Nearly everyone agrees: Accounting has a talent shortage problem.
A recent survey from accounting and finance talent outsourcing firm Personiv found that about nine in 10 finance leaders (87%) acknowledged a shortage exists, a rate that’s been on a steady upward climb from 63% back in 2020.
CFO Brew spoke with Megan Weis, Personiv’s VP and general manager of FAO services, to break down the survey findings and discuss the reasons behind the ongoing shortage.
Here’s the situation. According to the survey of more than 250 finance and accounting leaders, organizations on average had five open finance or accounting positions, up from an average of two open positionsin the 2024 survey. Half the respondents said it takes their organizations 60 days or more, on average, to fill those open roles.
Weis said organizations are responding by automating certain processes, increasing salaries and benefits, and offering more flexible work arrangements. She remembered working 80-plus hours a week during the busier times of year when she started her career as an auditor in 1998.
“I do think companies are doing a better job of valuing work-life balance,” Weis told us. “Since Covid, a lot of work arrangements have become flexible, which I think helps people balance their career with their life.”
Not your grandfather’s accountant. Folks may view accounting as a boring profession, something “I could not disagree more with,” Weis said. The role has evolved in the last decade or so to one that’s “a very exciting place to be within the business world.”
“It’s really like the backbone of business,” Weis said of accounting. “And these days it’s not just a backward-looking profession. For years it was all about just reporting things that had happened, and these days it’s more about looking forward, and setting goals and direction for a company.”
Indeed, the role of the CFO in particular has become more strategic and less focused on numbers.
Even for those who didn’t believe the hype (or whatever the opposite of hype is) that accounting was boring, it hasn’t exactly been the easiest to get into the profession. Weis noted that the “150-hour rule,” which requires an additional year of college to obtain CPA licensure, is a barrier for would-be accountants. “A lot of people don’t want to spend another year [and have] to go into more debt,” she said.
The good news on that front is that the 150-hour rule is losing favor among accounting industry groups and lawmakers. Connecticut recently became one of the latest states to scrap the rule and open other pathways to licensure.
“I just think the reputation of accounting hasn’t caught up to that yet,” Weis said.
This report was originally published by CFO Brew.