If you’re struggling to build or stabilize your accounting and finance teams right now, you’re not alone. Most companies looking for the right accounting and finance hires are making multiple job offers per position. The accounting and finance labor market has been under pressure for years, but a few converging trends have intensified the situation:
- A national shortage of CPAs, due in part to education and licensing hurdles and an aging workforce (more than 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and this trend is expected to continue for 2+ years)
- Increased demand for strategic finance talent as companies grow, acquire, or evolve
Whether you’re replacing a retiring senior accountant or trying to find the right Chief Financial Officer to help you scale, the challenge is real. Fortunately, there are concrete ways to position yourself for success.
Here are a few strategies that have worked for our business clients looking to attract and retain finance professionals and accounting talent in today’s difficult hiring market:
Go on the Offensive
The finance leaders you want probably aren’t actively looking. In fact, unemployment in the finance sector has been consistently low in the past two years hovering around 1-2% for degreed and specific experience. With more open jobs than people looking, you’ll need to take a more proactive approach to recruiting. That means:
- Reaching out directly to potential candidates rather than waiting for applications
- Working with partners who specialize in accounting and finance recruiting with the ability to source candidates faster
- Being flexible about what the role looks like (more on that below)
Build a Public Face That Attracts Talent
In a tight labor market, your culture matters more than ever. Today’s candidates want to know:
- What it’s like to work on your team
Employees want to know they will thrive in your company. Demonstrating career pathing, continuing education, and team collaboration shows job seekers how they can expect to grow and be supported in your organization.
- Whether your leaders support work-life balance
Flexible work, such as remote work or flexible schedules, is more important than ever. Many families find it hard to juggle family life responsibilities and careers, so showing that your company is flexible and offers assistance is paramount.
- How you handle professional development
This doesn’t mean you need to overhaul your brand, but it does mean:
- Keep your website and LinkedIn presence up to date
- Share stories about your team and milestones
- Highlight flexibility and growth opportunities where they exist
Network for the Right Person in the Right Places
Great finance people don’t just hang out on job boards. They go to conferences, alumni events, industry summits, and CPA society meetings. If your internal team is too busy to show up in those rooms, consider bringing in a partner with a mental rolodex. Even a casual conversation can be the start of a great fit.
Re-evaluate What You Really Need
Not every role needs to be full-time. In fact, many businesses are finding success by getting creative:
- Bring in a contractor to cover a surge in workload or a transition period
- Use contract-to-hire arrangements to test fit before committing
- Consider AI solutions that fill transactional roles
- Explore fractional or virtual CFO services to get strategic insight without adding to payroll
Lastly, in this current hiring market, companies can’t be overly picky. Consider training and reskilling entry-level staff to take on an advisory lens for specialized roles or hiring for personality + skillset rather than waiting for a “perfect fit”. Additionally, hiring managers should have a set of minimally necessary skillsets and be open to training good fits. Otherwise, your pool of people will be small.
Ditch AI
While AI has been solving many business efficiency issues using automation and data analytics, it has begun creating issues in sourcing talent. Often, feeding AI recruiting software hiring parameters fails to eliminate all unqualified applications, leading to less efficiency and ROI than expected by the investment.
On the other hand, AI frequently removes qualified individuals or those that meet most of your search parameters. Furthermore, AI can’t comprehend the mix of personality + skill set in determining top finance talent for your business.
Get Ahead of Boomer Retirements
Many accounting professionals and finance leaders are nearing retirement age, and some give little notice. If you have a senior team member in their 60s or older, it’s worth asking:
- Is their role well documented?
- Who else has the technical expertise to do what they do?
- What would happen if they left next month?
Starting the handoff early — even if retirement is still a year or two away — gives your team time to cross-train, upskill, and prepare. You’ll thank yourself later.
Invest in Growth, Not Just Replacement
Finally, don’t treat hiring and staffing as a reactive chore. This is an opportunity to:
- Clarify what your business needs are from its finance function
- Consider potential finance transformations, skills, or perspectives that could support future growth
- Create roles that attract the kind of job seekers who want to grow with you and are open to talent development
In today’s market, the competition for talent is fierce. But with the right approach, the right mindset, and a little bit of flexibility, you build a finance organization that’s ready for what’s next.
If you don’t have a dedicated talent acquisition team with experience in hiring for accounting and finance roles, we can help. While your HR team focuses on other tasks, we take talent sourcing off your hands.