“R&R” doesn’t stand for “rest and relaxation” anymore.

Today, it stands for “recruitment and retention,” and there’s nothing relaxing about it. Businesses everywhere are struggling to find unique, effective ways to hire and keep the brightest available minds. That’s especially true in the worlds of accounting, auditing and finance, where a shortage of CPAs has left everyone searching for answers.

So the timing couldn’t be better for “Charting the Future of the Accounting, Finance and Audit Professions,” a forward-looking report from the Robert Half International Financial Leadership Council.

A significant portion of the report is devoted to recruitment and retention in the post-reform era. “As the pool of skilled workers shrinks and these professions struggle with the post-reform compliance focus, it will become increasingly important for employers to become more creative and competitive in attracting new talent and retaining existing staff,” the report states.

The blue-ribbon panel offered a number of suggestions for shoring up strategies for both recruitment and retention. Among its ideas are double internships, passive recruiting, showcasing model employees, increased referral bonuses, flexible work arrangements, mentoring programs and, interestingly, changes in managerial style to accommodate younger workers. That last suggestion dovetails into recent discussions about generational differences in the workforce.

• Read all of the panel’s recommendations here.

We’ll feature more from the Council’s report in future posts. For now, tell us what you think: What’s the best recruitment-and-retention strategy you’ve encountered? The worst?