Rather than hitching their wagon to a full-time permanent job, many accounting professionals are looking for flexibility. Some don’t want to go into an office at all, and — thanks to the rise of cloud computing — remote accounting positions are becoming more popular. Throughout Canada, employers are offering a variety of flexible and remote posts to appeal to contemporary workers.

Benefits of Remote and Flexible Positions

Flexible jobs refer to a large variety of different positions. In some cases, flexible jobs start late to avoid rush hour traffic. In other cases, they allow you to work from home more often or write your schedule around your family’s needs. This built-in flexibility allows you to have a career while also enjoying the rest of your life.

With remote jobs , you work completely at home. For instance, you may live in a rural area of the country and do accounting for a firm in Toronto or Vancouver. With cloud-based software, your clients or co-workers can enter data on their end which is immediately synced with the records you see from your home office, and vice versa. This setup provides you with the benefits of working from home, such as saving money on gasoline, reducing wardrobe costs, making it easier to juggle childcare, and countless others. It also allows you to spread your job search net wider and past your own community.

Finding Flexible and Remote Accounting Jobs

Flexible and remote positions are becoming so popular that most job boards allow you to search specifically for these types of jobs. Indeed, Monster, Flex Jobs, Simply Hired, and LinkedIn are just a few of the job boards that have job listings for Canadian accountants, and you can narrow down your search so that you only see remote or flexible posts.

So you don’t have to check every job board every single day, set up alerts. Then, when a job that meets your specifications gets posted, you get an email, and you can apply right away. If you are using a site that allows you to set up your own profile, make sure to specify that you are interested in remote positions.

Exploring Temp Agencies for Accounting Services

Many temp agencies also have job prospects for accounting professionals. In particular, you may want to check out Robert Half’s accounting and finance division . Note that this recruiter presents temp accounting jobs, full-time accounting posts, and project-based positions in different areas of its website. Depending on what you’re looking for, you may need to check all these subsections. Alternatively, Randstad also has recruiters and jobs dedicated to the accounting industry.

With temp agencies, you can work with a recruiter to find a permanent post, and you can specify that you want the post to be remote or flexible. Alternatively, you can let the agency know that you are available for a certain amount of time, and if there’s a suitable post available, they can put you in that position. If you just want to work for a few weeks or months and then take time off, this can be a great option to explore.

Finally, you don’t necessarily have to look for a flexible or remote post with an existing company. As an accounting professional, you can create your own flexible and remote position. In a nutshell, you need to find clients, handle their books from home, and build flexibility into your own schedule.

The workforce is changing for most professionals, and if you’re not enamoured by the traditional nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday schedule, you don’t have to do that. There are a lot of different options. You just need to start exploring.