.
Whether you need someone with specific industry knowledge, a subject matter expert, or an individual to manage your accounting department on an interim basis, we have the right contract solution for you.
Thorough screening meeting with a Richard Lloyd Recruiter for up to an hour
Resume checked
Reference checked
Eligibility to work in Australia checked
Web-based Work, Health and Safety Training
Police/background checked upon request
Regular check-ins with the temp/contractor
Regular check-ins with you (the Hiring Manager)
Whether you’re thinking about hiring temporary accounting personnel; wondering what the temporary hiring process is like; or wanting to know how the Richard Lloyd Temp and Contract team operate – you do not need to look any further!
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive, that will hopefully aid you at whatever stage of the hiring process that you are in.
The Richard Lloyd Temp team recruit at all levels, from AP and AR Officers through to Senior Finance Consultants, Financial Controller and CFOs.
For every temp candidate introduced to you for consideration, we will inform you of the 'Total Charge Rate' for each person. This includes the candidate's hourly (or daily) rate + Super, payroll tax, workers' compensation, insurance and our agency margin. The total charge rate is multiplied by the number of hours (or days) the on-hire employee works each week.
We have access to a network of over 70,000 accounting professionals in Sydney, with 1500+ indicating that they are seeking temporary employment. The team also meet on average 5-10 candidates per week to maintain these numbers and a “ready-to-go” pool for hiring managers.
Everybody who is represented by Richard Lloyd has been met by one of the recruiters in the team. We sit down with them before beginning their search to chat through their experience, qualifications, and achievements in depth – as well as dive into what’s important for them in the next move and what they want to achieve.
With successful temporary candidates, otherwise known as 'on-hire' employees, you the company, do not hire them – Richard Lloyd is their employer, and they are paid by us. We invoice you, the company on a weekly basis. The on-hire employee is also paid weekly.
This can depend on how specific the requirements are and how quickly your internal process can move. We offer a service called “straight starts” which we will detail further down the list. On average temporary roles with Richard Lloyd are filled between 24 to 72 hours.
Richard Lloyd offers temporary recruitment solutions to a range of clients, we have worked with ASX-listed companies, multinationals, and SMEs in industries that span from Financial Services, FinTech, Property, Healthcare, Legal, and Media to Not-for-Profits.
The main differences are that a Temp or on-hire employee is employed and paid through Richard Lloyd for the hours that they work with the contract being between us and the on-hire employee. For contract roles, the employment contract would be between you and the candidate, meaning that they are your employee and you would be responsible for all of the standard obligations relating to their employment.
It all depends on your needs. We would usually advise that you engage a temp if your need was urgent, and you didn’t have time to wait for contracts to be drawn up. Or if the duration wasn’t known (ongoing projects, sick leave cover) it is much easier to reduce or extend the assignment due to business requirements. A Contract is a great choice if you are wanting to lock someone into a core role in your team for a longer and more set duration.
We would usually suggest 1-2 interviews maximum, where the candidate can meet 2-3 stakeholders (e.g. Finance Manager, CFO and HR etc.). If you are wanting to do more than one round, the second interview should take place the same day or no later that the next day. The temporary candidate market moves incredibly fast!
Yes, if you are happy for them to commence without an interview. We offer what we call a 'straight-start guarantee' where the temp candidate joins you as quickly as your need requires - most often it is the following day. If you inform us within 4 hours of their start time that the candidate isn’t working out, you will not be charged.
Yes! Richard Lloyd offers a unique tool called 'Introducing'. Candidates who are willing record a 10-15 second video of themselves that will provide you with a quick overview of their personality, experience and interests – to help bring the person behind the resume to life. It is no Hollywood production, but it has proven extremely useful for Hiring Managers.
You would think that the more agencies you reach out to for help, the more likely you are to have a larger pool of candidates. This can be the case sometimes, but generally, it is counter-productive. Engaging an agency of your choice exclusively, even if it is for an initial 12-24 hours allows the recruiter to really focus on your needs. And as a result, you are more likely to receive quality candidates, quickly versus having to navigate a multi-agency minefield.
Absolutely. We undertake a minimum of 2 professional references for each placed candidate. Due to the nature of temporary work and the speed of the process, these would be taken after the interview and before the decision-making. If any issues arise, or time zones have an impact on this process, we will always alert the hiring manager.
Police and additional background checks are services that we can provide, however, these do come at an extra cost. Our back-office team have the tools to undertake these, with a turnaround time of approximately 24-48 hours on average depending on the check.
After you have confirmed which candidate you want to join your team, and when – after checks, the candidate agrees to take on the role, you will receive an email confirmation of all the details such as start date & time, charge rate, notice period, instructions for our online timesheeting portal and other pertinent information. The successful candidate will receive similar details via email apart from the charge rate.
Upon placement confirmation, you or the manager who will approve the candidate's timesheets will receive an invitation to log into our online payroll and timesheeting system called “Astute". This is a very user-friendly site, where weekly timesheets are completed by the candidate for you to approve. You will be sent an email and reminders should the timesheet remain unapproved.
Mistakes can happen – so it is recommended that you check over the timesheets submitted to you in case lunch breaks have been missed, or public holidays accidentally put in as worked. We explain the process carefully to candidates on what to log and what not to and these instances tend to be rare.
If you are unable to approve a timesheet at any point – we can set up a secondary approver as a backup. In fact, a secondary approver is always a good idea in case of unplanned absences. They will also receive a log-in to the system, and if you can't review and approve the timesheet, these reminders will be sent to your nominated secondary approver. A quick call to us, can rectify this issue quickly.
On a temporary assignment, you can extend the engagement at any time. The beauty of on-hire temporary employment is its flexibility, so if you realise that you need the candidate for any more time; 2 days, 2 weeks or whatever time period, communicate with both the candidate and your Richard Lloyd consultant to ensure our systems are updated.
If a candidate is not working out due to performance, unreliability etc., inform your Richard Lloyd recruiter immediately. We will act as an intermediary and speak directly with you and the candidate to try and resolve the issue – or work towards finding a more suitable replacement.
Yes! If you can see your temporary member of staff as a permanent fixture in your team – discuss your proposal with your recruiter. Depending on the length of time the temp has been working for you will determine the calculation of the conversion fee. You may have already agreed on the percentage at the outset, but speak to your recruiter to confirm. If you haven't floated the idea with the candidate, we can assist in gauging the their interest.
During a temporary role, the candidate will log all hours worked and your recruiter will ask approximately how many hours per week would be expected. Due to the nature of the profession, there are times that the work day may be longer than standard and this will be reflected in their timesheet and related invoice. If however, the overtime is more regular and is increasing, we will work with you on ways to recompense the candidate if they are being paid less than the 'better off overall' test. All circumstances are different, so we will need to talk it through with you.
For any enquiries on hiring your next Sydney Accounting professional or finding your next Accounting job, please complete the details below and one of our team of specialists will be in touch, or alternatively call us at (02) 8324 5640.
