Hiring Accountants Is Getting Harder: What Mid-Market Companies Can Do

Hiring accountants is harder than ever because the profession is losing people faster than it is bringing them in. U.S. accounting programs awarded 55,152 bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the 2023-2024 academic year, down 6.6 percent year over year, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 124,200 accountant and auditor openings per year on average from 2024 to 2034. The gap between supply and demand is structural, not cyclical, and most analysts expect it to persist well into the 2030s. For mid-market CFOs and controllers, that means longer searches, higher compensation expectations, and real capacity risk.

Why Is It So Hard to Hire Accountants Right Now?

The answer comes down to three overlapping forces: a shrinking graduate pipeline, an accelerating retirement wave, and a compensation model that spent years underpricing the profession.

The Pipeline Has Shrunk Sharply

The number of new candidates entering the CPA exam pipeline fell from roughly 48,000 in 2016 to about 27,994 in 2024, a decline of more than 40 percent and the lowest count on record. Accounting bachelor’s and master’s degrees declined 6.6 percent year over year in 2023-2024. The AICPA’s 2025 Trends Report confirmed that demand from hiring firms still significantly outstrips the number of new graduates entering the market.

There are early recovery signals: undergraduate enrollment rose 12 percent in fall 2024, the third consecutive year of gains. But enrollment today means graduates in three to four years, and it will take even longer before those graduates accumulate the experience that mid-market roles typically require.

The Retirement Wave Is Real

More than 300,000 accountants and auditors left the U.S. workforce between 2019 and 2022, a roughly 17 percent decline from the profession’s peak, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The profession is disproportionately concentrated in late-career age groups, so the outflow is not a one-time event. Firms are competing for the same mid-career candidates, and that competition pushes both time-to-fill and total compensation upward.

The 150-Hour Rule Created Friction

For decades, CPA licensure in most states required 150 semester hours of education, roughly one extra year beyond a standard bachelor’s degree. For many students, the incremental cost and time were enough to steer them toward finance, data analytics, or law. In 2025, AICPA and NASBA updated the Uniform Accountancy Act to add a third recognized pathway: a standard 120-hour bachelor’s degree combined with two years of supervised professional experience. States are adopting the change at varying speeds, and Minnesota is the only state currently planning to sunset the traditional 150-hour path entirely. The reform is a step in the right direction, but its effect on hiring supply is years away.

What This Costs Mid-Market Finance Teams

Finance leaders are feeling the pressure in measurable ways. In the 2024 CFO Pulse Survey published by Personiv, 83 percent of finance leaders reported they could not find enough qualified accounting talent, up from 70 percent in 2022. CPA-designated roles now take an average of 73 days to fill, 41 percent longer than comparable non-CPA positions, according to recruiting data published by Talentfoot. These are industry survey figures rather than official government statistics, so treat the exact numbers as directional.

The cost shows up in several ways:

• Delayed closes. When a senior accountant seat is vacant, month-end and quarter-end timelines stretch. Audit readiness suffers.
• Overtime and burnout. Remaining team members absorb the workload, which creates turnover risk in the people you most want to keep.
• Inflated compensation. Salary expectations for credentialed accountants have risen significantly. When a candidate has three competing offers, the market clears at the highest bid.
• Slower growth support. Finance capacity that is already stretched cannot take on the technical accounting work that comes with an acquisition, a new revenue stream, or an ERP migration.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook projects 5 percent employment growth for accountants and auditors from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations, which means this demand pressure is not going to ease on its own.

In-House vs. Outsourced Accounting: Rethinking the Default

The traditional answer to accounting capacity is to hire. The structural shortage makes that answer more expensive and less reliable than it used to be. More mid-market finance teams are now treating the in-house vs. outsourced accounting question as a genuine strategic decision rather than a default.

What In-House Still Does Well

Full-time, embedded accountants are well-suited for work that requires deep institutional knowledge: approving vendor relationships, managing cash with operational context, handling payroll for a workforce they know personally. There is also an argument for in-house ownership of financial data when the business operates in a highly regulated or sensitive industry.

Where Outsourcing Closes the Gap

Outsourcing is increasingly used not just to cut costs, but to access capabilities that are genuinely hard to maintain in-house, such as technical accounting under ASC 842, revenue recognition under ASC 606, employee benefit plan compliance, or the CFO-level financial modeling that a growing company needs periodically but not every week.

The global finance and accounting outsourcing market is projected to exceed $59 billion in 2026 and grow to roughly $86 billion by 2031, according to industry research. Demand is being driven less by labor arbitrage and more by a desire to close accounting capacity gaps quickly and reliably.

For companies between $5 million and $100 million in revenue, a hybrid model is common: keep core transactional accounting in-house and layer in outsourced or advisory support for the technical work and financial leadership. Modus’s client accounting services are built specifically for this middle layer, covering the close, financial reporting, and advisory functions that require credentialed expertise but do not need a full-time employee behind them. For companies that need CFO-level guidance without the cost of a full-time hire, outsourced CFO services provide that capacity on demand.

The AI Factor

Accounting technology has changed the capacity math. AI-assisted workflows now handle transaction coding, reconciliation matching, variance flagging, and first-pass audit preparation at a speed and consistency that was not possible five years ago. That does not eliminate the need for credentialed accountants, but it does mean that a smaller, well-supported team can maintain the same throughput that previously required more headcount. Firms and finance departments that have adopted these tools are getting more accounting capacity out of the same number of people.

Practical Steps for Finance Leaders Facing a Hiring Gap

Diagnosing the gap is the first step. Not every accounting capacity problem has the same cause, and the solution that works for a $10 million manufacturer is different from the one that works for a $75 million software company preparing for a PE-backed exit.

Map where the bottleneck actually sits. Is the constraint transactional volume, technical accounting expertise, or financial leadership? The answer shapes whether you need a staff accountant, a senior accountant with specific technical skills, or part-time CFO support.

Adjust compensation benchmarks. Published salary guides are often six to twelve months behind the market. If candidates are declining offers, the compensation structure is probably the issue. CPA-credentialed candidates in most markets now command meaningfully higher salaries than surveys from 2022 or 2023 would suggest.

Broaden the candidate profile. The 120-hour CPA pathway means that a candidate who sat for the exam with a bachelor’s degree and two years of experience is now on a fully recognized licensure track in a growing number of states. Restricting searches to candidates who already hold the license may be screening out strong candidates unnecessarily.

Evaluate co-sourcing for technical functions. Rather than hiring for specialized technical accounting knowledge that the team will use infrequently, many mid-market companies are finding it more efficient to retain outside expertise for lease accounting, consolidations, or purchase price allocations. The expertise is available when needed, and the cost is variable rather than fixed.

Build for retention. The most expensive hiring problem is replacing someone you already have. Clear career paths, access to challenging work, and firm investment in continuing education are more effective retention tools than compensation alone, particularly for accountants in the early to mid stages of their careers.

The Outlook

The accounting talent shortage will not resolve quickly. Even with rising enrollment and the new 120-hour licensure pathway, the pipeline needs several years to translate into experienced mid-career professionals. Mid-market companies that wait for the market to normalize will continue to compete for a limited pool of candidates in a seller’s market.

The finance leaders who are managing this well are not necessarily the ones who have solved the hiring problem. They are the ones who have stopped treating hiring as the only answer. A well-structured combination of targeted in-house hiring, outsourced expertise, and modern accounting technology can sustain more accounting capacity than any single strategy alone.

Modus’s approach to accounting and advisory services is built on exactly this model: credentialed professionals supported by AI-assisted workflows, delivering the accounting capacity that mid-market teams need without the overhead and timeline risk of building it entirely in-house.

Related reading: CPA Shortage: What It Means for Your Business

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it so hard to hire accountants right now?

The shortage reflects structural forces that built up over more than a decade. The number of accounting graduates has been falling since the mid-2010s. More than 300,000 accountants left the workforce between 2019 and 2022, many of them retiring, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. At the same time, demand for accounting services has grown with increased regulatory complexity and business expansion. The result is about 124,200 projected openings per year through 2034 against a supply that cannot keep pace.

How long does it typically take to fill an accounting role?

Roles requiring a CPA designation now take an average of 73 days to fill, roughly 41 percent longer than comparable roles that do not require the credential. Senior and specialized positions, such as technical accounting managers or controllers with audit experience, frequently take longer.

Is outsourced accounting a reliable alternative to hiring?

For many mid-market companies, yes. Outsourced accounting providers can close specific capacity gaps quickly, often in weeks rather than months. The key is matching the outsourced model to the actual gap: transactional volume, technical expertise, or financial leadership. Hybrid models that combine a small in-house team with outsourced or advisory support are increasingly common in companies between $5 million and $100 million in revenue.

What is the new 120-hour CPA pathway and does it help?

In 2025, AICPA and NASBA updated the Uniform Accountancy Act to add a pathway that allows CPA licensure with a standard 120-hour bachelor’s degree plus two years of supervised experience, as an alternative to the traditional 150-hour requirement. States are adopting the change at different speeds. The reform should help grow the pipeline over time, but its near-term effect on the available pool of experienced candidates is limited.

How should mid-market companies adjust compensation for accounting roles?

Published salary benchmarks often lag the live market by six to twelve months or more. If candidates are declining offers at posted rates, the compensation structure is likely the issue rather than the candidate quality or role definition. Mid-market companies competing for credentialed accountants should use current, market-specific data and be prepared to move quickly when a strong candidate is identified.

When does it make sense to use an outsourced CFO instead of hiring one?

An outsourced CFO is typically the right fit when a company needs CFO-level financial modeling, lender or investor communication, or strategic planning on a part-time or project basis. This is common in companies that are growing past the controller stage but are not yet large enough to justify a full-time CFO salary and benefits package. It is also frequently used during transitions, such as a sale process, a fundraise, or a CFO departure.