Finance teams are struggling with skills gaps

If you had to pick a word to describe the state of hiring in 2026, we have a feeling the word “simple” wouldn’t exactly come to mind.

What’s a word that sounds like complex, looks like complex, and means complex? Because that’s closer to what we’re looking for.

“Businesses have entered into 2026 with more skills gaps and more complex hiring conditions,” Brandi Britton, executive director of contract finance and accounting at talent solutions and business consulting firm Robert Half, told CFO Brew. “Frankly, I think we’ve seen it [for] a long time.”

In a report released February 9 by Robert Half, of 2,000 hiring managers surveyed, 62% said skills gaps were more noticeable now than a year ago.

Finance gap. Fun news: It’s similarly difficult for finance teams. Within finance and accounting teams, Britton noted that 53% of respondents reported the skills gap at their organization became more apparent compared with one year ago.

Some of the most common skills gaps categories include financial planning and analysis, AI literacy, and automation tools, per the report.

Only 6% of finance and accounting leaders said they had “the necessary capabilities to accomplish priority projects this year,” whereas 57% said they “need to upskill current team members.”

Additionally, 61% of finance and accounting leaders said finding skilled professionals is more challenging than it was a year ago.

Takes all types. The skills gap isn’t surprising, in Britton’s mind, because of how many finance organizations are “updating or implementing a new ERP system.”

“Because of that, you’ve got a mix of members on the team who maybe aren’t as technically advanced as they would need for that upgrade to go through,” she explained. In some cases, companies are “adding in a permanent hire with somebody who has the expertise of that new ERP system, or that’s where they are bringing in contractors to backfill some of those roles as they take their full-time employees into ERP related projects.”

Finance and accounting teams are on the lookout for both full-time and part-time employees, according to the report: 56% of respondents said they planned to increase permanent headcount in the first half of the year, while 54% planned to do the same for contract or temporary hires.

As many businesses took a “wait and see” approach to hiring in 2025, there “was not a lot of movement in the market,” Britton said. That started to change “toward the end of last year” as businesses wanted to make progress on business objectives, and Britton said “that is what I think dictated the response on hiring either permanent or contract talent.”

She thinks that trend will only continue to rise in the second half of 2026, “because as that movement starts to happen, employees will become more confident, and then you’ll see that higher…rate return, and companies who maybe weren’t so flexible with their employees will be the first ones to see the impact of that.”