Accounting and Finance managers know it all too well — the ongoing shortage of skilled talent continues to create challenges to getting work done right and on time.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 367,000 Finance and Insurance job roles open in the U.S. in September.
- According to the Q4 2024 ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, the Net Employment Outlook for the Financials and Real Estate sector is +40%. This is the percentage of employers polled who are planning to add to staff minus those who are planning layoffs.
- Our report also finds that 73% of employers in the financial industry report difficulty finding skilled talent.
Bottom line—there are more openings than people to fill them.
What’s behind the shortage?
Certainly, part of the shortage is a shared challenge across almost all sectors and skillsets – there are shortages of skilled talent across all industries. What makes finance and accounting roles unique?
According to the Wall Street Journal, over 300,000 accountants and auditors in the U.S. left their jobs in the last two years, and there aren’t enough recent college graduates entering the field to replace them. Retirement can’t explain the deficit—the exodus spanned all age groups, from early- to mid-career. Many of the departing workers cited inadequate pay and limited opportunities for advancement as reasons for leaving.
At the same time, organizations are gathering more and more data to be analyzed, necessitating the development of increasingly sophisticated approaches to data and analysis. There is pressure from all sides to be more predictive.
Financial analysts are at the forefront of this pressure, as organizations assemble teams to not only assess current performance but also forecast future trends. The growing economy, digitization goals and new banking policies and regulations are also driving the need for more analysts and accountants. This surge in demand spans all sectors and organization sizes.
If there is so much need, then why aren’t more young people answering the call to enter the field?
Like most industries, the fast-moving changes being felt by AI and specifically robotic process automation (RPA) are disrupting the status quo. Some entry-level jobs are being eliminated, outsourced, or offshored, and many roles require new skills not typically associated with the financial world. This has led to some uncertainty as to whether this field is a solid bet – in other words, Finance & Accounting may have a bit of a ‘brand’ issue.
So the problem appears to be twofold:
- Attracting young people to the finance and accounting sector
- Upskilling your current employees to master new processes and technologies
Finding entry-level talent
While it won’t be easy to magically convince more college students to major in finance or accounting, employers can expand their horizons by considering graduates in such disciplines as economics, math, analytics or business administration.
Next, be aware of what young people are looking for in a job—and in a company. In one recent survey, 80% of Gen Z workers expect companies to provide personalized career development programs.
Workers of all ages are much more interested in flexibility and work/life balance than they were before the pandemic. Increasingly, Gen Z workers are willing to wait it out until they get what they want. (For more on this, see Workforce Wallflowers: Getting Gen Z to Join the Game.)
Upskilling your current talent
Just as important as attracting new workers is keeping the workers you have—and keeping them at maximum productivity. In a word, this means upskilling.
Here’s a quick guide:
- Identify skills gaps. Conduct a thorough assessment to determine the skills your workforce currently has, and what it will need in the near future.
- Identify candidates to fill those gaps. Upskilling workers in adjacent jobs is a good start, but you should also consider identifying and reskilling individuals who have the right soft skills to make a lateral (or diagonal) move.
- Set clear objectives. Define what you aim to achieve with the program. Whether it’s improving productivity, preparing for future roles, enhancing job satisfaction or all of the above.
- Obtain buy-in from leadership. Without it, any reskilling program is likely to fail to reach its full potential.
- Explore available options.
- There are many existing online and third-party learning programs offered by organizations, businesses and educational institutions. Manpower associates have access to several no-cost training programs to prepare them for skilled technical roles.
- Create your own curriculum: If you don’t find a suitable solution from a third-party source, you can create your own program, perhaps leveraging some online courses and blending them with workshops and hands-on learning. Ensure the content is up-to-date and aligned with industry standards.
Whichever route you choose, make sure that your program aligns with business objectives, and is flexible enough to meet the needs of all learners. Consider micro-learning, where units are broken down into easily digestible chunks.
We’ve covered what’s causing the talent shortage along with some ideas for putting a dent in it. But what happens when your talent shortage goes on too long?
What are the consequences of not acting?
Long-term staff vacancies can have serious and long-ranging consequences:
- Increased expectations on remaining team members
- Risk of compliance issues
- Increased audit risk
- Inability to close the books
- Greater employee dissatisfaction and/or burnout
- Potential for higher turnover
How a partner can help
Sound like a long to-do list? Manpower Finance can help with all of the above. Our financial industry experts leverage robust networking platforms to find not only active candidates, but passive candidates that might not step forward on their own. We’re also skilled at aligning talent with your organization’s talent strategy and long-term goals.
All our associates have access to our MyPath program, which provides them with hundreds of opportunities for continuous learning and upskilling. This is a no-cost advantage to them, increasing their readiness and potential to pursue the next in-demand jobs in accounting and finance.
Attracting and retaining talent is our specialty. Find out how we can help you. Learn more.
For higher level Finance & Accounting, Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance, and Tax talent, please visit our partner brand, Jefferson Wells.
.webp)
