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We know all about challenges facing the accounting pipeline. But how’s the corporate finance and accounting hiring environment looking?
A recent survey by the Controllers Council, a national association of controllers, CFOs, and other finance professionals, helps answer the question.
The survey polled more than 300 executive-level finance and accounting leaders across North America, and included private, public, and nonprofit companies across 31 industries. Over half (53%) of respondents reported that their companies suffered no staffing shortages in corporate F&A, a stark change from the 69% of respondents who dubbed hiring “difficult or very difficult” in 2024.
This time around, only 10% of respondents reported “significant” staffing shortages, while 33% said they faced “minor” shortages.
“These results suggest a cooling labor market and possibly a rebalancing between employer expectations and candidate availability,” the report’s authors noted. “This improvement may reflect a combination of more stable hiring practices, expanded recruiting strategies, and shifts in market participation following widespread changes in workplace models and job mobility.”
In any case, respondents didn’t feel especially risky when it comes to staffing. Nearly 71% of respondents planned to maintain current staffing levels, a jump from 64% last year. Only 24% of respondents planned to expand their teams, which suggests “more caution in growth planning,” the report said, compared to the 32% who expected to grow their teams in 2024.
Plans for staff reductions, meanwhile, have ticked up: 5% of respondents expected staffing reductions at their organizations, up from 4% last year, and 2% in 2023.
“F&A hiring trends indicate a measured approach as economic and regulatory uncertainty persists,” the report’s authors noted. “Employers may be planning to optimize current teams rather than pursue aggressive expansion. Decreasing hiring trends may reflect rising cost pressures, and possibly automation replacing some manual and repetitive duties and corresponding staff.”